LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
DAVIS 


LIFE 


or 


JONATHAN  TRUMBULL,  SEN., 


GOVERNOR  OF  CONNECTICUT. 


BY 

I.    W.    STUART. 


"A   LONG   AND   -WELL-SPENT    LIFE   IN  THE   SEBVICE   OF   HIS   COUNTKY   PLACES   GoV<- 

ERNOK  TRUMBULL  AMONG  THE  FIRST  OF  PATRIOTS." — Washington. 


BOSTON: 

CROCKER    AND    BREWSTER 
1859. 


LIBRARY 


ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1849, 

BY  CROCKER  AND  BREWSTER, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


R.  H.  HOBB9,  STEREOTYPER,  HARTFORD,  CONK. 


TO 


HONORABLE  JOSEPH  TRUMBULL, 


A   GRANDSON 


OF     THE 


SUBJECT  OF  THIS  MEMOIR, 


WITH    SENTIMENTS    OP    HIGH    ESTEEM, 


is 


BY     THE     AUTHOR 


CORDIALLY   DEDICATED. 


PREFACE. 


THE  Life  of  Governor  Trumbull,  Senior — a  man  pro 
foundly  and  most  honorably  interwoven  with  the  American 
Revolution,  and,  as  pronounced  by  Washington  himself, 
among  "the  first  of  patriots" — has  never,  until  now,  been  at 
tempted.  To  relieve  the  silence  of  biography  respecting  him, 
and  present  his  name  and  fame  to  the  Public,  in  their  true 
light,  is  the  object  of  the  writer  of  this  Work. 

Of  the  manner  in  which  the  task  has  been  accomplished, 
the  Reader,  of  course,  will  judge.  Suffice  it  to  say  here,  that 
for  its  due  execution  the  writer  has  explored  every  pertinent 
and  authentic  record  within  his  reach,  and  believes  himself 
to  have  had  access  to  all  the  most  important.  Among  these — 
besides  numerous  works  of  General  History,  biographies  of 
noted  personages,  and  old  newspapers,  magazines,  and  pam 
phlets — which  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  specify — he  has  con 
sulted  carefully  a  large  and  instructive  mass  of  documents, 
from  the  Trumbull  family,  in  the  Connecticut  Historical  So 
ciety — another  voluminous  collection,  from  the  same  source, 
in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society — the  Johnson,  Deane, 
Wolcott,  and  Wadsworth  Manuscripts  in  the  archives  of  the 
former  Institution — many  Letters  in  the  possession  of  Hon. 
Joseph  Trumbull,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut — Letters  also  in 
the  State  Paper  Office  at  Washington — and  much  other 
Trumbull  correspondence  which  has  been  derived  from  vari 
ous  private  hands.  In  addition  to  this,  he  has  scrutinized  the 
Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  numerous  records 


iv  PREFACE. 

in  the  State  Capital  at  Hartford — especially  those  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  and  of  its  Council  of 
Safety,  during  the  War  of  the  Eevolution.  Memorials  also 
from  Governor  Trumbull's  native  town  of  Lebanon,  and 
reliable  memories  from  his  kindred,  and  from  others  well 
acquainted  with  his  character  and  conduct,  have  been  gath 
ered  for  the  purposes  of  this  Work.  Authentication  of  state 
ments,  when  deemed  necessary,  will  be  found,  generally,  cur 
rent  with  the  text.  Eeaders  are  assured,  that  the  author  has 
labored  sincerely,  in  all  that  he  has  written,  to  be  accurate, 
impartial,  and  just. 

To  Honorable  Joseph  Trumbull,  of  Hartford,  he  feels 
especially  indebted  for  the  unfailing  encouragement  which 
this  gentleman  has  bestowed  upon  a  task,  which  has  proved, 
at  times,  complicated  and  difficult.  Those  only  who  under 
take  a  similar  labor,  can  fully  appreciate  the  embarrassments 
which  it  often  occasions  to  a  writer's  pen — but  the  highly 
respected  friend  to  whom  I  allude,  has  ever  thrown  over  it 
the  sunshine  of  his  sympathy  and  hope. 

That  the  work  now  given  to  the  Public  may  prove  accept 
able  to  him,  to  the  citizens  of  Connecticut,  and  to  my  fellow- 
countrymen  at  large — and  may  justly  develop  for  a  nation's 
veneration  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  its  patriotic 

sons — is  the  fervent  wish  of 

I.  W.  STUART. 

HARTFORD,  April  13^,  1859. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER   I. 

1710-1740. 

TRUMBULL'S  birth  and  ancestry.  Of  his  father.  Of  his  talents  and  early  edu 
cation.  He  prepares  for  College,  and  enters  Harvard  University.  His  course 
in  College.  Of  his  classmates — particularly  Church  and  Hutchinson.  He 
graduates,  and  prepares  for  the  ministry.  This  purpose  is  changed  by  the 
death  of  a  brother,  and  he  embarks  in  mercantile  pursuits.  He  still  contin 
ues  his  studies — what  these  were,  and  their  effect  upon  his  mind.  He  is  soon, 
and  repeatedly,  elected  a  Representative  in  the  General  Assembly  from  his 
native  town.  He  is  made  Speaker.  He  is  elected  to  the  post  of  Assistant. 
His  marriage,  and  his  first  child Page  25 

CHAPTER   II. 

1740-1750. 

TRUMBULL'S  public  offices  and  services.  War  between  Spain,  France,  and  Eng 
land.  Connecticut  takes  an  active  part  in  it.  Trumbull  is  deeply  interested. 
As  a  military  officer,  he  is  busy  in  furnishing  troops  and  supplies.  He  is 
charged  by  Connecticut  with  highly  important  and  honorable  trusts  in  con 
nection  with  the  war.  Is  a  principal  counsellor  upon  military  enterprises, 
and  upon  ways  and  means.  He  renders  valuable  service,  and  is  in  high 
repute,  but  does  not  himself  take  the  field.  Three  children  are  added  to  his 
family Page  35 

CHAPTER   III. 

1750-1763. 

TRUMBULL'S  public  offices  and  services.  Case  of  the  Spanish  Snow  St.  Joseph  and 
St.  Helena,  and  his  particular  connection  with  it.  He  beneficially  settles  the 
controversy  it  involved.  The  second  French  and  English  "War.  The  contri 
butions  of  Connecticut  towards  it.  Trumbull's  agency  in  its  prosecution.  He 
again  raises  men  and  supplies,  and  with  Commissioners  from  other  Colonies, 
and  British  commanders-in-chief,  decides  upon  its  enterprises.  Instances  of 
consultation  for  this  purpose.  He  is  twice  appointed  Colonial  Agent  for  Con 
necticut  to  the  Court  of  Great  Britain,  but  declines.  His  letters  of  declination. 
Comment.  The  war  closes.  Trumbull's  gratification.  The  fruits  of  the  war. 
General  joy Page  43 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

1750-1763. 

TRUMBULL  in  the  sphere  of  his  own  home  and  town.  Two  sons,  David  and 
John,  are  added  to  his  family.  His  care  for  the  education  of  his  children. 
He  is  active  in  founding  an  Academy  in  Lebanon.  His  own  views  of  instruc 
tion,  studies,  and  scholarship.  He  receives  honorary  degrees  from  Yale 
College,  and  from  the  University  of  Edinborough,  in  Scotland Page  58 

CHAPTER   V. 

1731-1764. 

TRUMBULL  as  merchant.  His  partnership  connections.  His  dealings  both  at 
home  and  abroad — with  New  York,  Boston,  Nantucket,  Halifax,  the  "West 
Indies,  and  England.  The  articles  in  which  he  traded.  Interesting  anecdote 
in  this  connection  of  himself,  his  son  John,  and  Zachary,  a  Mohegan  Indian 
whom  he  employed  as  a  hunter.  He  imports  largely,  in  vessels  owned  either 
in  part  or  whole  by  himself.  His  trade  enhanced  by  contracts  for  the  supply 
of  troops  during  the  French  wars.  His  experience  in  these  contracts.  He 
establishes  semi-annual  fairs  and  markets  in  Lebanon.  His  success  in  these. 
His  business  habits — integrity,  energy,  and  punctuality.  The  property  he 
acquired , Page  65 

CHAPTER   VI. 

1764-1770. 

GENERAL  view  of  the  condition  of  the  American  Colonies  at  this  period.  In 
vestigation  into  the  nature  of  their  connection  with  the  Parent  State  particu 
larly  roused.  Trumbull's  public  offices  and  duties.  He  is  appointed  Deputy 
Governor  and  Chief  Justice  of  Connecticut.  He  watches  closely  the  meas 
ures  of  England.  Examines  especially  the  famous  Writs  of  Assistance,  and 
writes  to  England  about  them.  The  conclusions  of  his  mind  upon  these  Writs 
are  strongly  in  favor  of  liberty.  The  noted  trial  upon  their  validity  in  Boston 
awakens  his  patriotic  zeal.  Two  applications  for  their  issue  are  made  in  Con 
necticut  to  the  Court  over  which  he  himself  presides.  His  action  and  senti 
ments  upon  these  applications.  A  striking  letter  on  the  subject  from  his 
pen Page  74 

CHAPTER   VII. 

1765. 

TRUMBULL  and  the  Stamp  Act.  Resistance  of  Connecticut  to  the  Act,  and 
Trumbull's  participation  in  it.  A  thrilling  scene  illustrating  his  opposition. 
Governor  Fitch  calls  his  Council  together  in  order  to  take  an  oath  to  carry 
the  measure  into  effect,  as  required  by  King  and  Parliament.  He  announces 
his  readiness  to  be  sworn.  Trumbull,  and  other  Councillors,  remonstrate, 
and  refuse  to  perform  the  ceremony.  The  Governor  argues  the  case  with 
them,  and  insists  upon  taking  the  Oath.  Four  of  the  Councillors,  enough  for 
the  purpose,  unwillingly  yield.  The  remaining  seven,  Trumbull  at  their 
head,  still  resist.  Their  motives,  arguments,  and  some  of  their  language  upon 
the  occasion.  The  Governor  rises  to  receive  the  Oath.  At  this  moment,  Trum 
bull,  refusing  to  witness  a  ceremony  which  he  thinks  will  degrade  the  Colony, 


CONTENTS.  .      Vii 

and  is  an  outrage  upon  liberty,  seizes  his  hat,  and  indignantly  withdraws 
from  the  Council  Chamber,  followed  immediately  by  six  of  his  associates. 
Judgment  of  the  Colony  upon  the  event Page  83 

CHAPTER   VIII 

1764-1770. 

STATE  of  the  quarrel  with  Great  Britain  just  after  the  Stamp  Act.  Trumbull 
expresses  his  views  concerning  it  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Johnson.  His  moderation 
and  foresight.  His  character  by  Bancroft.  Great  Britain  engaged  in  forging 
new  fetters  for  America.  Trumbull's  opinion  of  these  given  in  another  letter 
to  Dr.  Johnson — and  in  one  also  to  Richard  Jackson,  a  Member  of  the  British 
Parliament.  Thus  far  a  prudent  remonstrant,  but  firm  in  his  spirit  of  resist 
ance  to  the  obnoxious  measures  of  the  day.  This  spirit  begins  to  vent  itself 
with  increased  energy,  when  the  tyranny  deepens — as  shown  from  his  letters  to 
Dr.  Johnson  and  Gen.  Lyman  in  London  particularly,  and  from  his  corres 
pondence  elsewhere.  He  sends  abroad  State  documents  of  great  importance 
as  regards  the  contest.  He  is  thoroughly  informed  of  everything  passing  in 
England.  Is  familiar  with  the  politics  and  condition  of  Europe  generally — but 
especially  with  those  of  France,  the  proceedings  of  whose  Prime  Minister,  the 
Duke  de  Choiseul,  he  watches  with  deep  interest.  He  is  made  Governor  of 
Connecticut  at  the  close  of  1769.  His  appointment  a  fortunate  one  for  the 
Colony.  Dr.  Johnson's  letter  upon  the  occasion Page  93 

CHAPTER   IX. 

TRUMBULL'S  judicial  career — down  to  1770 — as  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Judge  of 
the  County  and  Probate  Courts,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Colony.  Testimony 
of  Wm.  Samuel  Johnson,  and  of  the  public,  on  this  point Page  109 

CHAPTER   X. 

1764-1770. 

TRUMBULL  as  merchant.  He  enters  into  a  new  partnership.  The  times  are  out 
of  joint,  and  clouds  darken  over  his  business  life.  The  general  course  of  trade 
and  commerce  at  this  time,  and  his  own  hi  particular.  He  sends  his  son 
Joseph  to  England.  The  son's  occupation  there,  and  correspondence  with  his 
father.  Trumbull  becomes  a  whaling  merchant.  His  vessels.  He  meets 
with  severe  reverses — what  they  were,  and  how  occasioned.  His  manly 
conduct  in  his  troubles.  It  wins  the  respect  of  all  his  creditors.  He  makes 
to  them  a  full  statement  of  his  pecuniary  affairs.  This  statement.  He 
takes  pains,  through  his  correspondence  in  England,  to  develop  the  resources 
of  his  native  land.  The  iron  ore  of  "Western  Connecticut  in  this  connection. 
He  commends  particularly  the  Society  in  England  for  promoting  Arts  and 
Commerce,  and  circulates  their  pamphlets.  His  creditors  forbear  to  press 
him.  Adversity  serves  but  to  stiffen  his  energies Page  114 

CHAPTER   XI. 

1770-1775. 

GENERAL  view  of  the  period  embraced  in  this  chapter.  At  the  outset  of 
Trumbull's  adminstration  there  is  a  more  cheering  state  of  things — particularly 
for  Connecticut.  One  important  interruption,  however,  which  was  carefully 
composed  by  the  Governor.  How  it  was  done.  The  repose  continues.  This 


Vlll    .  CONTENTS. 

interval  seized  to  look  at  Trumbull  in  the  sphere  of  his  public  duties,  aside 
from  the  American  struggle.  And  here  his  Election  Speech  hi  1771 — and  the 
Susquehannah  Controversy.  The  management  of  this  famous  controversy 
devolves  almost  entirely  on  himself.  He  states  the  Case.  Abstract  of  this 
Statement.  The  Case  remains  unsettled  when  the  Revolution  commences,  but 
is  afterwards  determined.  The  result.  Trumbull  waived  its  further  agitation 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  in  order  to  promote  union  and  harmony 
among  the  Colonies Page  125 

CHAPTER   XII. 

TRUMBULL  and  the  Mohegan  Controversy.  The  origin  of  this  controversy. 
Claim  of  Connecticut.  Claim  of  and  for  the  Mohegans.  Attempted  settlements 
of  the  case.  Its  management,  just  before  and  after  he  became  Governor,  de 
volved  chiefly  on  Trumbull.  His  fitness  for  the  task  from  long  experience  in 
Indian  affairs,  and  with  those  of  the  Mohegans  particularly.  In  1769  one  of 
a  Committee  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  to  visit  these  Indians,  and 
examine  and  report  upon  their  condition.  The  manner  in  which  he  performed 
his  task  described  by  himself  in  a  letter  to  Wm.  Samuel  Johnson.  His  exertions 
roused  attention  to  the  appeal  of  1766  on  the  Mohegan  Case,  and  caused  it, 
in  January  1770,  to  receive  a  fresh  hearing  before  the  Lords  in  Council.  A 
motion  to  dismiss  it  made  and  refused — and  another  hearing  ordered.  A 
dark  hour  for  Connecticut  on  the  case.  Trumbull,  however,  makes  prepare 
tion  for  it,  and  presses  the  General  Assembly  to  fresh  effort.  He  accumu 
lates  all  the  resources  of  defence,  and  sends  them  over  to  England.  The 
chances  of  the  trial  are  still  against  Connecticut — but  it  terminates  favorably 
to  the  Colony.  The  elder  "Winthrop's  Journal  hi  this  connection.  Trumbull 
copies  it,  and  causes  it,  for  the  first  time,  to  be  printed.  And  here  his  care 
generally  of  valuable  papers  and  public  documents.  The  Trumbull  Papers  in 
the  Historical  Society  at  Boston.  His  interest  in  statistical  inquiries.  He 
replies  to  the  Queries  of  the  British  Board  of  Trade Page  137 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

1770-1775. 

A  CRISIS  in  the  issues  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Colonies.  Trumbull,  in 
consequence,  proclaims  a  day  of  Fasting  and  Prayer,  and  doubles  the  military 
stores  of  the  Colony.  Correspondence  between  Gen.  Gage  and  Trumbull  hi 
reference  to  one  Thomas  Green,  a  Boston  tory,  who  had  been  severely  hand 
led  in  Connecticut.  Cases  of  other  disaffected  persons.  Abijah  "Willard,  Dr. 
Beebe,  and  two  Ridgfield  tones,  in  connection  with  Trumbull.  Trumbull 
and  the  first  Continental  Congress.  His  zeal  in  fostering  it.  His  opinion  of 
its  measures.  He  diligently  prepares  his  own  people  for  the  emergency  of 
war.  He  issues  a  Proclamation  against  riotous  demonstrations.  The  famous 
Peters  riot,  as  officially  described  by  the  Governor.  Such  disturbances  not 
as  yet  common  in  Connecticut.  Episcopalians  not  under  the  ban  of  public 
opinion,  as  sometimes  charged.  Trumbull  a  tolerationist.  His  Christian 
character  described.  The  non-importation  scheme,  and  his  activity  in  pro 
moting  it.  His  son  John  in  revolutionary  and  educational  connection  with 
the  parent.  The  father's  taste  and  views  with  regard  to  the  art  of  paint 
ing.  Both  sire  and  son  are  ready  for  the  Revolutionary  Future. ..  .Page  150 


CONTENTS.  %        ix 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

1775. 

STATE  of  public  affairs  in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1775.  The  Earl  of  Dart 
mouth's  Circular  to  the  Colonies,  forbidding  a  second  American  Congress. 
Trumbull  long  on  terms  of  friendly  and  useful  correspondence  with  the  Earl. 
He  strongly  advocates  the  forbidden  Congress.  A  letter  from  his  pen  to  the 
Earl  of  Dartmouth,  on  the  grievances  of  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  of 
the  Colonies  in  general.  He  repeats  the  sentiments  of  this  letter  in  another 
to  Thomas  Life,  Agent  for  Connecticut  in  England.  At  Norwich  he  first  hears 
of  the  Battle  of  Lexington.  His  conduct  in  consequence.  Upon  receiving  a 
circumstantial  account,  he  transmits  the  same  to  Congress,  and  communicates  it 
to  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut.  The  duty,  in  consequence,  devolved 
on  him.  By  order  of  the  Assembly,  he  addresses  Gen.  Gage.  His  letter. 
Gage's  reply.  The  Massachusetts  Provincial  Congress  is  alarmed  at  this  cor 
respondence,  and  remonstrates.  No  ground  for  this  alarm.  It  is  soon,  through 
Trumbull  and  others,  dissipated Page  168 

CHAPTER   XV. 

1775. 

TRUMBULL'S  activity,  at  Lebanon,  in  furnishing  troops  and  supplies  for  the  army 
at  Boston,  immediately  after  the  Battle  of  Lexington.  His  "War  Office,  and 
Dwelling- House,  and  their  associations.  On  request  from  the  New  York 
Revolutionary  Committee,  he  strives  to  intercept  despatches  from  England 
for  Gen.  Gage.  He  receives  from  Massachusetts  an  urgent  demand  for  more 
troops — with  which  he  complies.  His  connections  with  the  expedition  to 
Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  and  with  military  affairs  generally  at  the  North, 
at  this  period Page  179 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

1775. 

TRUMBULL  supplies  the  Camp  at  Boston  with  fresh  troops  and  stores.  Some  of  the 
powder  he  sent  told  at  Bunker  Hill.  His  daughter  Faith  an  eye-witness  of 
this  battle.  Its  fatal  effect  upon  her.  Trumbull's  conduct  upon  her  death. 
He  sends  forces,  under  General  Wooster,  and  supplies,  to  New  York.  His 
difficulty  at  this  time  in  procuring  supplies.  He  proclaims  an  embargo.  He 
recommends  Congress  to  appoint  a  National  Fast — which  is  done.  He  ob 
jects  to  their  renewed  Petition  to  the  King,  but  on  other  points  harmonizes  with 
their  action.  Congress  highly  commends  his  course.  He  congratulates  Wash 
ington  upon  his  appointment  as  Commander-in-chief.  Washington's  reply.  A 
difficulty  among  Connecticut  officers  on  Putnam's  promotion  to  the  post  of 
Brigadier  General.  Spencer  resigns.  Trumbull's  prudent  management  of 
the  case.  His  letter  to  Congress  on  the  subject.  His  letter  to  Spencer.  Its 
soothing  effect.  Spencer  returns  again  to  the  Army Page  194 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

1775. 

A  COUNCIL  of  Safety  organized  to  aid  Governor  Trumbull.  The  sessions  of  this 
Council,  and  Trumbull's  efficiency  as  its  Head.  He  continues  active  in 
fUrnishing  troops  and  supplies.  He  is  appointed  by  Congress  to  confer  with 


X  CONTENTS. 

Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Harrison,  and  Mr.  Lynch,  about  the  army.  A  difference 
between  himself  and  Gen.  "Washington  in  regard  to  certain  new  levies. 
Correspondence  concerning  it.  It  is  happily  reconciled Page  203 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 

1775. 

TRUMBULL  in  connection  with  the  sea-coast  defence  of  Connecticut.  The  dan 
gers  upon  the  coast,  from  the  enemy,  both  to  property  and  person — what  they 
were.  Attempted  seizure  of  Gov.  Griswold,  and  of  other  leading  whigs — as 
Gen.  Washington — Gen.  Schuyler — Gen.  Silliman — Gov.  Clinton — and  Gov. 
Livingston.  Trumbull  a  special  object  of  the  enemy's  vengeance.  A  Tory 
threat  against  him.  A  price  was  set  on  his  head.  A  special  guard,  therefore, 
appointed  to  protect  him  at  Lebanon.  A  suspicious  stranger  at  his  dwell 
ing.  Spirited  conduct  of  his  housekeeper,  Mrs.  Hyde,  upon  the  occasion. 
He  receives  alarming  intelligence  of  an  intended  attack,  by  a  large  British 
fleet,  upon  the  shipping,  and  seaport  towns  of  Connecticut.  He  is  busy  for 
their  protection.  He  detains  the  Nancy — a  suspected  ship — and  distributes 
her  avails  to  the  public  use.  He  is  applied  to  by  Congress  to  furnish  a  large 
armed  ship  to  intercept  two  store-brigs  from  England.  He  grants  permits  for 
exportation — commissions  privateers — and  sends  out  spy-vessels.  His  over 
sight  of  prisoners  of  war.  Many  such  sent  to  Connecticut.  Trumbull  and 
the  prisoners  from  Ticonderoga  and  Skenesborough.  His  management,  partic 
ularly,  of  the  cases  of  the  elder  Skene  and  Lundy.  His  management  also 
of  the  cases  of  Capt.  De  La  Place — Major  French — and  especially  of  Dr. 
Benjamin  Church,  his  old  classmate  in  College.  His  watchfulness  against 
tories,  suspicious  wanderers,  and  inimical  persons  generally.  The  Detective 
System  of  Connecticut  at  this  time Page  211 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

1775. 

A  NEW  anxiety  for  Trumbull.  Soldiers  left  the  Camp  around  Boston,  and 
among  them  some  of  the  troops  from  Connecticut.  Washington  writes  Trum 
bull  respecting  these,  animadverting,  in  severe  terms,  on  their  conduct.  An 
admirable  reply  from  Trumbull.  Another  letter  of  censure,  to  Trumbull — from 
the  New  York  Congress — in  regard  to  Capt.  Sears  and  the  Eivington  Press 
Trumbull's  reply.  He  blames  New  York  for  granting  permits  to  carry 
provisions  to  the  Island  of  Nantucket,  then  deemed  somewhat  disaffected  to 
the  American  cause.  Satisfied  now  that  Great  Britain  will  not  yield,  he  con 
tinues  diligent  for  the  public  good.  For  the  sake  of  general  harmony,  he  again 
urges  Congress  to  aid  in  quieting,  for  the  present,  the  Susquehannah  Con 
troversy.  Dr.  Franklin's  Plan  of  Union  sent  to  Trumbull.  His  views  concern 
ing  it.  He  proclaims  a  Fast,  at  the  close  of  IT 7 5.  The  Proclamation .  Page  223 

CHAPTER   XX. 

TRUMBULL  known  and  denounced  abroad  as  "  the  Eebel  Governor  of  Connecti 
cut."  Extract  from  a  London  Magazine,  of  1 7  8 1,  showing  the  manner  in  which 
he  was  vilified  in  England.  Was  in  fact  the  only  "  Rebel  Governor  in  America," 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution.  His  course,  under  this  aspect,  examined  and 
vindicated  by  contrast  with  the  course  of  every  other  Governor  in  the  United 


CONTENTS.  xi 

Colonies — viz:  Thomas  Hutchinson  of  Massachusetts — John  Wentworth 
of  New  Hampshire — Joseph  "Wanton  of  Rhode  Island — William  Tryon  of 
New  York — William  Franklin  of  New  Jersey — John  Penn  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Delaware — Robert  Eden  of  Maryland — Lord  Dunmore  of  Virginia — 
Joseph  Martin  of  North  Carolina — Lord  William  Campbell  of  South  Carolina — 
and  James  Wright  of  Georgia Page  231 

CHAPTER   XXI. 

1776. 

TRUMBULL  in  his  connections  with  the  war,  at  the  North — around  New 
York — and  at  the  East  He  issues  two  Proclamations  for  raising  a  Northern 
Regiment.  He  makes  other  preparations  for  the  Northern  Department,  and 
hears  favorable  news  from  this  quarter.  He  warmly  aids  the  defence  of  New 
York  by  Gen.  Lee.  An  instance,  here,  of  his  promptness  and  decision.  He 
guards  against  tories.  Congress  and  Lord  Sterling  press  him  to  continue  his 
aid  to  New  York.  He  strengthens  and  supplies  the  army  around  Boston. 
He  encourages  the  procurement  and  manufacture  of  the  munitions  of  war. 
The  works  at  Salisbury  in  this  connection.  Death  of  his  friend  and  pastor, 
Rev.  Solomon  Williams.  Trumbull  in  his  relations  to  this  worthy  man — 
to  his  Church— and  to  his  death-bed Page  243 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

1776. 

TRUMBULL  aids  the  American  Army  on  its  way  from  Boston  to  New  York.  He 
meets  Washington  at  Norwich.  His  sentiments  on  the  evacuation  of  Boston. 
He  is  informed  that  a  large  body  of  foreign  troops  is  on  its  passage  to  America — 
and  that  a  British  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  sail  had  left  Halifax,  bound 
for  New  York.  His  preparations  thereupon  both  for  the  Continental  Army,  and 
for  the  defence  of  Connecticut.  He  is  officially  apprized  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  His  views  of  this  Instrument.  He  lays  it  before  his  Council, 
and  it  is  referred,  for  official  promulgation  and  record,  to  the  next  General  As 
sembly.  Depressed  state  of  American  affairs.  Trumbull  receives  the  Peace 
Propositions  of  Lord  Howe  and  his  brother  as  King's  Commissioners.  His 
opinion  and  action  thereupon.  They  serve  but  to  render  his  preparations  for 
the  defence  of  New  York  and  Long  Island  more  vigorous.  His  Exhorta 
tion  to  the  people  in  this  connection.  Their  quick  response.  Soldiers  rush  to 
New  York Page  260 

CHAPTER   XXIII. 

1776. 

DISASTROUS  Battle  of  Long  Island.  Trumbull  not  disheartened — but  sends 
reenforcements,  and  animates  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  to  do  the 
same.  He  appoints  a  Day  of  Fasting  and  Prayer.  His  Proclamation  for  this 
purpose.  Forces  from  Connecticut  pour  into  the  Continental  Army.  Wash 
ington  expresses  his  thanks  to  Trumbull.  Trumbull's  reply.  American 
affairs  still  in  a  calamitous  state.  Trumbull,  undismayed,  continues  his  ex 
ertions  for  the  common  cause.  Some  of  his  labors Page  271 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XXIV. 

1776. 

TRUMBULL  in  the  department  of  Home  Defence.  The  hostile  vessels  and  fleets 
in  the  Sound.  He  is  made  Chief  Naval  Officer  of  the  State.  He  builds  three 
row-galleys,  and  a  ship-of-war.  He  confers  with  ingenious  men  about  marine 
devices.  Bushnell  and  his  Torpedo  in  this  connection.  Trumbull  commends 
him  to  Washington.  He  regulates  provision  vessels,  and  guards  against 
predatory  descents,  and  illicit  trade.  He  concerts  expeditions,  in  aid  of 
Washington,  to  drive  the  enemy  from  Long  Island  and  the  Sound.  These 
expeditions  described.  He  urges  Congress  to  adopt  New  London  as  an 
asylum  for  the  Continental  fleet.  The  Marine  of  Connecticut  this  year.  Its 
success.  The  Defiance  captures  a  valuable  British  ship  and  brig,  after  a 
sharp  engagement.  Admiral  Hopkins  reaches  New  London,  from  the  West 
Indies,  with  valuable  prizes,  and  important  prisoners.  Satisfaction  of  Trum 
bull Page  278 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

1776. 

TRUMBULL  and  the  Northern  Army.  His  letter  to  Washington  upon  the  failure 
of  the  Expedition  into  Canada.  He  urges  renewed  exertions  for  the  defence 
of  the  Northern  Frontier.  They  are  to  be  made.  His  own  preparations 
therefor.  Distressed  condition  of  the  Northern  Army  at  this  time.  Trumbull's 
efforts  for  its  relief.  The  enemy  about  to  descend,  in  great  force,  from  Cana 
da,  and  occupy  the  whole  country  south.  Trumbull,  therefore,  aids  to  form  a 
lake  squadron  ample  for  defence.  His  efforts,  in  other  respects,  to  reestab 
lish  the  Northern  Army.  The  testimony  here  of  General  Gates  to  his 
conduct.  Arnold's  defeat.  Trumbull  communicates  the  news  to  the  States 
adjacent  to  Connecticut.  He  continues  to  refurnish  the  army.  Gen.  Schuy- 
ler  warmly  acknowledges  his  services.  His  son  Col.  John  Trumbull  receives 
the  American  prisoners  taken  at  the  defeat  of  Arnold.  A  curious  conference, 
involving  the  Governor,  between  Sir  Guy  Carleton  and  Gen.  Waterbury. 
Gen.  Gates  renews  his  thanks  to  Trumbull.  Many  officers  of  the  Northern 
Army  are  recommended  by  Trumbull  to  rewards.  He  sympathizes  with 
their  grievances,  and  gives  them  counsel.  Case  of  Gen.  Schuyler  in  this 
connection.  Soothing  letters  to  him  from  Trumbull Page  296 

CHAPTER   XXVI. 

1776. 

AN  alarm  from  Rhode  Island.  The  enemy  seize  Newport.  The  Connecticut 
measures  for  defence,  and  the  Governor's  cares  and  duties.  The  prisoners  of 
this  year.  The  Mayor  of  Albany,  the  Mayor  of  New  York,  Governor  Brown  of 
New  Providence,  and  Governor  Franklin  of  New  Jersey,  conspicuous  among 
them.  Trumbull  charged  specially  with  their  custody.  Case  of  Franklin 
particularly  described.  Other  prisoners — where  from — where  confined. 
Connecticut  is  overburthened  with  them.  Trumbull  writes  the  New  York 
Congress  on  the  subject.  His  letter.  The  care  taken  of  them  in  Connecticut. 
Trumbull's  treatment  of  them  illustrated.  He  was  eminently  humane. 
His  duties  and  conduct  in  promoting  their  exchange Page  309 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

1777. 

TRUMBULL  opens  the  year  with  a  Proclamation  for  a  Fast.  He  devotes  him 
self  to  recruiting  the  Continental  Army.  The  system  of  additional  bounty 
in  this  connection,  and  a  letter  from  him  on  the  subject.  Pressing  requisi 
tions  from  "Washington  for  more  troops.  Trumbull  responds — and  how. 
Menaced  devastation  from  the  enemy.  Trumbull  prepares.  Danbury  laid 
in  ashes.  Measures  taken  by  him  in  consequence.  His  Proclamation  against 
home  depredators.  He  guards  against  similar  attacks,  and  for  the  present 
successfully.  Gallant  expedition  of  Col.  Meigs  to  Sag  Harbor,  and  report 
of  the  same  to  the  Governor.  He  perseveres  in  his  plans  for  home  defence. 
Sends  a  Company  of  Rangers  to  the  seashore.  His  labors  in  the  department 
of  supplies.  Connecticut  the  PROVISION  STATE Page  318 

CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

1777. 

TRUMBULL  hears  that  the  British  fleet  has  sailed  southwards,  but  may  speedily 
return.  His  preparations  in  consequence.  Himself  and  Rhode  Island  military 
affairs.  Military  affairs  at  the  North.  Trumbull  continues  to  strengthen  the 
army  there.  An  interview  between  him  and  a  deputation  of  Oneida  war 
riors — whom  he  conciliates  with  a  "  talk  "  and  with  presents.  Burgoyne's  un 
checked  progress  southwards.  Defeat  of  General  St.  Glair.  The  shock  to 
the  American  people  in  consequence.  Trumbull  expresses  his  own  bitter  dis 
appointment  in  letters  to  his  son-in-law  Williams.  These  letters.  Notwith 
standing  defeat,  he  is  still  active  to  reenforce  the  army.  The  tide  turns. 
Battle  of  Saratoga,  and  triumph  of  the  American  arms.  Joy  of  Trumbull. 
He  participates  in  a  solemn  Thanksgiving  in  the  Church  at  Hartford .  Page  332 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

1777. 

TRUMBULL  in  the  naval  sphere.  The  Sound,  as  usual,  infested  with  hostile  ships. 
His  powers,  duties,  and  labors  as  Chief  Naval  Officer  of  the  State.  Prizes 
this  year — their  number  and  value.  Trumbull  in  this  connection.  Mari 
time  losses  this  year  small — maritime  gains  large.  Prisoners  this  year — nu 
merous  as  usual — some  specified.  Trumbull  in  this  connection  again.  Their 
exchange  exacts  much  labor.  Sad  state  of  many  Americans  whom  he  re 
leased.  His  remonstrances  in  behalf  of  such.  Tories  and  malignants  in 
Connecticut.  Their  detection  and  treatment  by  Trumbull.  His  care  for  sick 
soldiers.  His  care  for  the  farming  interests  of  the  soldier.  He  rotates  agricul 
tural  with  military  labor Page  345 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

1777. 

TRUMBULL  and  finance.  Large  sums  of  money  pass  through  his  hands.  The  de 
preciation  of  the  Continental  currency.  His  course  on  this  subject.  His  views 
remarkably  sound.  "  Pay  as  we  go,"  his  financial  aphorism.  His  opinion  of  a 
foreign  loan  to  sink  the  bills  in  circulation.  The  correspondence  and  friend 
ship  between  himself  and  John  Derk,  Baron  Tan  der  Capellan,  of  Holland. 
Sketch  of  this  patriotic  nobleman.  Trumbull  addresses  him  a  long  and  able  let- 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

ter.  He  closes  the  year  by  proclaiming  a  Day  of  Public  Thanksgiving.  Other 
Proclamations  in  this  connection.  The  title  of  "  His  EXCELLENCY  "  for  the 
first  time  conferred  this  year  upon  the  Governor. Page  355 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

1778. 

STARVING  condition  of  the  American  Army  at  Valley  Forge.  Washington 
appeals  to  Trumbull  for  aid.  It  is  rendered.  Many  droves  of  cattle  sent 
on.  Gen.  Champion  particularly  active  in  the  matter.  The  vital  relief  they 
afforded.  The  policy  of  Connecticut  in  regard  to  the  supply  of  beef  for  the 
army.  Some  of  its  legislation  on  this  subject.  Its  policy  and  laws  in  regard 
to  the  supply  of  clothing.  The  pains  taken  by  Trumbull  to  procure  mate 
rials  for  this  purpose,  and  the  patriotic  industry  of  Connecticut  women  in 
fabricating  them  into  garments Page  364 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

1778- 

THE  Campaign  of  1778 — its  plans  and  achievements.  Trumbull  as  connected 
with  them.  The  troops  to  be  raised.  Difficulties  in  the  way  of  enlistment. 
He  sends  two  thousand  troops  to  Peekskill.  Upon  a  call  from  Congress,  he 
aids  in  perfecting  the  defences  of  the  North  River.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the 
French  fleet  under  D'Estaign,  bringing  aid  to  America,  he  prepares  diligently 
for  cooperation.  He  issues  stirring  Proclamations  for  raising  troops  to  sup 
port  Gen.  Sullivan  in  Rhode  Island.  The  soldiers  and  supplies  he  sent.  Fail- 
ure  of  the  attempt  to  expel  the  British  from  Newport.  His  son,  Col.  John 
Trumbull,  in  the  battles  there.  He  sends  his  father  an  account  of  them,  and  a 
map  of  the  battle  grounds.  A  graphic  description  by  the  son  of  his  own 
experience  at  the  time.  The  movements  of  the  enemy  become  mysterious. 
American  movements  in  consequence,  and  the  participation  Trumbull  had  in 
them.  Gen.  Gates,  with  a  large  force,  encamps  at  Hartford.  A  public  dinner 
is  given  him  by  the  Governor  and  General  Assembly.  The  Governor  present. 
Description  of  the  entertainment.  The  problem  of  the  British  plan  solved, 
and  the  American  troops  go  into  winter  quarters. Page  371 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

1778. 

TRUMBULL  and  the  Home  Defence  of  Connecticut.  The  British  naval  armament 
upon  the  American  station  this  year.  Trumbull's  protection  of  the  coast.  His 
attention  to  the  Marine.  A  privateer  named  after  him.  The  whaleboat  sys 
tem  gives  him  much  anxiety.  It  degenerates.  He  watches  it  closely,  and 
is  sparing  of  commissions.  The  benefits  resulting  to  Connecticut  this  year 
from  his  measures  for  home  defence.  Maritime  losses  few.  They  are  more 
then  counterbalanced  by  maritime  gains.  The  memorable  capture  of  the 
Admiral  Keppel  and  the  Cyrus  by  the  Oliver  Cromwell — a  Connecticut  ship- 
of  war.  Its  commander's  letter  to  Trumbull  announcing  the  victory.  Prison 
ers — a  large  number  this  year.  March  of  the  captives  at  the  Battle  of  Sara 
toga  through  Connecticut,  on  their  way  to  Virginia.  Trumbull's  arrangements 
for  it.  Case  of  Henry  Shirley,  a  distinguished  prisoner  hi  Trumbull's  hands. 
The  handsome  treatment  he  received  from  the  Governor Page  392 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

1778. 

TRUMBULL  and  the  Conciliatory  Plan  of  Lord  North.  The  bills  embracing  it  are 
sent  to  him  by  Gov.  Tryon  of  New  York.  His  spirited  reply.  He  communicates 
them  to  Massachusetts  and  to  Congress.  The  plan  wholly  fails.  Trumbull 
and  the  Confederation.  Its  articles  are  sent  to  him,  and  he  lays  them  before 
the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut.  His  views  respecting  them.  He 
urges  their  adoption.  Has  long  advocated  some  Plan  of  Union,  and  been 
impatient  at  its  delay.  With  Washington  he  censures  Congress  for  its  dilatori- 
ness,  factiousness,  and  neglect  of  wholesome  measures.  Trumbull  and  the 
currency  again.  Its  continued  depreciation.  His  remedy.  Connecticut,  upon 
his  Message,  provides  for  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  He  writes  the  Con 
necticut  Delegates  in  Congress  on  the  public  debt.  With  Erkelaus,  a  patriotic 
foreigner,  he  advises  Congress,  upon  certain  conditions,  to  negotiate  a  foreign 
loan.  His  views  upon  the  scheme  of  regulating  prices  by  law Page  404 

CHAPTER   XXXV. 

1778. 

A  DOMESTIC  affliction.  Death  of  his  son  Joseph,  and  his  feelings  in  consequence. 
Sketch  of  the  son.  The  father  memorializes  Congress  in  behalf  of  his 
son's  accounts  as  Commissary  General  of  the  United  States.  Resolution  of 
Congress  respecting  the  same.  The  Wyoming  Massacre.  Trumbull's  special 
interest  in  the  event.  He  prays  both  Washington  and  Congress  for  an 
armed  force  to  avenge  it.  His  letters  on  the  subject.  Through  his  in 
fluence,  particularly,  a  force  is  finally  raised,  under  Gen.  Sullivan — the  savages 
are  chastised — and  protection  is  given  to  frontier  inhabitants.  He  proclaims  a 
public  Thanksgiving Page  420 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

1779. 

STATE  of  the  Revolutionary  Struggle.  The  main  theatre  of  war  now  at  the  South. 
The  campaign  of  this  year  marked  by  comparative  debility.  Enlistments  diffi 
cult  Trumbull  completes  the  quota  of  Connecticut  in  the  Continental  Army  by 
adding  eight  hundred  men — some  of  whom  participate  in  the  attack  on  Stony 
Point.  He  also  furnishes  troops  for  Rhode  Island,  and  supplies  the  famishing 
there  with  food.  His  Brief  for  the  purpose.  The  enemy,  much  to  his  joy, 
abandon  Newport.  He  calls  for  four  thousand  troops  to  cooperate  with 
D'Estaign,  upon  the  expected  return  of  the  French  fleet  to  the  North. 
His  Proclamation  for  the  purpose.  D'Estaign,  however,  sails  for  the  West 
Indies.  Trumbull  hears  from  various  quarters — and  particularly  from  Ar 
thur  Lee  in  Paris — that  a  fierce  renewal  of  the  devastating  policy  of  the 
British  King  and  Ministry,  is  designed.  His  precautions  in  consequence.  The 
enemy  land  and  pillage  New  Haven.  Trumbull  hears  of  it  by  express — or 
ders  out  fresh  troops — and  sends  to  Washington  for  help Page  431 

CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

1779. 

THE  attack  on  Fairfield,  and  report  of  a  projected  attack  on  Hartford.  Trum 
bull's  measures  in  consequence.  The  attack  on  Norwalk,  and  his  measures. 


CONTENTS. 

The  alarms  upon  other  parts  of  the  Connecticut  coast,  and  his  successful  watch 
fulness  against  future  hostile  descents.  Maritime  losses  and  gains  this  year. 
Loss  of  the  Oliver  Cromwell  and  of  the  privateer  Governor  Trumbull.  The 
whaleboat  system  again,  and  Trumbull Page  441 

CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

1779. 

GREAT  want  of  money.  Depreciation  of  national  Bills  of  credit  deepened. 
Eight  millions  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  apportioned  on  Connecticut  by 
Congress.  The  impossibility  of  raising  this  sum.  Trumbull's  anxiety  on  the 
subject — and  his  confidence  in  the  future  ability  of  the  nation.  His  views  on 
the  finances  of  the  country  shown  in  a  letter  to  Henry  Laurens.  He  hears 
from  Baron  Capellan,  asking  for  an  American  Agent  to  reside  secretly  among 
the  Dutch — and  soliciting  also  from  him  a  circumstantial  account  of  American 
transactions,  resources,  and  prospects.  Trumbull  gives  the  account  in  a  letter 
of  great  length  and  ability.  The  letter.  It  was  shown  to  the  President  and 
members  of  Congress  before  it  was  sent,  and  it  was  highly  approved.  Capel 
lan  delighted  with  it  as  a  most  energetic  defence  of  the  American  cause — and 
makes  advantageous  use  of  it  to  counteract  English  views  and  opinions  regard 
ing  America.  He  so  writes  Trumbull — and  in  his  letter  speaks  feelingly  of  him 
self  and  his  own  life.  Tribute  to  the  patriot Page  451 

CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

1780. 

THE  Campaign  of  1780.  Another  Valley  Forge  scene.  The  Continental  Army 
starving  again  in  its  winter  quarters.  The  portion  of  it  upon  the  North  River 
relieved  by  Trumbull.  Testimony  of  George  Washington  Parke  Custis  on  this 
point.  The  army  distressed  for  support  during  most  of  the  year.  Trumbull, 
therefore,  called  upon  for  extraordinary  exertion.  A  change  made  by  Congress 
in  the  Department  of  Supplies.  Trumbull  under  the  new  organization.  He 
furnishes  provisions,  tents,  camp  equipage,  and  gabions  and  fascines,  to  Wash 
ington.  He  supplies  Ethan  Allen  with  powder.  His  task  rendered  doubly  dif 
ficult  on  account  of  the  wretched  state  of  the  national  currency.  Yet  he 
achieves  it.  The  whole  subject  of  finance  in  Connecticut  is  committed  to  his 
special  care.  Favorable  results.  A  new  Congressional  plan,  started  this  year> 
for  improving  the  currency,  is  sustained  in  Connecticut Page  466 

CHAPTER   XL. 

1780. 

TRUMBULL  and  military  affairs  at  the  North.  Devastations  by  the  enemy  in  the 
Jerseys,  and  elsewhere.  The  forces  raised  by  Trumbull  for  Continental  serv 
ice,  and  for  Home  Defence.  Enlistments  difficult.  An  alarm  upon  the  Hudson 
River.  Washington  applies  to  Trumbull  for  aid.  Arrival  of  a  French  land 
and  naval  force  at  Newport.  High  expectations  of  the  country  in  conse 
quence.  Preparations  for  cooperation.  Trumbull,  through  La  Fayette,  congrat 
ulates  Count  Rochambeau  and  Admiral  Ternay,  upon  their  arrival.  Arbuth- 
not,  however,  blockades  the  French  fleet.  Trumbull  orders  on  troops  to  that 
quarter.  Another  alarm.  Clinton,  with  a  formidable  armament,  is  reported 
to  be  in  Long  Island  Sound.  The  Governor's  measures  hi  consequence. 


CONTENTS. 

A  meeting  between  the  American  and  French  Commanders-in-chief;  at  Hart 
ford,  to  arrange  a  combined  plan  of  operations.  Their  expenses  in  Connecti 
cut  are  paid  from  the  State  Treasury.  Their  imposing  reception  at  Hartford, 
the  Governor  being  present.  Their  first  interview  in  the  street  near  the  State 
House.  Their  subsequent  interview  and  consultation  at  the  house  of 
Col.  Jeremiah  Wadsworth.  Trumbull  shares  in  all  their  deliberations.  The 
result.  Escorted  by  the  Governor's  Guards,  and  amid  the  roar  of  artillery,  the 
Commanders-in-chief  depart  for  their  respective  Head  Quarters,  Washington 
on  his  way  hears  of  Arnold's  treason Page  476 

CHAPTER    XLI. 

1780. 

TRUMBULL  aids  to  rebuild  Fairtield  and  Norwalk.  British  marauding  expedi 
tions  upon  the  western  frontier  of  Connecticut.  Similar  expeditions  from  Long 
Island — particularly  from  a  band  of  "  Associated  Loyalists  "  at  Lloyd's  Neck. 
Trumbull's  precautions.  Illicit  trade,  and  forays  upon  Long  Island.  Trum 
bull  in  this  connection.  Capture  of  Gen.  Silliman,  and  counter-capture  of 
Judge  Jones,  Trumbull  restores  Silliman  to  liberty.  The  Governor  and 
naval  defence.  Maritime  prizes  this  year  comparatively  rare — losses  incon 
siderable.  Gallant  capture  of  the  "Watt  by  the  frigate  Trumbull.  The  army 
goes  into  winter  quarters.  Trumbull  and  Col.  Sheldon's  regiment  of  Horse. 
The  Duke  de  Lauzun,  and  his  famous  corps  of  Hussars,  take  up  their  quarters 
at  Lebanon.  Their  appearance  and  mode  of  life  at  this  time.  A  dinner  given 
by  the  Duke  to  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux  and  Baron  Montesquieu.  Trum 
bull  present.  Sketch  by  Chastellux  of  his  appearance,  and  of  his  "  saying 
grace  "  at  the  repast.  Another  sketch  of  him  by  the  same  hand,  and  also 
of  Col.  Jeremiah  Wadsworth Page  489 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

1780. 

THE  arrest  and  imprisonment  in  London  of  the  Governor's  son — Col.  John  Trum 
bull — against  all  reason  and  justice — upon  a  charge  of  treason  committed  in 
America.  The  son's  description  of  the  event.  Benjamin  West  interposes  in 
his  behalf  with  the  King.  Burke,  Fox,  and  other  distinguished  men  lend  him 

.  their  aid.  He  is  finally  liberated — goes  to  Holland,  in  accordance  with  par 
ticular  instructions  from  his  father,  to  labor  for  a  loan  of  money — and  then  re 
turns  to  America.  The  father's  anxiety  and  feelings  on  the  subject.  The  cruel 
treatment  never  forgotten.  Death  of  the  Governor's  wife.  Trumbull's  grief. 
Her  character.  Extract  from  a  sermon  preached  at  her  funeral.  A  cotempora- 
neous  Obituary  Notice.  Her  patriotic  sacrifices  and  conduct.  A  scene  of  con 
tribution  for  Revolutionary  soldiers  in  the  Church  at  Lebanon,  in  which  Mad 
am  Trumbull  figures  conspicuously Page  502 

CHAPTER   XLIII. 

1781. 

GENERAL  view  of  the  Campaign  of  1781.  Theatre  of  war  chiefly  at  the  South. 
Again  a  starving  army.  Washington  writes  Trumbull  of  its  distresses,  and  sends 
on  Gen.  Knox,  and  afterwards  Gen.  Heath,  to  explain  them  personally.  A  letter 


XVlll  CONTENTS. 

from  Knox  to  "Washington,  describing  his  interview  with  Trumbull.  Trum- 
bull's  measures  for  supply.  A  letter  from  Gen.  Heath,  describing  his  inter 
view  with  the  Governor.  New  supplies  forwarded.  Some  officers  in  the 
Connecticut  Line  discontented  because  of  not  receiving  their  full  pay.  They 
complain  to  "Washington,  who  writes  Trumbull  on  the  subject.  Trumbull  re 
sponds,  explaining  the  circumstances,  and  vindicating  his  State.  The  officers 
continue  their  complaints.  Another  letter  from  Trumbull.  rebuking  the  mal 
contents,  and  again  vindicating  Connecticut.  Great  dearth  of  money.  Trum 
bull,  in  conformity  with  instructions  from  the  General  Assembly,  strives,  but 
in  vain,  to  negotiate  a  loan  in  Holland.  Great  demand  upon  Connecticut  for 
money.  Notwithstanding  its  exceeding  scarcity,  Trumbull  continues  hope 
ful — and  at  last  procures  funds  enough  to  pay  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
Connecticut  Line Page  516 

CHAPTER   XLIV. 

1781. 

GBN.  WASHINGTON,  on  his  way  to  Newport,  to  meet  Count  Rochambeau,  stops 
at  Hartford,  and  consults  with  Gov.  Trumbull.  In  Hartford  he  orders  a  Court 
Martial  for  the  trial  of  Alexander  Me  Dowell,  a  deserter — who  is  hanged.  A 
report  that  "Washington,  on  his  way  to  Newport,  would  be  intercepted  and 
seized  by  the  enemy.  Trumbull's  precautions  in  consequence.  Another  meet 
ing  between  "Washington  and  Rochambeau,  Trumbull,  and  others,  in  regard 
to  a  plan  for  combined  military  operations — held  at  the  house  of  Joseph  Webb, 
in  Wethersfield.  Extracts  from  Trumbull's  Diary  illustrative  of  the  event. 
A  dinner  given  the  Generals  at  the  public  expense.  The  plan  of  that  cam 
paign  which  terminated  in  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  and  the 
final  triumph  of  the  American  arms,  was  concerted  at  this  interview  in  Con 
necticut.  This  plan.  Washington,  to  execute  it,  calls  for  more  troops. 
Trumbull  responds  to  the  call.  He  sends  a  pressing  message  on  the  subject 
to  the  General  Assembly.  Its  favorable  results.  The  French  army  marches 
through  Connecticut  to  join  "Washington  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  The 
attention  and  entertainment  it  received  on  its  way.  Lauzun's  Legion  of  Hus 
sars  leaves  Lebanon,  highly  delighted  with  the  hospitality  they  had  received. 
Trumbull's  -humane  feelings  illustrated  by  the  case  of  a  deserter,  who,  at  Leb 
anon,  was  condemned  to  be  shot.  A  French  officer's  reminiscence  of  Trum 
bull Page  530 

CHAPTER   XLV. 

1781. 

TRUMBULL  spends  several  days  with  his  Council  at  Danbury.  Hints  from  his 
Diary  of  his  journey  and  occupation  there.  At  Hartford  he  hears  of  Arnold's 
memorable  attack  on  New  London.  This  attack.  He  sends  for  careful  state 
ments  of  all  its  material  circumstances.  His  letter  communicating  the  event 
to  Gen.  Washington.  He  at  once  restores  the  defences  of  New  London — 
sends  thither  an  additional  force — writes  for  a  part  of  the  French  fleet  to  be 
stationed  there  for  the  winter — and  communicates  with  Gov.  Greene  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  with  Washington  again,  for  the  purpose  of  putting  Connecticut, 
and  the  Northern  States  generally,  in  a  reliable  posture  of  defence. .  Page  540 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

CHAPTER  XLYI. 

1781. 

FORAYS  upon  Connecticut.  Hostile  ships  in  the  Sound.  Trumbull's  continued 
vigilance.  An  attack  upon  tories  at  Lloyd's  Neck — and  upon  other  points  of 
Long  Island.  Loss  of  the  frigate  Trumbull — and  of  the  Confederacy.  An 
other  crisis  of  want  among  the  troops  on  the  North  River — and  relief  afford 
ed  by  Trumbull.  He  hears  of  the  triumph  at  Yorktown.  The  joy  it  gives 
him.  His  letter  to  Washington  on  the  victory.  Extract  from  "Washington's 
reply.  Trumbull,  however,  still  continues  his  preparations  for  another  cam 
paign.  He  proclaims  a  Thanksgiving Page  549 

CHAPTER   XLVII. 

1782. 

MILITARY  events  of  the  year.  England  inclined  to  peace.  The  United  States, 
however,  continue  their  military  preparations.  Trumbull  in  this  connection 
again — and  in  connection  with  war  debts,  confiscated  estates,  refugees,  and 
deserters.  He  superintends  a  new  census  of  the  State — prepares  the  Susque- 
hannah  Case  for  trial — and  arranges  a  celebration  in  honor  of  the  birth  of  a 
Dauphin  of  France.  Prisoners,  and  his  negotiations  for  their  exchange.  He 
remonstrates  against  the  course  taken  by  the  enemy  in  this  matter,  and  coun 
sels  retaliation.  Naval  matters  and  illicit  trade.  He  is  still  active  in  Home 
Defence,  although  this  year  there  are  no  material  depredations.  His  measures 
for  suppressing  illicit  trade  bring  upon  him  the  slanderous  charge,  from  a  few 
worthless  traders  and  tories,  of  being  himself  engaged  in  it.  His  Memorial  to 
the  General  Assembly  on  the  subject.  He  is  thoroughly  vindicated.  Maritime 
prizes  and  losses  this  year.  Not  deluded  by  any  prospects  of  peace,  he  main 
tains  the  little  navy  of  Connecticut  with  unabated  interest Page  568 

CHAPTER   XLVII1. 

1782. 

NEGOTIATIONS  for  peace.  Trumbull's  views  of  their  basis.  These  views  shown 
particularly  by  a  letter  which  he  addressed  to  Silas  Deane.  Explanation  of 
the  circumstances  under  which  this  letter  was  written.  Deane  in  Europe  at 
the  time— and  has  heard  of  nothing  but  disasters,  severely  fatal  to  the  Amer 
ican  cause.  He  therefore  sends  over  propositions  for  a  reconciliation  with 
Great  Britain.  His  letter  falls  into  the  hands  of  foes  to  America,  and  is  ma 
terially  altered  from  its  original  shape.  The  alterations.  As  changed,  Trum 
bull  receives  the  communication,  with  a  request  that  the  plan  it  contained 
should  be  laid  before  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut.  Trumbull  replies 
as  if  to  propositions  from  an  alien  enemy,  in  a  firm,  patriotic,  and  indignant 
strain.  The  sentiments  he  expresses  are  inwrought  into  all  the  negotiations 
for  closing  the  war.  The  French  Army  marches  from  Virginia  for  Boston,  to 
embark  for  the  West  Indies.  Trumbull  provides  again  for  their  passage  through 
Connecticut.  The  American  Army  goes  into  winter  quarters.  Everything  indi 
cates  a  speedy  end  to  the  war.  Trumbull  proclaims  a  Thanksgiving .  Page  571 

CHAPTER   XLIX. 

1783. 
ARRIVAL  of  the  Preliminary  Articles  of  Peace,  and  Proclamation  for  a  Cessation 


XX  CONTENTS. 

of  Hostilities.  Trumbull  receives  the  Proclamation  from  Congress.  Accom 
panying  testimony  of  Eliphalet  Dyer  to  his  services.  Testimony  also  to  the 
same  point  of  President  Stiles  of  Yale  College,  in  his  Anniversary  Discourse 
before  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut.  Trumbull  directs  the  due  pub 
lishment  of  the  Proclamation.  The  ceremonies  at  Hartford  upon  the  occasion. 
Celebrations  elsewhere  in  Connecticut.  Trumbull  relieved  from  further 
military  preparations.  He  secures  the  arms  and  military  stores  of  the  State, 
and  protects  the  public  property  generally.  He  attends  to  the  liquidation  of 
war  accounts.  He  receives  intelligence  of  the  Ratifications  of  a  General 
Peace,  and  of  the  contemplated  discharge,  in  November,  of  the  Army  of  the 
United  States.  His  letter  to  Henry  Laurens  on  the  event  of  peace.  He 
writes  letters  congratulatory  on  the  event  to  Edmund  Burke,  Dr.  Price, 
David  Hartley,  Richard  Jackson,  Baron  Capellan,  and  others.  The  tone  of 
these  communications.  Extract  from  his  letter  to  Dr.  Price.  Now  that  the  war 
is  over,  he  advocates  solid  harmony  with  Great  Britain.  A  remarkable  letter 
from  his  pen  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  in  this  connection — in  which,  particu 
larly,  he  introduces  and  pleads  the  case  of  the  Hon.  John  Temple. .  Page  580 

CHAPTER   L. 

1783. 

THE  new  policy  of  Congress  for  funding  the  national  debt,  and  restoring  public 
credit.  Commutation  money  for  the  officers  of  the  army  a  part  of  it.  Public 
opinion  on  this  subject  divided.  Trumbull  upon  it  brought  into  collision  with 
a  majority  of  his  constituents.  The  reasoning  of  the  opponents  of  this  policy — 
particularly  against  commutation.  Their  public  action  thereupon,  and  the 
public  ferment.  Reasoning  of  Gov.  Trumbull  and  others  in  favor  of  this 
policy.  He  commends  the  whole  national  system  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  Connecticut,  and  urges  them,  by  taxation,  to  provide  for  the  establishment 
of  public  credit,  and  do  justice  to  creditors.  The  People  jealous  of  a  Federal 
Government  with  powers  within  itself  competent  for  its  own  support.  Trum 
bull  in  favor  of  such  a  government.  The  National  Arm,  in  his  view,  ought  to 
be  strengthened Page  594 

CHAPTER   LI. 

1783. 

GOVERNOR  TRUMBULL  now  an  old  man — has  been  in  the  public  service  over 
half  a  century — and  determines  to  retire.  He  gives  notice  of  his  intention 
to  the  General  Assembly,  in  October,  in  a  Farewell  Address  which  he  entitles 
his  "  Last  Advisory  Legacy."  The  document.  Comment.  Report  and  Resolu 
tions  thereupon.  Explanation  of  the  jealousy  in  Connecticut  of  the  powers 
and  engagements  of  Congress.  Extensive  sympathy,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  in  the  sentiments  of  Trumbull's  Farewell  Address.  "Washington's 
opinion  of  it,  and  his  friendship  for  Trumbull.  They  harmonized  in  their 
political  creed Page  603 

CHAPTER  LII. 

1783. 

TRUMBULL  receives  a  present,  with  an  accompanying  letter,  from  the  Patriotio 
Society  of  Enkhuyzen,  in  Holland,  as  a  testimonial  of  respect  for  his  distin- 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

guished  services.  The  letter — additional  ones  from  San  Gabriel  Teegelan,  and 
Capellan — and  TrumbulTs  reply.  His  son,  Col.  John  Trumbull,  now,  upon  the 
restoration  of  peace,  consults  with  his  father  as  to  his  future  occupation  for  life. 
The  interview  between  them  on  this  matter  as  described  by  the  son.  The  son 
goes  abroad  to  perfect  himself  as  a  painter.  The  father's  efforts  to  promote 
his  success.  He  writes  Burke,  Dr.  Price,  and  others  in  his  behalf.  His  affec 
tion  for  him.  His  friendship  and  correspondence  with  Dr.  Price.  He  receives 
from  the  latter  his  principal  political  pamphlets,  and  takes  pains  to  republish 
and  circulate  one  important  one  among  his  countrymen.  The  Susquehannah 
Case  engages  his  attention  anew.  It  is  adjudicated  at  Trenton — against  Con 
necticut.  The  disappointment  to  Trumbull.  The  Council  of  Safety  ends  its 
labors.  American  soldiers  return  to  their  homes.  Washington  resigns  his 
commission.  The  last  military  scene  of  the  Revolution  is  closed.  Trumbull 
proclaims  his  last  Thanksgiving Page  615 

CHAPTER  LIII. 

1784-1785. 

TRUMBULL  superintends  the  collection  and  liquidation  of  military  accounts.  Un 
der  instructions  from  the  General  Assembly,  he  urges  Congress  to  add  the  ex 
pense  of  defending  the  sea-coast  and  western  frontier  of  Connecticut  to  the 
debt  of  the  Continent.  Reasons  for  this  application.  The  question  of  grant 
ing  the  Impost  Power  to  Congress  is  warmly  agitated  in  Connecticut.  Com 
mutation,  taxation,  and  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati  become  mingled  up  with 
it.  Excitement  intense.  A  Petition  to  Congress  against  Commutation,  and 
the  Impost  Power,  emanates  from  the  Lower  House  of  the  General  Assembly, 
and  a  Convention  at  Middletown  addresses  the  people  on  what  it  styles  the 
public  grievances.  The  reasoning  of  the  objectors.  A  factious  uneasiness, 
consequently,  among  the  people  of  the  State.  Trumbull's  course  at  this  crisis. 
Testimony  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall  respecting  it.  He  discloses  his  fears  for 
the  public  order  and  safety  in  a  letter  to  General  "Washington.  The  letter. 
"Washington's  reply.  He  labors  assiduously  to  allay  the  political  storm.  His 
arguments  on  the  side  of  law,  order,  good  faith,  and  good  government.  By 
whom  aided.  Looked  to  as  the  only  pilot,  he  is  urged,  notwithstanding  his 
resignation,  to  continue  in  his  post  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  State.  He  per 
sists,  however,  in  his  purpose  of  retirement  from  public  life,  and  Matthew 
Griswold  is  chosen  in  his  place.  The  Address  to  Trumbull  from  Dr.  Joseph 
Huntington's  Election  Sermon  in  May.  The  public  policy  for  which  Trum 
bull  has  labored,  achieves  at  last  a  signal  triumph.  The  popular  ferment  sub 
sides.  Commutation  comes  to  be  thought  a  harmless  measure  of  justice. 
Connecticut  grants  Congress  the  Impost  Power.  Trumbull's  high  satis 
faction Page  629 

CHAPTER   LIV, 

1784-1785. 

TRUMBULL,  in  a  letter  to  "Washington,  expresses  his  own  anticipations  of  hap 
piness  in  retirement  from  public  cares.  "Washington's  reply.  Upon  his  with 
drawal  from  office,  the  General  Assembly  appoint  a  Committee  to  devise  some 
suitable  testimonial  of  respect.  They  report  an  Address  to  his  Excellency, 
and  an  escort  upon  his  leaving  Hartford  for  Lebanon.  The  Address.  A  re- 


XX11  CONTENTS. 

ply.  His  departure — escorted  by  the  Governor's  Guards,  a  deputation  from 
the  Legislature,  the  High  Sheriff  of  Hartford  County,  and  numerous  gentle 
men  of  distinction.  His  life  in  retirement.  His  business  as  a  merchant — 
particularly  his  English  debts.  He  memorializes  the  Legislature  upon  the 
subject  of  remuneration  for  his  past  services,  and  presents  some  remarkable 
facts  in  his  own  history.  His  patriotic  sacrifices  appear  in  a  striking  light. 
Remuneration  allowed Page  647 

CHAPTER   IV. 

1785. 

TRUMBULL  devotes  himself  to  the  duties  of  religion.  Biblical  literature,  divinity, 
and  correspondence  on  theological  subjects,  employ  a  large  share  of  his  atten 
tion.  He  composes  sermons.  Some  of  his  correspondence  with  President 
Stiles.  He  is  attacked  with  malignant  fever.  His  sickness,  and  his  death. 
His  funeral,  and  extracts  from  a  sermon  preached  on  the  occasion.  His  tomb, 
and  its  occupants.  His  epitaph Page  662 

CHAPTER  LVI. 

1785. 

THE  general  and  profound  grief  upon  the  death  of  Governor  Trumbull.  Obitu 
ary  and  other  notices  of  the  event.  One  from  the  Hartford  Courant.  A  let 
ter  of  condolence  addressed  by  "Washington  to  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Junior. 
Extract  from  an  Election  Sermon  delivered  a  few  months  after  his  decease  by 
Rev.  Levi  Hart,  of  Preston.  Summary  of  his  life  and  character.  His  patriot 
ism.  His  industry  and  toil.  His  character  as  a  son — as  a  husband — as  a 
father — as  a  friend,  companion,  neighbor,  and  philanthropist — and  as  a  Chris 
tian,  and  a  scholar.  His  prudence  and  wisdom.  The  American  nation  was 
baptized,  in  his  name,  "  Brother  Jonathan."  The  harmony  of  his  moral,  in 
tellectual,  and  sensitive  faculties.  Conclusion Page  676 


PART   I. 


LIFE  OF  TRUMBULL. 

CHAPTER     I. 
1710—1740. 

TRUMBULL'S  "birth  and  ancestry.  Of  his  father.  Of  his  talents  and  early 
education.  He  prepares  for  College,  and  enters  Harvard  University. 
His  course  in  College  Of  his  classmates — particularly  Church  and 
Hutchinson.  He  graduates,  and  prepares  for  the  ministry.  This 
purpose  is  changed  by  the  death  of  a  brother,  and  he  embarks  in 
mercantile  pursuits.  He  still  continues  his  studies — -what  these 
were,  and  their  effect  upon  his  mind  He  is  soon,  and  repeatedly, 
elected  a  "Representative  in  the  General  Assembly  from  his  native 
town  He  is  made  Speaker.  He  is  elected  to  the  post  of  Assistant. 
His  marriage,  and  his  first  child. 

IN  the  thriving  agricultural  town  of  Lebanon,*  Connec 
ticut — upon  a  broad  and  beautiful  street  which  extends  up 
wards  of  a  mile  in  length — in  a  house  situated  near  the  old 
Congregational  Church — Jonathan  Trumbull,  the  subject  of 
this  memoir,  was  born  on  the  "  12th  of  October,  1710." 

He  sprang  from  a  family,  which,  it  is  now  fully  estab 
lished,  is  a  branch  of  the  Turnbulls  of  Scotland,  and  owed 
its  heraldic  origin  to  the  desperate  gallantry  of  a  young 
peasant,  who  when  one  of  the  kings  of  that  country,  being 
engaged  in  the  chase,  was  attacked  by  a  bull,  and  was  in 
imminent  danger — "  threw  himself  before  the  king,  and  with 
equal  strength,  dexterity,  and  good  fortune,  seized  the  animal 
by  the  horn,  turned  him  aside,  and  thus  saved  the  royal  life. 
The  king,  grateful  for  the  act,  commanded  the  hitherto  ob 
scure  youth  to  assume  the  name  of  Turribull,  and  gave  him 
an  estate  near  Peebles,  and  a  coat  of  arms — three  bulls' 

*So  named  by  the  Rev.  James  Fitch,  from  a  swamp  of  cedars  in  the  "Ono 
Mile  Propriety." 


20  CHAP.    I. — TRUMBULL.  1710—1732. 

heads,  with  the  motto,  Fortuna  favet  audaci" — bearings  which 
are  still  preserved  in  the  American  branch  of  the  family. 


The  first  ancestor  of  Jonathan  Trumbull  in  this  country, 
John  Trumble — for  so  the  name  was  spelt  until  the  year 
1766 — came  from  Cumberland  County  in  England,  and  set 
tled  in  Eowley,  Essex  County,  Massachusetts — from  whence 
one  of  his  sons,  also  named  John — a  highly  respectable  man, 
who  in  1640  had  been  made  a  freeman,  in  1686  a  deacon  in 
the  church,  and  in  1689  a  lieutenant  in  the  militia — emi 
grated  to  Suffield,  Connecticut,  somewhere  near  the  close  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  This  settler  in  Connecticut  had  four 
sons — John,  Joseph,  Ammi,  and  Benoni — the  first  of  whom 
became  afterwards  a  distinguished  clergyman  in  Watertown, 
Connecticut,  and  was  the  father  of  John  the  poet  and  cele 
brated  author  of  M'c  Fingal.  The  second — when  twenty- 
one  years  of  age — between  1704  and  1708 — moved  to  Leba 
non  in  the  same  State,  where  he  established  himself  as  a 
merchant  and  a  farmer.  The  third  moved  to  East  Windsor, 
where,  probably,  he  tilled  the  soil.  The  fourth  settled  in 
Hebron,  also  as  a  merchant  and  a  farmer,  and  was  the  father 
of  the  well-known  historian  Benjamin  Trumbull. 

Joseph,  of  Lebanon,  the  parent  of  the  subject  of  this  me 
moir,  was  "a  respectable,  strong-minded  farmer,"  says  his 
grandson  John  the  painter.  He  was  "a  substantial  man," 
affirm  all  the  accounts  we  have  respecting  him.*  It  was  a 
fine  township,  that  in  which  he  located  himself — of  a  mod- 

*  "He  seems  to  have  been  identified  with  most  of  the  enterprises  of  the  day," 
Bays  Hon.  L.  Hebard  of  Lebanon — writing  us  respecting  him,  after  a  careful  ex 
amination  of  records.  He  waa  long  captain  of  the  Lebanon  Train-Band. 


1710—1732.  CHAP.    I. — TKUMBULL.  27 

erately  hilly  surface,  with  a  chocolate  colored  soil,  generally 
a  deep,  unctuous  mold,  well  adapted  for  grass  and  grains — 
and  agriculture  was  almost  universally  the  business  of  its 
inhabitants.  It  furnished  quite  a  demand  for  merchandise, 
as  did  also  the  surrounding  country,  which  was  compara 
tively  well-populated — so  that  in  his  double  capacity  of 
trader  and  planter,  Joseph  Trumbull  had  a  fair  field  for  ex 
ertion,  and  seems  to  have  thriven  well.  His  own  advantages 
for  instruction  had  been  quite  limited,  but  he  had  a  high  ap 
preciation  of  knowledge,  and  determined — the  more  earnestly 
because  of  a  sense  of  his  own  deficiency — to  provide  his  off 
spring  with  every  opportunity  for  cultivating  their  minds 
which  the  times  could  afford — sparing  for  this  purpose  no 
care  or  expense  within  his  means.  "He  made  it  his  first 
object,"  testifies  his  grandson,  to  give  to  his  children  "that 
first  blessing  of  social  life" — education.* 

His  son  Jonathan,  in  the  promise  of  his  youth,  answered 
all  the  fond  desires  of  his  father.  He  early  developed  fine 
talents,  and  a  most  amiable  disposition.  He  was  fond  of 
books  and  study,  and  when  placed,  as  was  probably  the  case, 
with  the  clergyman  of  his  parish — the  Rev.  Samuel  Welles — 
to  prepare  for  college,  he  made  rapid  and  commendable  prog 
ress.  How  far,  and  with  what  zeal,  he  entered  into  the 
sports  of  boyhood,  we  are  not  informed.  Certain  it  is,  how 
ever,  that  he  was  endowed  by  nature  with  a  most  vigor 
ous  constitution — that  his  habits  were  very  active — and  that 
he  did  nothing  in  the  remotest  degree  tending  to  impair  a 
body,  or  deteriorate  a  mind,  formed  for  enduring  industry 
and  energy. 

In  1728,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  he  entered  college — well 
fitted,  though  very  young — an  ingenuous,  modest  boy — from 
his  tender  years,  and  retired  life  hitherto,  quite  bashful,  it  is 
reported.  He  at  once  applied  himself  carefully  to  his  college 
studies,  and  soon  became  distinguished  as  a  scholar.  To  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues,  he 
speedily  added  a  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew,  in  which  he 

*  He  had  eight  children — four  sons,  and  four  daughters — viz. :  Joseph,  Jona 
than,  John,  David,  Mary,  Abigail,  one  Hannah  who  died  young,  and  a  second 
Hannah.  His  wife  was  Hannah  Higley  of  Simsbury  Conn. 


28  CHAP.    I.— TRUMBULL.  1710— 1732. 

subsequently  became  so  great  a  proficient  that  he  was  able  to 
compile,  chiefly  for  his  own  use,  a  grammar  of  the  language, 
and  to  use  its  phrases,  in  after  years,  freely  in  his  correspond 
ence  with  learned  men.  He  became  soon  also  skilful  in 
mathematics,  and  familiar  with  all  the  studies  of  the  day. 
By  his  college  mates  he  was  universally  beloved.  The  great 
steadiness  and  sincerity  of  his  conduct,  particularly,  attracted 
respect — qualities  which  his  subsequent  life,  in  all  its  long 
extent,  exhibited  with  unvarying  constancy. 

The  natural  turn  of  his  disposition  was  decidedly  serious — 
so  much  so  that  we  find  him,  even  while  a  Freshman  in  col 
lege — at  an  age  and  under  circumstances  not  particularly  cal 
culated  to  promote  the  growth  of  piety  in  the  youthful 
mind — joining  a  secret  Religious  Society  in  the  Institution  to 
which  he  belonged — which  was  organized  for  the  special  pro 
motion  of  morality  and  devotion,  and  to  encourage,  among 
its  members,  love,  charity,  harmony,  and  all  the  virtues. 
The  Articles  or  Canons  of  this  Society,  are  fortunately  pre 
served.*  Ifegulce  vitce  as  they  were,  both  to  the  youthful  stu 
dent,  and  throughout  life  to  the  man,  as  divine,  merchant, 
civilian,  magistrate,  parent,  neighbor,  and  friend — as  in  the 
same  manner,  in  striking  similarity,  were  to  Washington 
those  excellent  though  quaint  "rules  for  behavior  in  compa 
ny  and  conversation,"  which,  evincing  his  "rigid  propriety 
and  self-control,"  he  in  boyhood  compiled  with  his  own 
handf — we  here  give  them  entire.  They  are  dated  "Cam 
bridge  January  ye  10 — Anno  Domini  1723,"  and  are  entitled 
"The  articles  which  all  that  belong  to  the  Private  Meeting, 
Instituted  at  Harvard  College,  1719,  assent  unto." 

"  It  being  our  indispensable  Duty,"  they  proceed,  "  as  well  as  undeni 
able  Interest,  to  improve  all  Opportunities  and  Advantages  that  God  is 
graciously  favoring  us  with,  to  his  Honour  and  Glory,  and  our  eternal 
welfare,  as  also  to  avoid  all  those  Temptations  and  Allurements  to  evil, 
which  we  are  in  Danger  to  meet  with,  And  to  Edifie,  encourage,  and  ex 
cite  one  another  in  the  ways  of  Holiness,  and  Religion :  we  do  to  that 
end  assent  to  the  following  articles,  viz : — 

*TJpon  a  scrap,  in  his  own  handwriting,  among  the  Papers  of  Trumbull  in  the 
Conn.  Historical  Society, 
t  They  still  exist  in  manuscript  in  the  handwriting  of  Washington  himself. 


1710—1732.  CHAP.     I. — TKUMBULL.  29 

1.  "  That  we  will  meet  together  for  the  worship  of  God  twice  in  a  week, 
viz.,  on  Saturday  and  Sabbath-Day  Evenings. 

2.  "  Being  met  together,  we  shall  as  God  enables  us,  perform  the  sev 
eral  injunctions  of  our  meeting,  the  first  (as  to  his  station  in  College) 
beginning,  and  so  Proceeding  to  the  last,  except  any  one,  for  good  rea 
sons,  shall  Desire  to  be  Excused. 

3.  "  That  we  will  bear  with  one  another's  Infirmities,  and  that  we  will 
Divulge  Nothing,  of  what  nature  soever,  that  is  done  at  our  meetings. 

4.  "  When  we  are  absent  from  our  meetings,  we  will  endeavor  to  be 
have  ourselves  so  that  none  may  have  occasion  to  speak  Evil  of  us. 

5.  "  That  all  manner  of  disagreeing  Strifes  or  Quarrellings  with  one 
another  shall  be  suppressed  by  us,  and  that  we  will  live  in  Love,  Peace, 
and  Unity,  one  with  another. 

6.  u  That  if  any  one  sees  or  hears  another  speak  anything  unbecom 
ing  a  Member  of  such  a  society,  he  shall  reprove  him  as  far  as  he  shall 
think  the  Reproof  worthy,  but  he  shall  do  it  with  all  Meekness,  Love 
and  Tenderness  towards  him." 

Articles  these,  which  breathe  the  beautiful  spirit  of  charity, 
and  guide  to  innocence  of  life,  to  peacefulness,  and  to  happi 
ness.  Trumbull  seems  to  have  observed  them  carefully 
throughout  his  college  career,  and  to  have  reaped  their  legiti 
mate  fruits.  With  gratified  hope  as  a  scholar — with  a  flatter 
ing  academical  honor — accomplished  for  usefulness  in  future 
life — he  took  his  degree,  and  graduated  in  1727 — in  a  class 
consisting  of  thirty-seven  members — all  of  whom,  save  one — 
Benjamin  Kent,  who  died  in  1788 — and  perhaps  one  other — 
Belcher  Noyes,  who  died  in  the  same  year  with  himself — it 
was  the  remarkable  fortune  of  Trumbull  to  survive. 

Conspicuous  among  these  his  classmates  were  Benjamin 
Colman,  Belcher  Hancock,  Benjamin  Church,  Thomas  Hutch- 
inson,  and  eight  others — of  which  eight  all  were,  subsequent 
ly,  either  professors  of  theology,  or  pastors  of  churches,  of 
good  repute,  and  two  of  them,  together  with  Church,  mem 
bers  with  Trumbull,  through  college,  of  the  secret  Keligious 
Society. 

Church  and  Hutchinson  deserve  to  be  particularly  noted 
here — because,  in  after  years,  they  were  so  singularly  con 
trasted  in  public  life,  with  their  former  classmate  and  friend. 
Church,  on  the  outbreak  of  the  American  Eevolution — then 
distinguished  as  a  highly  skilful  physician,  and  a  member 

from  "Watertown  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Assembly — 
3* 


30  CHAP.    I. — TKUMBULL.  1710—1732. 

was  accused,  and  justly,  of  a  traitorous  correspondence  with 
the  enemy,  and  was  placed,  by  order  of  Congress,  in  strict 
custody,  under  the  charge  and  keeping  of  Governor  Trum- 
bull — of  which  fact  we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  more 
particularly  hereafter. 

/    Thomas  Hutchinson — in  after  years  the  celebrated  gov- 
/  ernof'of  Massachusetts,  and  able  historian  of  that  province — 
/     was  as  much  noted  for  his  tory  principles  and  tory  zeal,  as 
Trumbull  was  for  his  convictions  and  conduct  in  the  oppo 
site   direction.     More   than   any  other   man  of  his  day  in 
America,  he  fanned  the  flame  of  discontent  between  the  Colo 
nies  and  the  Mother-Country — espoused  the  views  of  the 
British  Ministry — labored  assiduously  and  ably,  yet  treach 
erously  to  his  native  land,  in  their  support — and  was  visited 
with  the  supreme  indignation  of  his  countrymen. 

Who  would  have  thought  that  a  common  Alma-Mater 
should  have  nursed  characters  so  utterly  in  contrast  as 
Church  and  Hutchinson  on  the  one  hand,  and  Trumbull  on 
the  other — that  the  same  lessons  of  liberty  and  patriotism, 
from  the  same  glowing  pages  of  Greek  and  Koman  history, 
could  produce  upon  youthful  minds — similarly  fostered, 
under  circumstances  of  birth,  age,  and  country  all  alike — di 
vergencies  so  world- wide  apart — that  the  wounds  of  a  bleed 
ing  fatherland,  should  have  turned  those  sympathies  which 
in  college  life  ran  calmly  and  sweetly  in  the  same  direction, 
in  the  one  case  into  the  gall  of  contempt,  in  the  other  into 
the  anodyne  of  pity — that  all  the  impulses  of  the  two  former 
should  have  centered  in  tyranny,  and  those  of  the  last,  nobly 
and  exclusively  in  freedom ! 

Immediately  after  graduating,  Trumbull  returned  to  his 
home  in  Lebanon.  His  feelings  on  the  subject  of  religion — 
as  might  naturally  be  expected  from  one  who  had  carefully 
observed  the  articles  of  that  private  Society  in  college,  to 
which  we  have  referred — becoming  every  day  more  and  more 
earnest,  ripened  at  last  into  the  saving  faith  and  hope  of  the 
Christian  believer.  He  then  at  once  joined  the  Church  at 
Lebanon  in  full  communion,  and,  following  the  strong  bent 
of  his  inclinations,  commenced  the  study  of  theology  with 
his  revered  pastor  and  intimate  personal  friend,  the  Eev.  Solo- 


1732— 1740.  CHAP.    I. — TRUMBULL.  31 

mon  Williams.  After  applying  himself  with  assiduity  to  all 
the  preparatory  studies,  he  was  in  due  time  licensed  to 
^preach — and  very  soon  after  commencing  this  duty,  was 
received  with  such  satisfaction  in  the  church  at  Colchester, 
that  a  cordial  invitation  was  extended  him  to  settle  over  it. 

But  Heaven  had  otherwise  decreed.  While  deliberating 
on  this  call,  a  domestic  affliction  turned  the  current  of  his 
life  into  another  channel.  An  elder  brother,  his  brother  Jo 
seph,  who  had  been  engaged  in  business  with  his  father,  and 
who  had  sailed  upon  a  commercial  adventure  abroad  in  one 
of  the  vessels  belonging  to  the  family,  was  lost  at  sea.  This 
sad  calamity  occurred  in  June  1732,  upon  a  voyage  to  Lon 
don.  For  a  long  time  a  forlorn  hope  was  entertained  that 
the  vessel  in  question  might  have  been  captured  by  the  Al- 
gerines ;  but  this  hope  proved  fallacious.  Joseph  was  never 
heard  of  more. 

The  loss  of  this  son,  together  with  that  of  the  ship  and 
cargo,  which  wholly  belonged  to  the  family,  was  very  dis 
tressing  to  the  aged  father.  He  found  himself,  in  conse 
quence,  unfitted  to  adjust  his  mercantile  concerns  without  the 
assistance  of  his  son  Jonathan — who  was  the  only  member  '' 
of  the  family  qualified,  in  the  then  complicated  state  of  an 
extensive  business,  to  adjust  them,  and  to  administer  upon 
the  estate  of  his  deceased  brother.  This  son,  therefore,  he 
called  to  his  aid.  Jonathan  at  once  undertook  the  duty,  and 
devoting  himself  to  it  with  industry,  became  at  length  so  in 
volved  in  commercial  occupations,  and  so  essential,  through  / 
his  services,  to  their  success,  that  upon  the  urgent  request  of 
his  father,  he  declined,  though  with  reluctance,  the  call  of  the 
church  at  Colchester — abandoned  his  early  and  favorite  pur 
suit — and  became  a  merchant.  This  new  employment  di 
verted  him,  of  course,  from  ecclesiastical  into  the  study  of 
business  affairs,  and  threw  him  at  once  into  active  intercourse 
with  men.  It  placed  him  in  position  to  take  part,  if  he  chose, 
in  all  civil  affairs,  and  to  figure,  if  he  so  desired,  in  the  sphere 
of  politics,  legislation,  and  public  office — a  sphere  which  he 
almost  immediately,  as  we  shall  see,  began  to  occupy,  and 
which,  in  connection  with  mercantile  business,  he  filled  till 
nearly  the  close  of  a  long  and  most  honorable  life. 


32  CHAP.    I. — TRUMBULL.  1732— 1UO. 

It  is  a  remark  of  Trumbull's  classmate  Hutchinson,  that 
"  many  of  the  first  characters  in  Massachusetts  were  at  first 
probationers  for  the  ministry,  and  afterwards  made  a  figure 
at  the  bar,  or  in  the  legislative  or  executive  courts  of  the 
province."  Stoughton,  Eead,  Gridley,  and  Judge  Stephen 
Sewall,  illustrate  this  remark  in  the  Old  Bay  State.  Gurdon 
Saltonstall,  and  Jonathan  Trumbull,  strikingly  illustrate  it 
in  Connecticut,  and  the  latter  more  remarkably,  we  think, 
than  any  who  preceded  him.  Such  persons,  after  their  ordi 
nation  particularly,  adds  Hutchinson,  "ought  to  have  very 
special  reasons  for  leaving  their  profession  for  a  civil  employ 
ment."  The  reason  in  Trumbull's  case  has  been  already 
noted.  It  was  a  special  and  an  imperative  one.  But  inde 
pendently  of  this — as  we  progress  with  his  life,  that  will  be 
found  to  have  been  a  most  wise  dispensation  of  Providence, 
which  even  through  a  startling  bereavement — through  the 
sad  accident  of  a  brother's  death,  and  the  infirmities  of  a 
father  almost  broken  with  sorrow — took  him  from  the  com 
paratively  narrow  sphere  of  pastoral  life  in  a  humble  coun 
try  village,  to  move  in  the  grander  orbit  of  a  whole  State, 
and  a  whole  Country,  for  their  political  salvation  and  deliv 
erance. 

Though  exceedingly  occupied,  immediately  after  his  broth 
er's  death,  with  the  cares  of  business,  his  mind,  accustomed 
to  thoughtfulness,  and  trained  to  investigation,  sought  and 
found  new  resources  in  the  pursuits  of  literature,  and  in  the 
study,  particularly,  of  history  and  civil  jurisprudence.  Of 
law,  in  all  its  bearings  upon  the  relations  of  business,  he 
soon  made  himself  master.  With  the  history  especially  of 
his  own  country,  and  of  the  Motherland,  and  with  that  of 
communities  and  nations  generally  as  it  develops  the  causes 
of  their  rise,  decline,  and  fall,  and  instructed  him  in  the  va 
rious  policies  and  principles  of  government,  he  made  himself 
familiar.  Civil  jurisprudence,  in  fact,  became  with  him  now 
a  most  favorite  study,  and  to  quite  an  extent  supplanted  his 
old  taste  for  divinity,  though  he  never,  throughout  his  life, 
neglected  this  last  important  science. 

So  well  informed  did  he  soon  become  upon  public  affairs 
generally,  and  such  was  the  confidence  reposed  in  his  fidelity 


1732— 1740.  CHAP.    I. — TRUMBULL.  33 

and  discretion,  that  in  1733,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-three, 
he  was  elected  by  his  fellow-citizens  of  Lebanon  to  represent 
their  interests  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Colony.  He 
was  again  elected  to  the  same  office  in  1736 — again  in 
1737 — again  in  1738 — again  in  1739,  during  which  year  he 
was  also  chosen  to  the  honorable  post  of  Speaker  of  the 
House — and  again  in  1740,  during  the  May  Session  of  which 
year  he  found  himself  chosen,  by  the  whole  body  of  Free 
men,  to  the  post  of  an  Assistant,  and  Member  of  the  Coun 
cil  of  his  native  Colony.  Positions  these  of  honor  and 
trust — in  quick  succession,  and  while  he  was  but  a  youth — • 
which  show,  on  the  part  of  Trumbull,  a  rapid  growth  in  the 
public  esteem.  How  he  conducted  himself  in  them — with 
what  vigor  or  wisdom — we  have  no  records  to  show — but 
certain  it  is  that  to  have  attained  the  Speakership,  in  the 
highest  deliberative  body  of  Connecticut,  when  he  was  but 
twenty-nine  years  old,  and  the  post  of  Assistant  in  a  body, 
which,  both  in  theory  and  in  practice — such  was  the  taste 
and  demand  of  the  age — was  to  be  composed  of  "grave  and 
reverend  seignors" — was  a  flattering  distinction,  and  indi 
cated  ability  and  good  conduct  of  no  ordinary  character* 

During  this  whole  period  of  eight  years,  and  on  after 
wards,  down  to  the  outbreak  of  the  American  Revolution, 
Trumbull  pursued,  with  industry,  his  vocation  as  a  merchant. 
Of  his  management  and  experience  in  this  department  we 
shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  speak  particularly,  after  we 
have  brought  his  public  life  down  to  the  time  of  the  Peace 
of  Paris  in  1763.  Suffice  it  to  say  here,  that  his  energy  in 
mercantile  affairs  was  great,  his  judgment  sound,  arid  his 
success,  for  some  thirty-two  years,  certain  and  abundant. 

In  1735,  Love  "showed  his  plumage"  to  the  eyes  of  the 
young  merchant.  December  ninth  of  this  year — at  the  age 
of  twenty -five — he  married  Faith  Robinson,  the  daughter  of 
the  wise  and  venerable  Rev.  John  Robinson,  of  Duxbury, 
Massachusetts,  and  the  great  grand-daughter  of  that  famous 
John  Robinson  who  stood  at  the  head  of  the  first  Pilgrim 
emigration  to  the  New  World.  She  was  then  a  blooming 
girl  of  seventeen — of  fine  intelligence  and  manners — of 
benevolent  heart — of  discreet  and  virtuous  conduct — and 


34  CHAP.    I. — TRUMBULL.  1*732—1740. 

promised  richly  to  become  what  she  afterwards  was,  "an 
amiable  and  exemplary  pattern,"  for  nearly  forty -five  years 
that  she  lived  with  her  husband,  "of  conjugal,  maternal,  and 
every  social  affection." 

The  first  fruit  of  this  marriage  was  a  son,  born  March 
eleventh,  1737,  who  was  baptized  Joseph — and  who  was 
destined,  after  a  partnership  for  many  years  with  his  father 
in  business,  to  run  a  short  but  brilliant  career  in  the  service 
of  his  country — to  figure  as  the  first  Commissary-General  of 
the  United  States  in  our  struggle  for  Independence — to  be 
elected  by  the  national  American  Congress  one  of  the  mem 
bers  of  its  Board  of  War — and  finally,  after  being  worn  out 
in  health  solely  by  his  arduous  labors  for  his  native  land,  to 
die  in  the  midst  of  the  Eevolutionary  contest,  at  a  compara 
tively  early  age,  a  martyr  to  the  glorious  cause  of  American 
Liberty. 


CHAPTER    II. 
1740—1750. 

TRCTMBTJLL'S  public  offices  and  services.  War  "bet-ween  Spain,  France,  and 
England.  Connecticut  takes  an  active  part  in  it.  Trumbull  ia  deeply- 
interested.  As  a  military  officer,  he  ia  "busy  in  furnishing  troops  and 
supplies.  He  is  charged  by  Connecticut  with  highly  important  and 
honorable  trusts  in  connection  with  the  war.  Is  a  principal  counsellor 
upon  military  enterprises,  and  upon  ways  and  means.  He  renders  val 
uable  service,  and  is  in  high  repute,  hue  does  not  himself  take  the 
field.  Three  children  are  added  to  his  family. 

DURING  the  ten  years  which  elapsed  from  1740  to  1750, 
Trumbull,  by  a  vote  of  the  People,  held  every  year  the  post 
of  Assistant.  In  1745,  he  was  appointed  to  be  of  the  Quo 
rum  for  the  County  of  Windham  for  the  year  ensuing — in 
other  words,  an  Assistant  Judge  of  the  County  Court.  In 
1746,  in  1747,  in  1748,  and  in  1749,  he  was  appointed  Judge 
of  the  County  Court  of  Windham,  and  in  the  last  men 
tioned  year  Judge  also  of  the  Probate  Court  for  the  same 
district. 

Of  the  manner  in  which  he  discharged  the  various  duties 
which  thus,  in  a  public  capacity,  fell  to  his  lot,  we  are  unable, 
from  the  want  of  memorials,  to  speak  particularly.  But  it  is 
clear  that  in  their  performance  he  was  assiduous,  and  that 
from  the  General  Assembly  he  received  frequent  marks  of 
confidence.  Upon  himself — in  addition  to  his  general  duties 
as  legislator  and  Assistant — was  repeatedly  devolved  the 
business  of  auditing,  with  the  Treasurer,  the  public  accounts — • 
of  inquiring  into  the  state  of  the  public  loans — of  enforcing 
payments  due  to  the  Colony,  especially  those  from  debtors 
whose  affairs  were  in  any  degree  complicated — of  converting 
sterling  bills  of  exchange  into  gold,  and  applying  the  pro 
ceeds  to  special  objects — of  superintending,  at  times,  the  re 
pair  of  public  buildings — occasionally  of  managing  Indian 
difficulties — and  particularly,  in  1747,  of  adjusting,  with  a 
Committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  the  boundary  line  be 
tween  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  on  the  north — a  deli- 


36  CHAP.    II. — TKUMBULL.  1740—1750. 

cate  and  most  difficult  task,  in  the  controversy  as  it  then  ex 
isted  between  the  two  Colonies. 

But  a  controversy  far  more  exciting  and  important  than 
this  about  boundary,  roused  Trumbull  during  the  period  at 
present  under  consideration.  For  now  occurred  that  French 
and  Spanish  War,  which — declared  first  between  England 
and  Spain  in  1639,  and  between  England  and  France  in 
1744 — was  continued  down  to  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 
in  1748 — nearly  ten  years.  Commencing  in  resistance  to  an 
outrageous  claim,  on  the  part  of  Spain,  to  exclusive  control 
of  the  Southern  American  seas,  and  of  all  territory  on  the 
southern  confines  of  the  British  Colonies  in  America — the 
French — upon  like  claims  to  territory  in  the  west,  east,  and 
north  of  America,  to  the  fisheries  at  the  east,  and  to  the  whole 
sweep  of  the  seas  from  Maine  to  the  coast  of  Labrador — -joined 
in  the  contest.  And  from  Porto  Bello  on  the  Bay  of  Pana 
ma  to  the  easternmost  point  of  Newfoundland — from  Onta 
rio  to  the  Bay  of  Chaleurs — from  the  Hudson  and  Kennebec 
rivers  to  the  majestic  St.  Lawrence — all  was  stir  upon  the 
water — all,  but  specially  at  the  east,  was  bustle,  danger,  and 
contest  upon  the  land. 

There  were  expeditions  against  the  Spanish  West  Indies — 
against  the  Floridas — against  Louisburgh.  There  were 
French  armadas — formidable  to  New  as  the  Spanish  armada 
was  to  Old  England.  There  were  alarming  invasions  by 
Spain  of  Georgia — but  particularly,  at  the  North  and  East, 
there  were  numerous  land  attacks  by  the  French  on  English 
settlements,  and  molestation  upon  all  the  frontiers  by  the 
Indians  of  Cape  Sable,  St.  Johns,  Penobscot,  Norridgwork, 
and  Canada.  In  addition,  there  was  the  swarming  of  French 
privateers  and  men  of  war  upon  our  coasts — plundering  and 
capturing  vessels  to  such  an  extent  as  not  only  at  times  to 
endanger  our  fisheries,  but  to  close  them  absolutely  against 
our  sailors,  and  to  render  all  maritime  business  whatever 
perilous  without  a  convoy. 

It  was  indeed  a  stirring  and  an  anxious  time,  this  whole 
period  of  the  war,  to  all  of  New  England — to  no  part  of  it 
more,  except  a  portion  of  the  east  bordering  more  nearly  on 
the  seat  of  contest,  than  to  Connecticut — and  among  the  citi- 


1740—1750.  CHAP.    II.— TRUMBULL.  37 

zens  of  this  Colony,  save  to  its  Governor  and  the  general 
officers  in  immediate  command  of  its  forces  in  service,  to  no 
one  hardly  as  much  so  as  to  Assistant  Jonathan  Trumbull. 

He  had,  in  the  first  place,  his  own  ships  upon  the  ocean. 
As  merchant,  he  sent  them  to  the  West  India  isles,  and  past 
Newfoundland,  sometimes  with  cargoes  in  part  derived  from 
the  fisheries  in  that  region,  on  to  Liverpool,  Bristol,  London, 
and  to  other  places  in  England.  He  had,  therefore,  a  deep 
interest  in  the  security  of  maritime  commerce.  But,  more 
than  all — he  knew  the  dangers  and  embarrassments  which  his 
country  had  suffered,  for  many  weary  years,  from  French  and 
Spanish  claims  to  dominion  in  the  New  World — that  the 
French,  particularly,  had  been  a  lasting  scourge  to  New 
England,  and  New  York — wasting  their  frontiers — sweeping 
off  great  numbers  of  their  inhabitants — slaughtering  their 
troops,  most  of  them  the  flower  of  New  England  hope — and 
checking,  consequently,  the  progress  of  trade,  husbandry, 
the  useful  arts  generally,  and  of  literature,  morals,  and  relig 
ion.  He  felt,  therefore,  the  liveliest  anxiety  that  their  power 
to  do  future  mischief  should  be,  not  only  crushed,  but  extir 
pated.  Like  his  fathers  before  him,  he  even  fasted  and 
prayed  for  a  result  so  propitious — so  momentous  in  its  bear 
ings  on  the  progress  of  American  civilization,  prosperity,  and 
peace. 

Into  all  the  war  measures,  consequently,  taken  by  Connec 
ticut,  he  entered  with  alacrity — not  only  so  for  the  reasons 
already  given,  but  also  because  of  a  military  office  which  he 
then  sustained — for  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  in  1739, 
when  the  militia  of  the  Colony  were  organized  into  thirteen 
regiments,  Trumbull  had  been  appointed  Lieutenant-Colonel 
of  the  Twelfth. 

It  became  his  duty,  therefore,  as  forces  were  ordered  from 
time  to  time  by  the  General  Assembly,  to  aid  in  raising  the 
quotas  required  from  his  own  regiment — sometimes  to  beat 
up  for  volunteers,  and,  as  requested  specially  by  the  Colonial 
Authorities,  to  "urge  upon  the  people  motives  for  enlist 
ment" — to  furnish  those  who  did  enlist  with  supplies — to  see 
to  the  distribution  of  their  bounty  and  wages — sometimes  to 
impress  men,  arms,  accoutrements,  and  clothing — to  appoint 


38  CHAP.    II.    TRTJMBULL.  1740—1750. 

places  for  the  rendezvous  of  the  soldiers,  and  see  them  ulti 
mately  marched,  under  proper  officers,  to  their  destinations 
for  actual  service. 

Not  a  year  of  the  war  passed  in  which  Connecticut  did 
not  raise  troops — sometimes  more,  sometimes  less — but  at  all 
times,  considering  her  resources  and  population,  for  herself  a 
very  large  proportion — now,  at  the  beginning  of  the  contest, 
some  for  the  West  India  expedition  under  Admiral  Yernon 
and  General  "Wentworth,  victims  alas,  nearly  all,  of  a  terri 
ble  plague  at  Cuba — now  more  than  a  thousand  for  the  enter 
prise  against  Louisburgh — now  one  thousand  for  an  invasion 
of  Canada — and  now  many  for  frontier  and  sea-coast  defence 
upon  the  D'Anville  Alarm — at  an  expense  during  the  con 
test,  all  told,  of  about  one  hundred  thousand  pounds. 
Trumbull,  therefore,  it  is  obvious,  in  his  own  sphere  as 
military  officer,  had  no  small  share  of  duty  to  perform. 

But  it  was  not  with  his  own  regiment  alone,  and  within  a 
limited  military  district,  that  his  care  was  bestowed.  He  was 
frequently  charged  by  the  Colony  with  important  general 
services  in  regard  to  the  war,  and  sometimes  with  vital  nego 
tiations.  He  was  called  upon  to  supply  arms  and  military 
stores  for  expeditions  at  large,  and  settle  military  accounts* — 
but  more  than  all,  and  conspicuously — with  Commissioners 
from  other  Colonies,  and  British  commanders  of  highest 
rank — he  was  designated  to  act  as  a  principal  counsellor  in 

*Thus  upon  one  occasion,  with  Hezekiah  Huntington,  he  was  appointed  to 
provide,  "in  the  best  and  most  seasonable  manner,"  firelocks,  cutlasses,  car- 
touch-boxes,  and  belts,  for  an  expedition  against  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point. 
Again,  after  an  attack  in  this  direction,  he  was  to  procure  the  arms  belonging  to  a 
portion  of  the  troops,  and  keep  the  same  "  clean  and  in  good  order,"  and  receive 
and  keep  also  their  ammunition,  and  review  and  report  upon  the  accounts  of  their 
officers.  Thus  again  he  was  appointed  to  examine  into  the  receipts  given  for 
premiums  to  troops  employed  at  Cape  Breton,  and  correct  mistakes,  and  account 
with  the  Treasurer  of  the  Colony.  Thus  again,  with  William  Pitkin  and  George 
Wyllys,  he  was  instructed  to  take  into  consideration  the  letters  of  Agent  Palmer, 
particularly  those  relating  to  the  muster-rolls  of  the  forces  employed  at  Cape 
Breton,  and  to  secure  the  best  proof  of  the  services  of  these  forces,  and  complete 
the  Colony  accounts  in  that  quarter  up  to  the  time  when  the  garrisoning  of  Louis- 
burgh  was  taken  into  the  hands  of  his  majesty,  and  the  troops  from  Connecticut 
returned.  Thus,  yet  again— with  such  men  as  Ebenezer  Silliman,  William  Pit- 
kin,  and  Gurdon  Saltonstall — he  was  employed  to  report  to  the  Colony  full 
statements  of  clothing,  arms,  accoutrements,  bounties,  and  of  all  other  expenses 
incurred  in  expeditions  to  the  North. 


1740—1750.  CHAP.    II. — TRUMBULL.  39 

the  chief  enterprises  of  the  war — to  decide  when  and  how 
they  should  be  undertaken,  and  with  what  outlay  and  dispo 
sition  of  men  and  means. 

Thus  in  1745,  he  was  appointed,  with  Elisha  Williams,  a 
Commissioner  from  Connecticut  to  repair  to  Boston — and 
there,  with  Governor  Shirley,  and  such  other  gentlemen  from 
Massachusetts  and  from  neighboring  Colonies,  as  should  be 
chosen  for  the  purpose,  to  treat  about  all  matters  relating  to 
the  contemplated  expedition  against  Louisburgh — that  cap 
ital  point,  at  once  the  Gibraltar  and  the  Dunkirk  of 
America — upon  whose  secure  possession  both  France  and 
England  mainly  depended  for  the  preservation  of  their 
possessions  in  the  New  World,  and  for  which  they  fought 
with  the  fierceness  and  tenacity  of  mastiffs. 

Again  in  1746,  he  was  designated,  with  the  same  colleague, 
a  Commissioner  in  behalf  of  Connecticut,  in  regard  to  a  pro 
posed  enterprise  against  Canada.  With  Governor  Shirley, 
Admiral  Warren  and  others,  he  was  to  consult  about  the 
needful  preparations  and  comfortable  subsistence  of  the 
forces  to  be  raised  in  Connecticut — to  see  to  their  proper  pro 
tection  by  means  of  an  armed  convoy,  if  their  services 
should  be  demanded — and  generally,  to  decide  upon  the 
time,  method,  and  resources  of  the  expedition.  Facts  show 
that  upon  this  occasion  Trumbull  was  a  principal  adviser, 
and  that  his  counsel  was  followed.  The  fleet  from  Eng 
land — which  was  to  rendezvous  at  Louisburgh,  and  thence, 
under  Admiral  Warren,  proceed  up  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
Quebec — was  unaccountably  delayed,  until  the  season  was 
too  far  advanced  to  risk  it  on  the  boisterous  coasts  of 
America.  No  troops  from  abroad,  nor  those  yet  to  be  mus 
tered  in  the  Colonies,  could,  in  Trumbull's  opinion,  get  to 
Quebec,  until  the  winter,  with  its  cold  and  almost  inevitable 
waste  of  men  and  treasures,  should  have  arrived.  He  so 
informed  his  associate  Commissioners,  and  they  had  a  second 
conference,  and  the  expedition  to  Canada  was  postponed. 

It  is  manifest  from  these,  and  other  similar  facts,  that  dur 
ing  the  period  we  contemplate,  Trumbull  was  extensively 
trusted  by  his  native  Colony — in  positions  all  of  them  of 
much  responsibility,  and  many  of  them  of  distinguished 


40  CHAP.    II.— TKUMBULL.  1740—1750. 

honor.  He  had  risen  rapidly  in  public  favor,  and  did  noth 
ing  to  forfeit  it.  His  punctuality,  his  attachment  to  all  the 
solid  interests  of  Connecticut,  as  well  as  to  those  of  the 
country  at  large,  but  particularly  his  financial  skill,  sound 
judgment,  and  earnest  love  of  truth,  were  in  universal 
repute. 

That  he  did  not — himself  the  Colonel  of  a  Regiment — 
take  part  in  actual  warfare — may  appear,  considering  the  in 
terest  he  felt  in  the  war,  and  his  own  fame,  somewhat  strange. 
Had  he  done  so,  his  own,  perhaps,  might  have  been  the 
fortune — like  that  of  the  brave  David  Wooster  of  Connec- 
cut — to  have  figured  before  the  bastions  of  Louisburgh — and 
in  honorable  notice  of  his  services,  to  have  received  at  the 
hands  of  the  British  Government,  a  lieutenant's  commission 
and  half-pay  during  life.  Or  haply,  his  might  have  been  the 
opportunity,  at  the  head  of  some  impetuous  brigade  of  his 
own,  to  have  gloriously  effected  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga 
and  Crown  Point,  and  an  entrance  into  the  heart  of  Canada. 
Or  in  some  other  form  he  might  have  signalized  his  prowess 
and  his  skill  in  the  clash  of  arms.  Certain  it  is  that  his 
qualifications  for  becoming  a  military  commander,  as  time 
proved,  were  high.  He  showed  them  abundantly  in  his  after 
life.  But  other  public  duties — such  as  those  already 
described — and  the  cares  of  private  business — monopolized 
his  attention,  and  prevented  him  from  drawing,  in  person, 
"the  offensive  blade."  Perhaps — as  we  have  sometimes  sus 
pected — from  the  impulses  of  a  mild  and  clement  nature — 
he  had  some  lurking  indisposition  to  become  "an  iron 
man," 

"  Turning  the  Word  to  Sword,  and  Life  to  Death." 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  causes,  however,  that  kept  him 
back  from  the  blood-stained  field,  "it  was  all,"  we  doubt  not, 
"for  the  best."  A  different  sphere  had  been  decreed  for  his 
own  display — one  in  which,  indeed,  he  was  to  move  armies, 
but  not  himself  appear  at  their  head — and  in  which  he  was 
to  acquire  laurels  quite  as  triumphant  as  any  which  have 
ever  graced  the  brows  of  any  military  conqueror,  and  a  fame 
certainly  more  justly  immortal. 


1740—1750.  CHAP.    II. — TRUMBULL.  41 

During  the  interval  which  we  have  just  now  had  under  con 
templation,  three  children  were  added  to  his  family.  The  first 
of  these  was  a  son,  who  was  born  March  twenty-sixth,  1740, 
and  was  baptized  Jonathan,  after  his  father.  Like  his  elder 
brother,  he  too  was  destined  to  a  remarkable  career — like 
him  to  enter  with  zeal  into  the  cause  of  his  country  when 
the  War  for  Independence  began,  but  in  different  depart 
ments  of  duty — soon  to  become  in  this  war  Paymaster- 
General  for  the  Northern  Department  of  the  American 
Army — then  Private  Secretary  to  the  Commander-in-chief 
of  all  the  American  Armies — next,  surviving  the  war,  to 
become  a  member  of  the  first  House  of  Kepresentatives  of 
the  United  States — then  Speaker  of  this  House — next  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States — and  last,  succeeding  his  father, 
after  a  few  years,  as  Governor  of  his  native  State,  to  expire, 
at  a  good  old  age,  with  the  mantle  of  gubernatorial  power 
still  wrapped  around  him. 

The  second  of  the  children  of  Trumbull  within  the  period 
on  which  we  dwell,  was  a  daughter,  who  was  born  January 
twenty-fifth,  1742-3,  and  was  baptized  Faith,  after  her 
mother.  She  too,  like  her  brothers  already  mentioned,  had  a 
Eevolutionary  destiny  to  fulfil — one  of  singular  and  startling 
import.  She  was  to  become  the  wife  of  Colonel  Hunting- 
ton,  afterwards  a  General  in  the  army  under  Washington — 
was  to  follow  her  husband  and  a  favorite  brother  to  the 
"  Camp  around  Boston,"  and  reach  there — not  to  see  a  for 
midable  army,  as  she  expected,  in  quiet  though  watchful 
quarters — but  just  when  the  thunders  of  Bunker  Hill  broke 
over  a  scene  of  horrible  carnage — which,  alarming  her  "deep 
and  affectionate "  nature  for  the  safety  of  those  most  dear  to 
her,  drove  her  into  madness,  and  to  a  speedy  death. 

Another  daughter,  third  of  the  three  children  of  whom  we 
now  speak,  was  born  July  sixteenth,  1745,  and  was  baptized 
Mary — probably  after  a  long  list  of  Marys  who,  in  her 
maternal  line,  had  borne  this  name,  from  the  wife  of  John 
Robinson  of  Leyden,  down.  Her  career  too  was  to  be  con 
spicuously  allied  with  "the  times  that  tried  men's  souls." 
She  was  to  become  the  wife  of  William  Williams — a  patriot 
who  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress — who  signed 


42  CHAP.    II. — TRUMBULL.  1740—1750. 

the  Declaration  of  Independence — and  who  during  the  whole 
period  of  the  Revolutionary  War — as  the  epitaph  on  his 
tomb  justly  affirms — was  "a  firm,  steady,  and  ardent  Mend 
of  his  country,  and  in  the  darkest  times  risked  his  life  and 
wealth  for  her  defence." 

Striking  destiny — that  of  all  the  children  of  Trumbull 
whose  births  we  have  thus  far  chronicled,  and  whose  horo 
scope  we  have  briefly  cast!  We  shall  have  occasion,  in  a 
future  chapter,  to  note,  and  cast  the  horoscope  of  more. 


C  HAPT  E  R    III. 
1750—1763. 

TRUMBULL'S  public  offices  and  serviees.  Case  of  the  Spanish  Snow  St.  Jo 
seph  and  St.  Helena,  and  his  particular  connection  with  it.  Ee  ben 
eficially  settles  the  controversy  it  involved.  The  second  French  and 
English  War.  The  contributions  of  Connecticut  towards  it.  Trum- 
bull's  agency  in  ite  prosecution.  He  again  raises  men  and  supplies,  and 
•with  Commissioners  from  other  Colonies,  and  British  commanders-in- 
chief,  decides  upon  its  enterprises.  Instances  of  consultation  for  this 
purpose.  He  is  twice  appointed  Colonial  Agent  for  Connecticut  to  the 
Court  of  Great  Britain,  but  declines.  His  letters  of  declination.  Com 
ment.  The  war  closes.  Trumbull's  gratification.  The  fruits  of  the 
war.  General  joy. 

WE  come  now  to  the  period  in  Trumbull's  life  from  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  down  to  the  Pacification 
of  Paris.  It  is  one  over  which  light  from  memorials  shines 
again  but  dimly — but  where  yet  we  shall  find  something  to 
reward  our  attention — one  during  which  office  still  continued 
to  heap  its  honors  on  the  head  of  the  Subject  of  our  Memoir, 
and  War  to  heap  its  public  duties.  Let  us  look  at  him  then, 
as  in  our  last  chapter,  under  both  these  aspects. 

And  first  as  regards  civil  and  judicial  functions.  In  1750, 
he  was  again  elected  Assistant — again  in  1751 — again  in 
1755 — and  again  each  year  in  succession,  down  to  the  close 
of  the  period  upon  which  we  are  now  engaged.  In  1752,  he 
was  chosen  member  of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  from 
Lebanon,  and  was  made  Speaker.  In  1753,  he  was  again 
elected  to  the  House — and  again  in  1754,  in  which  year  he 
was  for  the  third  time  honored  with  the  post  of  Speaker.  In 
1750,  he  was  chosen  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  and  Judge 
also  of  the  Probate  Court  for  the  County  and  District  of 
Windham.  To  these  two  offices  he  was  also  chosen  for  the 
three  succeeding  years,  with  the  addition,  in  1752,  and  in 
1753,  of  that  of  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

In  1754,  he  was  elected  Assistant  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court,  which,  at  this  time,  consisted  of  one  Chief  Justice, 
and  of  four  side  Judges,  and  which  had  jurisdiction  of  all 


44  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  1?50— 1763. 

high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  and  of  all  civil  actions  that 
came  to  it  by  appeal  from  Inferior  Courts.  This  honor,  how 
ever,  Trumbull  declined — for  reasons  which  do  not  appear, 
but  which,  in  all  probability,  grew  out  of  the  multiplicity  of 
his  business  in  other  directions.  He  declined  also,  the  same 
year,  the  office  of  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  but  filled  that 
of  Judge  of  Probate.  This  last  office,  but  not  the  former,  he 
filled  in  1755 — and  so  also  in  1756.  In  1757,  he  was  again 
chosen  to  both  offices,  and  continued  to  hold  them  by  annual 
re-election,  to  the  close  of  1763.  Besides  his  ordinary  duties 
as  legislator,  and  member  of  the  Governor's  Council,  which 
he  fulfilled,  as  heretofore,  with  regularity,  he  was  often  called 
upon,  as  in  previous  years,  to  deal  with  the  finances  of  the 
Colony,  with  its  Indian  affairs,  and  at  times  with  ecclesiasti 
cal  matters  of  public  concern.* 

But  the  most  interesting  matter  of  all  in  the  present  period, 
in  a  public  view — save  the  renewed  war — with  which  Colo 
nel  Trumbull  was  connected,  was  that  involved  in  the  fa 
mous  case  of  the  Snow  St.  Joseph  and  St.  Helena — a  Span 
ish  ship — from  Havanna,  bound  to  Cadiz — which,  in  1753, 
coming  into  the  port  of  ISTew  London  in  distress,  ran  upon  a 
reef  of  rocks,  and  was  so  damaged  that  it  became  necessary 
to  unload  her  cargo — an  exceedingly  costly  and  valuable 
one — and  deposit  it,  for  safe  keeping,  with  the  then  Collector 
of  the  port,  Joseph  Hill. 

Upon  attempting  to  reship  her  goods,  the  succeeding  spring, 
her  supercargo — Don  Miguel  by  name — could  find  but  a 
small  portion  of  them — the  residue  being  either  withheld, 

*Thus  in  1751,  he  was  appointed  to  deal  with  the  Pequot  Indians,  in  relation 
to  intrusions  upon  their  lands,  and  upon  their  case  at  this  time  he  made  an  able 
report — and  in  1760  with  the  Mohegans,  within  whose  lands  he  was  directed  to 
lay  out  highways.  Thus  he  was  appointed  at  one  time  to  allay  difficulties  in  the 
Church  at  Middletown,  and  fix  the  site  of  a  Meeting  House  there — and  at  another 
time  in  Windsor,  whither,  with  Hezekiah  Huntington  he  repaired,  and  heard  the 
parties  at  variance,  and  there  also  staked  out  the  site  for  a  new  Meeting  House. 
Besides  all  this,  he  occasionally  had  to  look  after  Houses  of  Correction — to  see  to 
their  construction,  or  their  repair,  and  to  appoint  masters  for  the  same,  and  su 
perintend  their  discharge  of  duty.  The  public  expenses  of  this  period,  because 
of  the  renewal  of  war,  were  extraordinary,  and  Trumbull' s  services,  therefore, 
in  auditing  accounts,  in  adjusting  them  with  subordinate  collectors  and  com 
missaries,  and  in  paying  over  to  the  Colony  its  loans,  and  debts  due,  were 
more  than  ever  called  into  requisition. 


1750—1763.  CHAP.    III.— TRUMBULL.  45 

lost,  or  embezzled.  Whereupon  he  memorialized  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  for  aid  and  compensation,  and  the  affair  taking 
wind,  soon  created  the  greatest  ferment  in  Connecticut.  It 
looked  injurious  towards  foreigners.  It  looked  dishonorable 
for  the  Colony.  It  would  involve  the  Colony,  it  was  sup 
posed,  in  a  heavy  debt  to  owners,  by  way  of  indemnification. 
It  might  lead,  it  was  feared,  to  a  serious  rupture  between 
Spain  and  the  English  Colonies  in  America.  It  gave  rise,  in 
its  course,  to  the  most  unfriendly  imputations  upon  some  of 
the  leading  men  in  Connecticut — and  soon,  becoming  min 
gled  up  with  the  politics  of  the  day,  had  even  the  effect — on 
account  of  attributed  tardiness,  indifference,  and  even  collu 
sion  in  his  management  of  the  case — of  displacing  Governor 
Eoger  Wolcott  from  the  Chair  of  State,  and  putting  Thomas 
Fitch  in  his  stead. 

Upon  this  affair— for  its  thorough  investigation,  and 
peaceable  settlement — Colonel  Trumbull,  with  Koger  Wol 
cott,  Junior,  for  an  associate,  became  engaged  by  special  order 
of  the  General  Assembly — and  documents,  particularly  the 
Wolcott  Papers,  show  that  nearly  all  the  labor  connected 
with  it  devolved  on  himself — and  was  discharged  with  fidel 
ity,  and  to  universal  satisfaction. 

He  repaired  many  times  to  New  London  about  the  mat 
ter — consulted  with  the  King's  Attorney  there  respecting 
it — examined  the  parties  concerned,  and  numerous  wit 
nesses  from  various  quarters — liquidated  accounts  against 
the  Snow — made  special  search  for  all  that  part  of  her  cargo 
which  was  missing,  and  also  for  the  original  offenders.  He 
made  a  careful  inventory  of  the  stores  that  were  left — deliv 
ered  them  at  last,  on  board  the  Nebuchadnezzar,  into  the 
hands  of  the  Spanish  Agent  Don  Miguel — and  received  from 
him  in  return,  by  letter,  warm  acknowledgments  of  his  "full 
satisfaction  and  thankfulness"  for  uthe  favor  and  justice"  he 
had  received.  By  Don  Miguel,  he  wrote  to  Don  Aguedo  and 
Company,  the  owners  of  the  Snow — communicating  to  them 
all  that  had  been  done  for  the  security  of  their  property,  and 
in  a  warm-hearted  spirit — wishing,  as  he  expressed  it,  that  God 
would  "grant  Don  Miguel  de  St.  Juan  a  prosperous  voyage, 
and  a  kind  and  happy  reception  by  his  friends,"  and  that  the 


46  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  1750—1763. 

effects,  the  misfortunes  attending  which  he  took  occasion 
deeply  to  deplore,  might  come  safely  to  hand — he  dismissed 
the  ill-starred,  troublesome,  strife-engendering  agent  and 
cargo  to  take  their  course  for  Spain.* 

To  the  Assembly  of  his  native  Colony,  in  the  course  of 
his  investigation,  he  made  two  reports,  giving  it  as  his  own 
and  as  his  colleague's  conclusion,  upon  the  whole  matter,  that 
the  proceedings  on  the  part  of  Connecticut,  and  of  its  Gov 
ernors  and  agents,  were  such  as  wholly  to  relieve  the  colony 
from  apprehensions  of  liability  for  the  damages  sustained — 
and  that  the  conduct  of  Don  Miguel,  the  supercargo,  as  "  ap 
peared  in  the  course  of  the  evidences,"  had  been  "in  many 
respects,  very  strange  and  extraordinary " — thus  impliedly  ex 
onerating  the  colony  from  blame,  removing  suspicion  from 
those  among  its  leading  characters  who  had  been  severely 
censured,  and  restoring  the  people  to  tranquillity  and 
content.f 

*  Trumbull  also  at  this  time  conferred  specially  with  Charles  Crosby,  a  King's 
Commissioner  from  on  board  the  British  ship  of  war  Syren,  upon  the  affair  of  the 
Snow— and  delivered  to  him  papers  and  evidences  respecting  it,  carefully  pre 
pared—for  the  purpose  of  having  them  transmitted  to  his  Majesty's  Secretary  of 
State. 

tSome  curious  indications  of  Trumbull' s  care  while  examining  this  case  of  the 
Snow,  remain.  He  kept,  as  he  was  accustomed  often  to  do — particularly  in  after 
years,  when  engaged  in  important  investigations— a  little  diary  of  his  proceed 
ings—from  which,  not  so  much  for  the  value  of  the  facts,  as  for  the  sake  of  ex 
hibiting  a  specimen  of  his  talent  in  this  respect,  and  of  his  exactness,  we  make 
the  following  extract : — 

"  Tuesday,  Dec.  3d,  1754.  Set  out  with  E.  Wolcott,  Junior,  Esq.,  to  New  Lon 
don  on  the  Spanish  Affair  relating  to  Snow  St  Jos  &  St  Helena— came  to  Nor 
wich—Costs  paid  by  me— 0.  8.  0.— at  Hortons,  Do.  p.  Wolcott  0.  8.  0. 

"  Took  lodgings  at  Mr.  John  Eichards. 

"  Wednesday,  Dec.  4,  1754.  Went  to  Mr  Stuarts— sent  his  young  man  Temple 
to  Ship  Triton,  to  Capt.  Whitnell — and  he  appointed  to  meet  us  at  Dyshons  at  4 
o'Clock  P.  M.— and  accordingly  did— and  conferred  on  the  Spanish  affair— he  ap 
peared  dissatisfied  with  the  Treatment  he  had  met  with,  &  Tho't  it  not  so  civil 
as  he  had  reason  to  expect.  After  some  conversation  he  seemed  more  easy — & 
we  parted. 

"  Thursday,  Dec.  5th.  A  fine  pleasant  Day.  Capt.  Whitnell  Invited  us  to 
Dine  with  him  on  board  the  Ship.  Went  on  board  with  him,  Mr.  Winthrop,  & 
Mr.  Chew— Dined— Conversed  on  the  affair— showed  him  the  evidences  in  the 
case,  our  Instructions,  &  the  Kings  Instructions,  <fee— came  on  shore.  Tnun- 
ble  £1— Wolcott  £1. 

"  Friday,  Dec.  6th.  Very  Eainy,  P.  M.  Went  and  talked  with  Mr.  Hull  Col 
lector.  He  thinks  he  hath  d'd  the  Goods,  &  hath  not  the  special  property  of 
them. 


1750—1763.  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  47 

But  the  chief  activity  of  Trumbull  during  the  period  now 
under  contemplation,  so  far  as  public  matters  are  con 
cerned — and  in  the  exhibition  of  which  he  showed,  so  far  as 
memorials  enable  us  to  judge,  great  zeal  and  wisdom — was 
again  in  the  sphere  of  war — of  that  second  long,  perilous, 
and  wasting  French  War,  which,  renewed  again,  by  formal 
declaration,  in  1755,  was  crowned  finally  by  a  triumphant 
and  lasting  Peace  on  the  Tenth  of  February,  1763.  More 
than  the  war  which  immediately  preceded  it,  this  tasked  the 
strength  and  resources  of  Connecticut,  enlisted  its  zeal,  agi 
tated  its  counsels,  deepened  its  anxieties,  darkened  at  times 
its  hopes,  and  at  times  more  thrilled  the  old  Colony  with 
exultation. 

It  was  conducted  in  all  respects  on  a  grander  scale  than 
the  former— with  fuller  preparations  both  of  men  and  mon 
ey — with  larger  aims — with  more  redoubtable  points  of 

"  Saturday,  Dec.  7th.    Major  Wolcott  went  to  Lyme,  &  I  went  home  to  Lebanon. 

"  Sabbath,  Dec.  8th— at  home. 

"  Monday,  9th — at  home.    Major  Wolcott  at  Lyme. 

"  Tuesday,  10th — Do — Major  Wolcott  came  to  N.  Lond. 

"  Wednesday — 11 — Came  to  New  London — set  out  after  nine  o'clock — got 
down  near  sunset.  The  Weather  pleasant  this  Week  hitherto. 

"Thursday — 12th — fine  clear  morning — something  cold — sent  for  Capt.  D. 
Coit — Don  Jos — &  Mr.  McKenzie — the  two  Spaniards  put  on  board  the  Ship. 

"Friday — 13th — very  Kainy — Went  A.  M — &  ye  Spanish  Merc't  took  ye  Guns 
to  put  on  board. 

"  Saturday— 14— fine  fair  weather. 

"Sunday — 15 — Mr.  Adams  preached. 

"  Monday — 16 — Began  to  Ship  the  Goods  in  Mr.  Sloan's  Stores. 

"  Tuesday— 17— Continued  Ship'g  from  Do.    Talked  with  Mer.  &  Scrivan. 

"Wednesday — 18 — I  went  home — Kainy — prepared  the  Broken  Goods — an 
entertainment  for  Triton,  officers  &c. 

"  Thursday— 19— Shipped  the  Eemaindr  from  Do. 

"  Friday — 20 — Shipped  from  Chews  or  McKenzie' s  Store. 

"  Saturday — 21 — Continued  Shipping  from  Do. 

"  Sabbath — 22 — at  home — Mr.  Wms  preached. 

"  Monday— 23— Eainy. 

"  Tiiesday — 24 — Shipped  from  Mr.  McKenzie's — come  hither. 

"  Wednesday— 25— Kainy. 

"  Thursday — 26 — Shipped  145  seroons  from  Mr.  McKenzie.  Fair — Sent  Hen- 
she  to  Col'l  Huntington.  Sugar  111  at  13*— £7.  6.  3. 

"  Friday— 27— Fair.  Henshe  returned.  Trumble  paid  him  £4— County  Court 
held  here. 

"  Saturday— 28th— Shipped  Goods. 

"  Sab — 29 — Mr.  Adams  preached — Dr.  Goddard's  barn  burnt. 

"  Monday— 30th— fine  weather— Shipped  Goods. 

"  Tuesday,  31st— Kainy— 21  days." 


48  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  1150— 1*763. 

attack.  Both  on  the  ocean,  the  lake,  the  river,  and  the  land, 
it  was  waged  often  with  the  fierce  energy  of  men  steeled  for 
a  dying  struggle.  Dashed,  in  its  beginning — from  imbecile 
management  in  the  English  Ministry  abroad,  and  imbecile 
English  generalship  upon  the  field  of  strife  in  our  own 
land — more  deeply  dashed  than  the  former  struggle  with  ill- 
success — but  in  its  closing  years  far  more  gloriously  crowned 
with  triumphs — this  contest  spread  not  only  over  the  conti 
nent  of  America,  but  over  a  large  part  of  Europe,  and  the 
Indies  east  and  west.  From  the  Heights  of  Abraham  to  the 
mountains  of  Germany — from  the  Mississippi  to  the  shores 
of  the  Ganges — it  made  almost  "the  universal  air"  strange 
ly  vocal  with  the  clash  of  arms — for  it  was  France  and  Great 
Britain  now  that  awoke  "  the  sleeping  sword  of  war  " — 

"  And  never  two  such  Kingdoms  did  contend 
Without  much  loss  of  blood," 

and  a  rocking  of  the  world  to  its  centre. 

To  enable  us  to  estimate  properly  the  part  which  Trum- 
bull  acted  in  this  war,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  the 
military  levies  and  supplies  contributed  by  Connecticut  to 
wards  it,  with  which  he,  of  course,  as  a  military  officer,  had 
much  to  do. 

In  its  first  year,  Connecticut  raised  from  twenty-five  hun 
dred  to  three  thousand  men — in  the  second  year,  twenty-five 
hundred — in  the  third,  one  body  of  fourteen  hundred,  and 
immediately  upon  the  great  alarm  consequent  on  the  siege 
and  capture  of  Fort  William  Henry  by  Montcalm,  another 
body  of  five  thousand — in  the  fourth  year,  under  the  encour 
aging  change  of  men  and  measures  in  England,  and  at  the 
instance  of  the  incomparable  Pitt,  five  thousand — in  the  fifth 
year,  at  first  thirty-six  hundred,  then  four  hundred,  and  next 
one  thousand  more — in  the  sixth  year,  five  thousand — in  the 
seventh  year,  twenty-three  hundred,  this  being  all  the  num 
ber  then  required  by  Secretary  Pitt — and  in  the  eighth  and 
last  year,  at  first  one  body  of  twenty -three  hundred,  and  then 
a  second  body,  upon  the  urgent  request  of  General  Amherst, 
of  five  hundred  and  seventy-five  more.  Thus,  in  all,  a  force 
was  raised  by  Connecticut,  at  different  periods  during  the 


1750—1763.  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  49 

war,  of  from  thirty-one  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  to  thirty-two  thousand  and  seventy-five  men — a  force 
exceedingly  large,  even  in  its  quota  in  single  years,  and  rel 
atively  to  her  population  and  means,  much  larger  in  propor 
tion  than  that  raised  by  any  other  one  of  the  American  Col 
onies  engaged  in  the  war. 

This  army  was  to  be  raised  sometimes  by  enlistment,  some 
times  by  detachment  from  existing  organizations,  and  some 
times  in  part  by  impressment,  and  sometimes  by  all  these 
methods  combined.  It  was  to  be  officered,  and  formed  into 
companies  and  regiments.  It  was  to  be  armed,  equipped, 
furnished  with  ammunition,  provisioned,  and  marched  to  its 
various  destinations.  It  was  to  receive  bounty,  pay,  and 
martial  discipline  and  encouragement,  generally  before  as 
well  as  after  its  march  for  the  scene  of  action — and  portions 
of  it — as  upon  occasion  of  the  general  alarm  in  1755,  imme 
diately  after  the  battle  of  Lake  George — and  as  immediately 
after  the  capture  of  Fort  William  Henry  in  1757 — were  to 
be  raised  with  the  utmost  possible  dispatch.* 

The  precepts  for  all  these  purposes — emanating  from  the 
Governor — were  directed,  as  in  the  preceding  war,  to  the 
Colonels  of  regiments,  as  the  militia  of  Connecticut  was  then 
organized — and  Trumbull,  of  course,  now  advanced  to  be 
Colonel-in-chief  of  the  Twelfth  Kegiment,  had  his  full  share 
of  them  to  fulfil.  His  own  subordinate  orders,  at  this  pe 
riod,  for  enlisting,  detaching,  or  impressing  men,  are  to  be 
found  in  great  numbers  among  his  Papers  that  are  still  pre- 
servedf — orders  also,  not  infrequently,  for  impressing  arms 
and  accoutrements — orders  too,  occasionally,  summoning  to 
his  own  presence,  that  they  might  "  be  dealt  with  according 
to  law,"  those  who,  having  enlisted,  had  failed  to  appear — 

*  As  enlistments  during  the  whole  war  were  made  for  only  a  single  campaign 
at  a  time,  the  work  of  raising  and  equipping  a  new  army  of  Provincials  had  of 
course  to  be  gone  over  with  every  year — and  losses  of  men  and  arms,  which  at 
times  were  very  great,  had  to  be  supplied  constantly  by  new  levies,  new  enlist 
ments,  and  new  bounty,  pay,  and  provisions. 

t  At  one  time,  for  example,  from  his  own  Kegiment,  sixty-four  men — at  an 
other,  ninety-seven — at  another,  two  hundred  and  sixty-one — at  another,  one 
whole  company— and  at  still  another,  the  greater  part  of  several  companies— for 
the  defence  or  relief,  as  the  Orders  often  expressed  it,  of  "  Crown  Point,"  or  of 
"  Fort  Edward,  Fort  William  Henry,  and  the  parts  adjacent" 
5 


50  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  1750—1763. 

and  precepts  sometimes,  accurately  drawn,  for  the  apprehen 
sion  of  deserters — and  many  acknowledgments  in  writing  by 
recruits  of  their  enlistment.  All  these,  together  with  nu 
merous  muster-rolls  of  companies,  accurate  copies  of  the 
Articles  of  War,  as  they  were  then  enforced,  and  of  the  Oath 
of  Martial  Allegiance,  and  of  the  Laws  of  Connecticut  in 
relation  to  the  organization  of  troops,  and  to  the  Quartering 
of  his  Majesty's  Kegular  Forces  in  the  Colony — which  also 
are  to  be  found  among  his  Papers — show  that  his  hands  at 
this  period,  were  full  of  military  duty,  and  that  his  compli 
ance  with  every  requisition  for  soldiers  was  exact  and  am 
ple — as  was  also  his  compliance  with  the  additional  duty — 
imposed  upon  him  now,  as  in  the  former  war — of  settling 
Colony  accounts — purchasing  clothing  and  ammunition — 
selling  bills  of  credit,  and  receiving  and  disbursing  money 
both  from  the  Treasury  of  Connecticut,  and  from  that  of 
Great  Britain.* 

But  he  had  other  duties  also  to  execute  in  connection  with 
the  contest — those  sanie  which  we  have  seen  him  performing 
in  the  preceding  period  of  warfare — and  which,  calling  for 
the  display  of  great  wisdom  and  sagacity,  placed  him,  with 
the  most  vital  interests  of  his  country  in  his  hands,  on  the 
platform  of  a  Plenipotentiary,  and  high  Counsellor  of  State. 
More  than  any  other  man  of  his  day,  in  fact,  at  this  time,  he 
was  summoned  by  his  native  Colony  to  advise  with  Commis 
sioners  from  other  provinces,  and  with  Governors,  and  Com- 
manders-in-chief,  on  the  policy,  plan,  and  execution  of  the 
great  measures  of  the  war,  and  to  apportion  and  direct  public 
effort. 

*  He  had  often,  at  this  time,  to  procure,  and  prepare  invoices  showing  the 
quantity  and  price  of  each  article — as  for  three  companies  of  Connecticut  Rang 
ers,  for  example,  in  the  service  of  the  Earl  of  Loudon  at  Fort  Edward  and  Num 
ber  Four,  who  were  placed  under  his  own  particular  care,  and  for  whom,  in  their 
long  and  dreary  winter  service  at  the  North,  he  provided  an  ample  supply  of 
suitable  cloth  and  coating,  and  good  shoes,  good  flanifel  shirts,  yarn  and  hose — 
and  as,  more  particularly,  for  that  portion  of  the  troops  raised  in  his  own  region, 
for  which  he  collected,  largely,  ammunition,  guns,  and  accoutrements.  Much 
money  for  these  purposes  passed  through  his  hands — as  at  one  time,  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  pounds — at  another,  four  thousand  pounds  which  he  received  for 
pork  that  he  had  provided — and  at  still  another,  twenty-two  thousand  pounds 
sterling.  Very  numerous  settlements  at  the  Treasury  Department  appear  among 
his  Papers  at  this  period. 


1750—1763.  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  51 

In  1755,  he  was  appointed,  with  Ebenezer  Silliman,  to 
meet  Commissioners  from  all  his  Majesty's  governments,  in 
New  York — there  to  consider  the  general  state  of  the  Colo 
nies,  and  the  encroachments  of  the  French,  and  report  on  the 
proper  measures  to  be  taken. 

In  1756,  he  was  designated,  with  Phinehas  Lyman,  to  re 
pair  to  Boston — and  there,  with  the  Earl  of  London,  Gov 
ernor  Shirley,  and  such  other  Governors  and  Commissioners 
as  might  then  meet,  to  consult  on  a  plan,  and  on  ways  and 
means  for  the  next  campaign.  He  was  specially  instructed, 
on  this  occasion,  to  agree  upon  what  assistance  Connecticut 
should  furnish — to  solicit  London  for  pecuniary  aid  from 
Great  Britain,  both  to  pay  the  Connecticut  troops  to  be  then 
raised,  and  to  settle  for  provisions  already  supplied — to  confer 
with  his  Lordship  also  about  some  mode  of  preventing  the 
difficulties  which  often  happened  between  the  provincial  and 
the  regular  troops — to  see  that  Connecticut  was  left  free  to 
appoint  her  own  officers  for  her  own  forces — and  of  all  his 
doings  make  report  to  the  General  Assembly. 

Trumbull  executed  this  last  important  trust  with  great  suc 
cess — particularly  in  regard  to  means  for  the  campaign — for 
he  brought  home  with  him  from  Massachusetts — in  a  note, 
and  bills  of  exchange,  for  which  he  gave  his  own  receipt — 
the  sum  of  thirteen  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-three 
pounds,  six  shillings  and  eight  pence,  to  assist  Connecticut 
"in  carrying  on  his  Majesty's  service  in  the  expedition 
against  Crown  Point."  It  was  handsome  aid  indeed  for  the 
Colony  Treasury,  burdened  heavily  as  it  then  was  by  the 
expenses  of  the  preceding  campaign,  and  reflected  high  credit 
on  Trumbull's  management — especially  as,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  obtained  this  money,  he  procured,  and  sent  on  from 
Boston  to  the  Treasurer  of  Connecticut,  the  material  aid  of 
twenty  barrels  of  powder,  twenty  thousand  best  flints,  and 
three  tons  of  bar  lead. 

This  same  year — upon  resolutions  of  the  General  Assem 
bly  respecting  the  reinforcement  of  Loudon — Trumbull — 
with  Gurdon  Saltonstall,  this  time,  as  a  colleague — was  again 
sent  to  meet  his  Lordship,  and  submit  to  his  consideration 
"such  additional  lights  and  assurances  "  in  regard  to  the  cam- 


52  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  1750—1763. 

paign  as  were  "proper,"  and  specially  to  arrange  again  both, 
for  its  past  and  present  expenses,  that  these  might  be  suitably 
reimbursed  to  the  Colony. 

In  1757,  he  was  thrice  appointed  Commissioner  upon  busi 
ness  similar  to  that  now  described.  Once,  in  company  with 
Governor  Fitch,  and  Messrs.  Lyman,  Hall,  and  Dyer,  he  was 
to  meet  at  Boston  similar  Eepresentatives  from  neighboring 
Colonies,  and  proffer  the  aid  of  twelve  hundred  and  fifty 
troops  from  Connecticut.  Again,  with  William  Wolcott, 
meeting  other  Commissioners  at  the  same  place,  he  was  to 
"preconcert  and  adjust  quotas  and  measures  for  applying  the 
combined  forces  of  the  Colonies  against  the  enemy,"  and  ad 
vise  upon  all  such  matters  as  the  Earl  of  Loudon  should  sug 
gest.  Again,  in  October,  in  anticipation  of  a  Convention  to 
be  held  in  New  York,  he  was  appointed,  in  advance,  a  Com 
missioner  for  Connecticut,  with  Ebenezer  Silliman  and  Wil 
liam  Wolcott,  to  consult  and  report  touching  all  matters  relat 
ing  to  the  great  struggle.  Again,  in  1758 — upon  the  recep 
tion  by  the  Colony  of  a  letter  from  the  elder  Pitt,  urging 
fresh  enterprises — he  was  renewedly  sent,  with  the  same  as 
sociates,  to  facilitate  the  schemes  of  this  celebrated  English 
Minister — once  more  to  confer  with  the  Earl  of  Loudon,  and 
with  Commissioners  from  other  Colonies,  respecting  troops, 
and  their  subsistence  and  supplies.* 

But  Trumbull,  during  the  war,  was  honored  with  appoint 
ments  by  Connecticut  more  elevated  still  than  any  to  which 
we  have  yet  alluded — calling  equally  for  the  exercise  of  his 
best  capacity,  but  upon  a  stage  of  action  far  more  conspicu 
ous.  Twice,  during  this  time — in  1756,  and  in  1758 — he  re 
ceived  the  appointment  of  Colonial  Agent  at  the  Court  of 
Great  Britain. 

Upon  occasion  of  the  first  appointment,  he  was  earnestly 

*  In  connection  with  his  duty  as  Commissioner,  Trumbull  had  also  other  and 
highly  responsible  business  to  execute.  He  was  often,  at  this  period,  called  on 
to  aid  the  Pay  Table  in  preparing  and  forwarding  expense  accounts  of  campaigns, 
after  they  had  closed,  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Commissioners — and,  occasion 
ally,  to  prepare  statements  of  facts  with  regard  to  particular  expeditions — as  once, 
for  example — the  Governor  and  Phinehas  Lyman  his  associates — with  regard  to 
the  siege  and  surrender  of  Fort  William  Henry  to  the  French,  and  to  the  succors 
sent  thither  by  Connecticut — that  the  accounts  might  be  transmitted  to  his  Maj 
esty's  Boards  in  England. 


1750—1763.  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  53 

requested  by  the  General  Assembly,  in  a  formal  note,  "to 
accept  and  take  upon  him  that  trust — with  all  convenient 
speed  repair  to  the  Court  of  Great  Britain" — and  there  so 
licit,  especially,  a  reimbursement  of  the  expenses  incurred  on 
the  part  of  Connecticut  in  carrying  on  the  then  late  expedi 
tion  against  Crown  Point,  and  also  such  further  assistance 
"as  might  enable  this  Colony  to  proceed  and  exert  them 
selves,  according  to  their  zeal  for  the  King's  service,  for  the 
Defence  and  Security  of  his  Majesty's  just  Rights  and  Do 
minions  in  North  America." 

Upon  occasion  of  the  second  appointment,  he  was  in 
structed  by  the  Assembly,  after  repairing  to  London,  to  con 
duct  the  affairs  of  the  Colony  there,  in  conjunction  with 
Agent  Partridge,  according  to  directions  such  as  they  should 
jointly  receive  for  this  purpose. 

But  in  both  instances  Trumbull  declined  the  honor,  though 
proper  Letters  of  Procuration,  under  the  public  seal,  were 
made  out  for  him  by  the  Governor — and  he  declined  for  rea 
sons  stated  in  the  two  following  notes,  which  are  from  his 
own  pen.  The  first  was  addressed,  May  twenty -fifth,  1756, 
to  Governor  Fitch,  and  thus  proceeds : — 

"Whereas  the  Honble  Assembly,  at  the  Sessions  thereof  in  March  last, 
voted  to  send  an  Agent  to  Great  Britain  on  the  important  and  weighty 
affairs  of  this  Colony,  and  were  then  pleased  to  do  me  so  great  an  honor 
as  to  appoint  me  to  go  in  that  capacity,  I  have  carefully  weighed  the  mat 
ter,  and  acknowledge  my  obligations  in  gratitude  to  serve  my  country  in 
whatever  lies  in  my  power,  considering  every  relative  duty ;  and  as  noth 
ing  but  a  sense  of  such  obligations  to  duty  would  be  any  inducement  for 
me  to  undertake  that  important  and  arduous  trust,  so  a  sense  of  my  own 
insufficiency  for  that  service  pleads  my  excuse ;  and  when  I  consider  the 
duties  I  owe  to  my  aged  mother,  whose  dependence  is  greatly  upon  me, 
and  to  my  own  family,  and  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  I  think  I 
may  conclude  that  I  am  not  negligent  or  undutiful  when  I  decline  the 
service,  and  desire  the  Honble  Assembly  to  turn  their  thoughts  on  some 
other  person." 

The  second  of  the  notes  in  question,  was  addressed,  May 
seventeenth,  1758,  to  the  General  Assembly — and  proceeds 
thus : — 

"  On  serious  and  mature  consideration — that  I  have  not  had  the  small 
pox — that  my  peculiar  bodily  difficulties  render  my  taking  it  more  espe- 


54  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  1750—1763. 

cially  dangerous,  and  that  it  is  at  all  times  frequent  in  London — [consid 
ering  also]  the  circumstances  of  my  family — I  think  it  is  fit  and  reason 
able  not  to  accept  and  undertake  the  important  Trust  of  an  Agent  for 
this  Colony  at  the  Court  of  Great  Britain,  unto  which,  at  this  time,  you 
have  done  me  the  honor  of  an  appointment.  With  a  grateful  sense  of 
this  further  expression  of  your  confidence,  which  I  hope  never  to  forfeit, 
and  an  humble  reliance  on  your  Candor  and  excuse,  I  shall  ever  pray  for 
the  Blessing  and  Direction  of  the  Almighty  and  all-wise  God  in  all  your 
Counsels." 

The  circumstances  of  his  family  then,  it  seems — private 
duty,  particularly  to  his  aged  mother,  whose  almost  sole  de 
pendence  he  was — for  his  father  had  died  in  1756 — certain 
temporary  bodily  ailments,  and  a  little  modest  diffidence 
withal  in  his  own  ability  for  the  task — restrained  Trumbull 
from  a  position  where  it  is  certain  he  would  have  conspicu 
ously  maintained  the  rights  and  interests  of  his  own  and  of 
the  American  Colonies  at  large,  and  filled,  perhaps,  more 
fully  than  he  could  have  done  in  the  home  circle,  the  trump 
of  fame. 

How  he  would  have  relished  that  Babel  of  London,  "whose 
restless,  noisy,  chaffering  soul  is  ever  seeking,  and  ever  find 
ing  new  outlets  for  its  busy  energies" — how  he  would  have 
attuned  his  staid  spirit  to  the  fashions  of  that  Great  World, 
to  its  palaces,  its  Court,  its  King — what  tincture  his  manners 
might  have  taken  where  "the  sauce  to  meat  is  ceremony  " — 
what  effect  the  habit  of  solving  in  the  crucible  of  negotiation 
and  diplomacy,  with  quick-witted  statesmen,  the  great  inter 
ests  and  questions  he  was  appointed  to  represent,  might  have 
had  upon  his  mind — it  would  be  interesting  to  have  had  the 
opportunity  of  observing.  Doubtless  though,  like  the  Ath- 
letae  of  old,  he  would  have  prepared  himself  "for  the 
World" — have  "oiled  his  mind  and  his  manners  to  give 
them  the  necessary  suppleness  and  flexibility  " — yet  never, 
we  are  confident,  would  he  have  undermined  his  own 
strength,  or  compromised  his  honor,  his  fidelity,  or  his 
judgment.  He  preferred,  however,  to  remain  at  home — in 
his  own  country — here  to  continue  his  practical  services  in 
behalf  of  the  war — here  to  rejoice  over  the  abandonment  by 
the  enemy  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point — here  to  catch 


A750— 1763.  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  55 

the  news  of  Frotenac,  Fort  du  Quesne,  and  Niagara,  taken — 
here  to  exult  over  the  surrender  of  Quebec,  the  surrender  of 
Montreal,  and  the  complete  conquest  at  last  of  the  whole 
country  of  Canada  by  the  English  arms. 

And  certainly  to  no  man  in  the  American  "World  did  the 
result  of  this  contest  bring  more  unalloyed  satisfaction  than 
to  himself.  At  its  very  outset  he  had  entered  into  it  with  in 
trepidity  and  confidence-— confidence  not  alone  in  the  com 
bined  strength  of  the  English  and  American  arms,  but  in  the 
favorable  purposes  of  Providence  towards  the  Colonies,  and 
in  the  strength  of  that  Almighty  arm  whose  intervention  he 
never  failed  to  recognize  and  exalt.  "Hath  not  God,"  he 
wrote  to  an  officer  at  the  North,  September  fifteenth,  1755 — 
just  after  the  famous  defeat  of  Baron  Dieskau  at  Lake 
George — when  the  American  and  British  troops,  after  fight 
ing  with  singular  gallantry  behind  lines  which  they  made  one 
continual  blaze  and  roar,  leaped  at  last  their  breastworks,  and 
put  the  enemy,  two  thousand  in  number,  to  an  entire  rout — 
"hath  not  God,"  wrote  Trumbull  then,  "showed  himself  on 
our  side.  Praise  be  in  your  mouth,  and  a  two-edged 
sword  in  your  hand,  to  execute  the  vengeance  of  God  on 
the  heathen,  and  punishment  on  the  injurious  encroaches 
upon  our  Gracious  Sovereign's  territories!  With  a  hearty 
dependence  on  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  you  may  soon  be  in  pos 
session  of  Fort  St.  Frederic,  and  change  its  name  to  that 
of  Fort  Frederic,  or  its  equivalent.  Whatever  is  in  my 
power  I  shall  cheerfully  do  to  serve  you  and  our  Country's 
cause." 

And  so,  to  the  end  of  the  war,  as  we  have  seen,  did  Trum 
bull  serve — and  not  alone  in  the  forms  already  described,  but 
also  by  an  active  correspondence  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
Even  his  business  letters  to  merchants  in  London,  with  whom 
he  was  connected  only  by  trade,  are  stamped  with  his  sug 
gestions  and  his  anxieties  on  the  great  subject  of  the  war, 
and  he  labored  in  these  to  conciliate  interest,  and  stimulate 
effort  in  behalf  of  its  successful  prosecution.*  His  whole 

*  October  seventeenth,  1758,  for  example,  writing  to  Messrs.  Lane  and  Booth 
his  chief  business  correspondents  in  that  great  commercial  capital,  he  says : 
"  Mr.  Ingersoll,  the  gentleman  mentioned  in  my  last,  by  whom  this  will  be  de- 


56  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  1750—1763. 

heart,  obviously,  was  unintermittedly  in  the  struggle.  The 
result,  therefore,  must  have  been  to  him,  as  just  suggested, 
peculiarly  grateful.  A  vast  and  fertile  country,  with  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  people — with  an  immense  Indian 
trade,  of  unspeakable  value  to  commerce — with  a  command 
of  the  richest  fisheries,  and  with  rare  natural  facilities  for  the 
extension  of  empire — had  been  wrested  from  a  foe  which  for 
more  than  a  century  had  been  a  scourge,  often  a  most  appall 
ing  one,  to  English  colonization  in  America,  and  which  was 
now  subdued  for  all  time  to  English  dominion. 

What  though  to  Connecticut  alone — for  her  share  in  the 
transaction — the  conquest  had  cost — in  addition  to  all  parlia 
mentary  grants — more  than  four  hundred  thousand  pounds, 
and  great  loss  of  life,  and  years  of  sleepless  anxiety  and  ef 
fort  !  Was  she  not  saved  from  unceasing  bloody  combina 
tions  among  the  French  and  Indians  to  harass  her  frontiers — 
to  plunder  and  burn  her  settlements — to  rob  her  stores  both 
by  sea  and  land — to  circumscribe  and  annihilate  her  trade — 
to  cause  her  plows  to  rust  in  the  furrow,  and  her  pruning 
hooks  to  be  turned  into  spears  ?  Were  not  her  resources  for 
material  improvement  rescued  from  impoverishment  ?  Were 
not  her  morals,  her  domestic  and  social  virtues,  her  educa 
tion,  her  literature,  her  arts,  delivered  from  deterioration  and 
waste  ?  Had  not  her  heart  escaped  from  being  hardened  and 
steeled  against  the  benign  influences  of  Christianity  and  civ 
ilization,  through  the  inevitable  operation  of  a  war  longer 
protracted  ?  Good  reason,  therefore,  had  Trumbull,  and  Con 
necticut  at  large,  to  rejoice  with  the  whole  country  over  the 
splendid  termination  of  the  French  War.  A  deliverance 
from  enormous  evils  had  been  experienced.  A  "high  point 

livered,  goes  from  hence  to  assist  Mr.  Partridge  in  transacting  the  affairs  of  this 
Colony.  'Tis  hoped  that  some  further  reimbursements  will  be  made  by  Parlia 
ment  for  the  extraordinary  expenses  here,  occasioned  by  the  War,  especially  in 
this  present  year,  wherein  this  Colony  hath  exerted  itself  even  beyond  its 
strength,  encouraged  by  the  hopeful  prospect  of  success,  and  that  a  reimburse 
ment  would  be  made.  Although  Providence  hath  denied  success  against  Ticon- 
deroga  and  Crown  Point,  yet  the  reduction  of  Louisburgh  and  Frontenac  are  an 
abundant  occasion  of  gratitude  to  the  Director  of  all  events,  and  serve  to  encour 
age  our  hopes  for  a  speedy  and  happy  termination  of  the  War,  or  still  greater  suc 
cess  for  the  future,  if  it  be  continued.  I  doubt  not  your  readiness  to  afford  Mr. 
Ingersoll  your  kind  help,  as  opportunity  shall  present" 


1750—1763.  CHAP.    III. — TRUMBULL.  57 

of  honor  and  magnificence  "  in  the  march  of  British  empire 
had  been  reached.  Parents  and  sons  were  returned  from 
captivity  and  the  dangers  of  war,  to  the  embraces  of  breth 
ren  and  friends.  Joy,  therefore,  was  universal  and  un 
bounded.  "This  was  the  general  feeling  and  happy  state  of 
the  country  at  the  return  of  peace." 


CHAPTER    IV. 
1750—1763. 

TRUMBTTLL  in  the  sphere  of  his  own  home  and  town.  Two  sons,  David 
and  John,  are  added  to  his  family.  His  care  for  the  education  of  his 
children.  He  is  active  in  founding  an  Academy  in  Lebanon.  His  own 
views  of  instruction,  studies,  and  scholarship.  He  receives  honorary 
degrees  from  Tale  College,  and  from  the  University  of  Edinborough, 
in  Scotland. 

WE  turn  now  to  contemplate  Trumbull  from  1750  to 
1763 — far  as  memorials  allow  us,  and  very  briefly  at  best — 
in  the  sphere  of  his  own  home  and  town. 

During  this  period  two  additions  were  made  to  his  family. 
The  first  was  a  son,  who  was  born  February  fifth,  1750-1, 
and  was  baptized  David — probably  after  his  uncle  who,  when 
a  Senior  in  College,  was  drowned  in  a  mill-pond  at  Lebanon. 
Like  the  rest  of  his  family,  he  too  was  destined  to  serve  with 
distinction,  in  after  years,  the  American  cause — to  become, 
under  his  brother  Joseph,  a  Commissary  for  the  armies  of 
the  Kevolution — and,  under  the  Connecticut  Council  of 
Safety,  to  be  a  most  active  agent  in  procuring  and  preparing 
arms  and  munitions  of  war  for  service  against  the  foe. 

The  second  child  within  the  present  period,  was  also  a 
son,  who  was  born  June  sixth,  1756,  and  was  baptized  John. 
Remarkable  indeed  was  his  destiny !  Like  his  brothers  he 
also  was  to  be  linked  in  with  the  Revolution,  but  in  different 
and  novel  forms.  He  was  to  become,  in  the  first  year  of  the 
War,  Aid-de-Camp  to  the  illustrious  Commander-in-chief  of 
our  armies — in  the  second  year,  was  to  be  Deputy  Adjutant 
General  to  General  Gates  in  the  Northern  Department — was 
to  experience  actual  service  in  the  battle-field,  amid  the 
dying  and  the  dead — but  more  than  all,  was  to  become, 
through  his  pencil,  the  world-renowned  graphic  historiogra 
pher  of  the  great  events  and  characters,  civil  as  well  as  mili 
tary,  of  that  struggle  in  which  he  himself  bore  a  conspicu 
ous  part. 

He  was  the  last  of  the  children  of  that  parent  whois*   ^ 


1750—1763.  CHAP.     IV.  —  TRUMBULL.  59 

commemorate.  Four  sons  there  were  and  two  daughters — 
a  rare  and  almost  unexampled  group — destined  all,  as  has 
been  shown,  to  a  notable  career. 

And  they  were  fitted  in  their  early  years — well  fitted, 
each  one  of  them — for  the  stations  they  were  thereafter  to 
occupy — a  fact  which  leads  us  here  to  dwell  for  a  while  on 
the  care  which  Trumbull  took,  not  only  for  their  particular 
education,  but  also  for  his  own,  and  for  education  generally, 
at  this  period  of  his  life. 

In  the  first  place  then,  it  is  to  be  remarked,  that  in  1743, 
when  his  eldest  child  was  but  six  years  of  age — being  anx 
ious  to  secure  in  his  native  town  advantages  for  instruction 
superior  to  those  which  were  furnished  at  the  common 
school — he  instigated  the  establishment  of  a  private  institu 
tion,  for  not  more  than  thirty  scholars,  and  in  connection 
with  twelve  other  citizens  proceeded  to  found  it.  It  was  to 
be,  says  the  agreement  of  the  founders,  "for  the  education 
of  our  own  children,  and  such  others  as  we  shall  agree  with. 
A  Latin  Scholar  is  to  be  computed  at  35s.  Old  Tenor,  for 
each  quarter,  and  a  reading  scholar  at  20s.  for  each  quarter — 
each  one  to  pay  according  to  the  number  of  children  that  he 
sends  and  the  learning  they  are  improved  about,  whether  the 
Learned  tongues,  Eeading  and  writing,  or  Beading  and  Eng 
lish  only." 

The  School  thus  established  was  carefully  nursed  by  its 
founders — more  especially  by  Trumbull — and  it  was  not 
many  years  before  it  acquired  a  celebrity  second  hardly  to 
that  of  any  Academy  in  all  New-England.  And  here  it 
was  that  all  the  sons  of  Trumbull — and  for  a  time,  probably, 
the  daughters  also — received  the  rudiments  of  an  education, 
which,  for  the  day,  was  quite  profound. 

"  My  native  place,"  wrote  the  younger  son — in  whose  boyhood  the 
Institution  seems  to  have  been  at  the  zenith  of  its  reputation — "was 
long  celebrated  for  having  the  best  school  in  New-England,  (unless  that 
of  Master  Moody  in  Newburyport  might,  in  the  judgment  of  some,  have 
the  precedence.)  It  was  kept  by  Nathan  Tisdale,  a  native  of  the  place, 
from  the  time  when  he  graduated  at  Harvard  to  the  day  of  his  death,  a 
period  of  more  than  thirty  years,  with  an  assiduity  and  fidelity  of  the 
most  exalted  character,  and  became  so  widely  known  that  he  had  schol 
ars  from  the  West  India  Islands,  Georgia,  and  North  and  South  Carolina, 


60  CHAP.    IV.  —  TBUMBULL.  1750—1763. 

as  well  as  from  New-England  and  northern  colonies.  With  this  exem 
plary  man  and  excellent  scholar,  I  soon  became  a  favorite.  My  father 
was  his  particular  friend."* 

From  the  school  at  Lebanon  now  described,  Joseph,  the 
eldest  son,  passed,  first  to  Harvard  College,  where  he  gradu 
ated  in  1756f — and  thence  to  the  counting-house,  to  join  in 
his  father's  business  as  a  merchant.  From  the  same  school, 
the  second  son,  Jonathan,  passed  to  join  also  Harvard  Col 
lege,  or  perhaps  ere  he  actually  joined,  to  live  awhile  with 
some  highly  skilled  teacher  at  Cambridge — as  seems  to  have 
been  the  case — that  he  might  round  off  his  classical  prepara 
tion.:):  From  the  same  passed  the  third  son,  David — not  to 
College,  as  was  intended,  but  which  was  prevented  by  his 
father's  financial  embarrassments  at  the  time — but  to  the 
farm — upon  which,  such  was  his  thrift,  that,  three  years  only 
after  he  had  attained  his  majority,  we  find  him  commended 
by  his  father  as  "  apt  and  industrious  in  the  business  of  agri 
culture  and  husbandry,"  and  as  having  "gained  some  money, 
stock,  and  four  rights  of  land  in  the  new  township  of  Fair- 
field  in  New-Hampshire." 

In  all  probability  from  the  same  institution,  passed  the 
daughters  Faith  and  Mary,  to  complete  and  polish  their 
education  "at  an  excellent  school  in  Boston" — thence  to 
return,  each  with  skill  in  embroidery — but  the  eldest,  Faith, 
with  "two  heads  and  a  landscape,"  in  oil,  of  her  own  paint- 

*  Among  numerous  pupils  of  this  "  great  classical  teacher  of  his  age,"  who 
afterwards  became  distinguished,  were  the  second  Governor  Trumbull,  Rev. 
Wm.  Eobinson  of  Southington,  Conn.,  Eev.  John  Eobinson,  Eev.  Dr.  Lyman 
of  Hatfield,  Eev.  Wm.  Lyman  of  Glastenbury,  Eev.  Daniel  Huntington  of  Had- 
ley,  Hon.  Jeremiah  Mason  and  Warren  Butler,  Esq.,  both  late  of  Boston,  Thomas 
Gibbons  of  Georgia,  &c.  See  New-Eng.  Hist,  and  Gen.  Eegister  for  January, 
1858,  p.  62.  The  following  is  the  inscription  on  the  tomb  of  "  Old  Master  Tis- 
dale,"  as  he  was  familiarly  called:— 

"  BEADER, 

as  thou  passest,  drop  a  tear  to  the  memory  of  the  once  eminent  American  In 
structor,  Nathan  Tisdale,  a  lover  of  Science.  He  marked  the  road  to  useful 
knowledge.  A  friend  to  his  country,  he  inspired  the  flame  of  Patriotism.  Hav 
ing  devoted  his  whole  life,  from  the  18th  year  of  his  age,  to  the  duties  of  his 
profession,  which  he  followed  with  distinguished  usefulness  in  Society,  he  died 
Jan'y  5th,  1787,  in  the  56th  year  of  his  age." 

t  His  class  numbered  twenty-five.    Gen.  S.  H.  Parsons  belonged  to  it. 

t  He  graduated  in  1759— in  a  class  of  thirty-five. 


1750—1763.  CHAP.    IV. — TKUMBULL.  61 

ing — with  which,  as  felicitously  happened,  to  rouse  the  curi 
osity,  and  for  the  first  time  to  stimulate  in  the  art  of  delinea 
tion  the  till  then  wholly  unpracticed  hand  of  her  younger 
brother — the  artist  of  future  renown.*  From  the  same 
school  in  Lebanon  again,  passed  this  fourth  and  youngest 
son,  John,  at  a  later  period,  to  Harvard  College — so  thor 
oughly  versed  in  all  the  preparatory  studies  as  to  be  able 
to  join  the  Junior  Class  in  the  middle  of  the  third  college 
year — in  fact  so  advanced  in  his  acquirements  as  for  some 
time  to  render  any  exertion  of  study  on  his  part  unnecessary 
in  order  to  maintai^i  his  footing  with  his  class,  f 

Such  was  the  manner  in  which  Trumbull  provided  for  the 
education  of  his  children.  It  is  not,  however,  to  be  under 
stood  here,  that  their  improvement  was  owing,  all  solely,  to 
the  external  instrumentality  of  the  academy.  No — there 
was  another  school  for  Trumbull's  children  than  the  school 
without.  There  was  also  one  within — at  home — by  his  own 
fireside — in  himself — and  in  his  wife — a  lady  whose  accom 
plishments,  both  moral  and  intellectual — she  having  been, 
peculiarly,  after  the  early  loss  of  her  own  mother,  "the 
beloved  and  taught  of  her  father  " — eminently  fitted  her  to 
train  her  offspring  to  knowledge  and  to  duty. 

It  is  with  the  father  though  now,  that  we  are  immediately 
concerned — and  of  him,  in  this  connection,  we  may  say  with 
truth,  that  probably  no  parent  ever  lived  who  more  than 
himself  labored,  kindly,  and  fervidly,  to  give  a  high  moral, 
religious,  and  intellectual  character  to  his  offspring.  This 
is  manifest  from  every  scrap  of  his  history  upon  this  point 
that  has  ever  reached  us.  It  breathes  in  almost  every  line 
of  his  letters  to  his  children,  while  in  their  youth,  that  we 
have  ever  seen.  It  is  a  resistless  inference  from  his  own 
deep  religious  sensibility,  his  ardent  thirst  for  knowledge, 
and  from  his  ripe  scholarship.^: 

*  "  These  wonders,"  wrote  the  latter,  in  after  years,  "  were  hung  in  my  mother's 
parlor,  and  were  among  the  first  objects  that  caught  my  infant  eye.  I  endeav 
ored  to  imitate  them,  and  for  several  years  the  nicely  sanded  floors,  (for  carpets 
were  then  unknown  in  Lebanon,)  were  constantly  scrawled  with  my  rude  at 
tempts  at  drawing." 

t  He  graduated  in  1773 — in  a  class  of  thirty-six. 

J  See  how  pleasantly,  for  example,  his  son  Joseph  testifies  to  his  excellence  as 
6 


62  €HAP.    IV.  —  TRUMBULL.  1750— H63. 

"Writing,  in  1753,  to  Thomas  Marsh,  Teacher  of  one  of  his 
sons — Jonathan  we  are  led  to  believe — and  Teacher  also  of 
one  of  his  nephews — he  says :  "  The  greatest  favor  I  desire 
of  yon  for  them  is  that  you  keep  a  watchful  eye  over  them 
to  guide,  counsel,  and  instruct  them  in  the  best  manner,  ac 
cording  to  their  genius  and  ability — and  when  you  appre 
hend  either  of  them  in  danger  from  idle  company,  or  any 
bad  habits,  to  take  an  opportunity  to  admonish,  warn,  and 
punish,  as  you  shall  judge  best.  In  short,  I  do  not  mean  to 
send  them  to  college  to  spend  their  time  and  my  estate  in  a 
careless,  idle,  and  foolish  manner,  but  in  hopes  they  may 
thereby  become  better  qualified  for  service  and  usefulness  to 
themselves  and  others,  in  such  relation  and  capacity  as  divine 
Providence  may  place  them  in  the  world."* 

Trumbull's  own  idea  of  education  is  plain  from  this  epis 
tle.  Its  great  end  should  be  usefulness  in  life — it  should 
take  place  on  the  condition  of  application — under  the  re 
straints  of  virtue — and  with  discipline  for  an  attendant.  The 
idea  is  in  a  nutshell,  and  is  perfect. 

Nor  was  knowledge  alone,  in  his  conception,  as  it  is  in 
that  of  very  many,  comprised  in  the  term  education.  With 
him,  this  word  had  a  much  larger  meaning.  With  him  edu 
cation  was  a  process  by  which  not  only  knowledge  is  to  be 
gained,  but,  as  Daniel  Webster  most  justly  expresses  it,  "  the 
feelings  are  to  be  disciplined,  the  passions  are  to  be  re 
strained,  true  and  worthy  motives  are  to  be  inspired,  a  pro 
found  religious  feeling  is  to  be  instilled,  and  pure  morality 
inculcated  under  all  circumstances." 

a  parent.  "Writing  him  from  London,  in  November,  1763,  he  speaks  of  himself 
as  "vastly  indebted"  to  the  father  for  his  "good  and  parental  advice  and  coun 
sel  " — which,  he  adds,  "  I  am  the  more  obliged  to  you  for,  as  I  am  sure  of  the 
continuance  of  that  kind,  affectionate  love  of  the  lest  of  parents  which  I  have 
during  my  whole  life  experienced." 

Speaking  of  Trumbull  in  this  connection,  the  Rev.  Zebulon  Ely,  pastor  of  hia 
church,  says  that "  as  a  parent  he  was  affectionate,  venerable,  and  endearing,  by  pre 
cept  and  example  carefully  forming  the  minds  and  the  manners  of  his  off-spring." 

*  We  suppose  the  Mr.  Marsh  to  whom  the  above  letter  was  addressed,  resided 
in  Cambridge,  Mass.  The  letter  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Trumbull,  but  its  ad 
dress  is  wanting.  Trumbull,  at  the  same  time  with  the  letter — "in  thankful  ac 
knowledgment,"  he  says,  "of  past,  and  expectation  of  future  favor"  to  each  of 
the  boys — sent  Mr.  Marsh,  with  characteristic  generosity,  three  cheeses,  and  ten 
pounds  of  butter  / 


1750—1763.  CHAP.     IV.  —  TRUMBULL.  63 

Unweariedly,  in  his  own  practice — for  his  own  self-im 
provement — though  now  past  the  meridian  of  his  life — did 
he  cling  to  study,  whenever  relaxation  from  other  duties 
afforded  him  an  opportunity.  "  He  was  exceedingly  careful 
of  precious  time,  diligent  and  indefatigable  in  his  researches 
after  truth,  till  the  close  of  his  life,"  is  the  pointed  testimony 
of  one  who  knew  his  habits  intimately — his  own  last  pastor, 
Mr.  Ely.  History  and  jurisprudence — to  which  we  have 
before  alluded  as  constituting  his  favorite  pursuits  just  when 
he  exchanged  the  pulpit  for  the  cares  of  business — still  con 
tinued  to  receive  a  large  share  of  his  attention,  and  to  enrich 
his  mind,  both  from  the  old  and  the  modern  world,  with 
abundant  stores.  We  shall  find  him  hereafter  active  in  gather 
ing  and  in  preserving  the  history  of  our  own  land.  He  made 
himself  too  specially  familiar  with  chronology.  By  all  ac 
counts  his  accuracy  here  was  "  unparalleled  " — a  fact  which 
we  shall,  hereafter  too,  find  him  turning  to  excellent  account 
when  called  upon,  as  Governor,  to  prepare  elaborate  State 
Papers  in  behalf  of  Connecticut.  Nor  did  he  forget  his 
favorite  study  of  Divinity.  Indeed,  as  he  advanced  in  life, 
Divinity  became,  with  him,  more  and  more  engrossing. 
"  That  sublime,  glorious,  and  necessary  science,"  says  again 
Mr.  Ely,  "  was  his  delightful  study  from  his  youth  upwards 
to  the  close  of  his  life.  Notwithstanding  the  multiplicity  of 
civil  business  in  which  he  was  involved,  being  expert  in  the 
Hebrew,  he  found  opportunities  to  search  into  the  sacred  im 
port  of  the  divine  oracles  of  revelation  in  the  original  lan 
guages." 

What  a  consolation,  we  cannot  here  but  think,  to  a  mind 
constituted  like  that  of  Trumbull — to  a  taste,  from  early  aca 
demical  study,  so  classically  imbued — and  to  a  heart  so  sin 
cerely  devotional — must  have  been  this  ability  to  read  the 
gospel  he  so  much  loved  in  its  pure  native  text — without  the 
aid*  of  Tyndale,  Miles  Coverdale,  the  fifteen  bishops  under 
Parker,  the  forty-seven  learned  men  under  King  James,  or 
any  other  of  the  translators  or  revisors  of  the  Bible  even  in 
the  most  golden  age  of  biblical  and  oriental  learning  in 
England !  To  read  the  Books  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
sublime,  pure  Hebrew — the  very  language  in  which,  in  the 


64  CHAP.    IV. — T  RUM  BULL.  1750— 1*763. 

opinion  of  some  learned  men,  God  spake  to  Adam  in  Para 
dise,  and  in  which  Adam  and  Eve  spake  to  each  other,  and 
which  was  the  general  language  of  mankind  at  the  disper 
sion  !  And  to  read  this  language,  as  we  see  from  quotations 
in  his  own  handwriting  he  did,  without  the  accentual  marks 
to  distinguish  its  sentences,  to  determine  the  quantity  of  its 
syllables,  and  denote  the  tone  in  which  it  was  to  be  read  or 
sung !  Surely  the  vocation  must  have  been  to  him  a  most 
inspiring  one,  and  proves  a  ripened  scholarship. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  studies  which  more  particu 
larly  engaged  the  attention  of  Trumbull,  were  all  of  a  sub 
stantial  kind — history,  law,  jurisprudence,  and  divinity— 
chiefly.  Such  was  undoubtedly  the  leading  direction  of  his 
mind — to  the  solid,  the  severer,  the  more  practical  branches 
of  knowledge.  Yet  he  did  not  avoid  the  lighter  paths  of 
literature — but,  with  a  culture  such  as  he  possessed,  walked 
in  them  at  times  with  a  keen  and  buoyant  relish — as  many 
of  his  productions — some  of  which  we  shall  call  up  here 
after — composed  with  careful  regard  to  established  literary 
canons,  and  chastened  by  a  correct  taste — fully  prove.  To 
the  whole  field  of  mental  effort,  it  is  obvious,  he  brought  a 
mind,  which,  in  the  language  of  President  Ezra  Stiles — him 
self  one  of  the  best  judges  of  intellectual  merit — was  "  en 
dowed  with  a  singular  strength  " — with  a  perception  "  vivid 
and  clear" — and  a  judgment  at  once  "penetrating  and  com 
prehensive."  He  "became  qualified,"  adds  the  Keverend 
Doctor  "for  a  very  singular  variety  of  usefulness."  He  was 
"  embellished  with  academical,  theological,  and  political  eru 
dition."  So  thought  Yale  College,  and  the  University  of 
Edinborough  in  Scotland,  when,  subsequent  to  the  time  of 
which  we  now  speak,  they  each  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  L  L.  D.  I 


CHAPTER     V. 
1731—1764. 

TRTJMBULL  as  merchant.  His  partnership  connections.  His  dealings 
both  at  home  and  abroad — with  New  York,  Boston,  Nantucket,  Hali 
fax,  the  West  Indies,  and  England.  The  articles  in  which  he  traded. 
Interesting  anecdote  in  this  connection  of  himself,  his  son  John,  and 
Zachary,  a  Mohegan  Indian  whom  he  employed  as  a  hunter.  He  im 
ports  largely,  in  vessels  owned  either  in  part  or  whole  by  himself. 
His  trade  enhanced  by  contracts  for  the  supply  of  troops  during  the 
French  wars.  His  experience  in  these  contracts.  He  establishes 
semi-annual  fairs  and  markets  in  Lebanon  His  success  in  these. 
His  business  habits — integrity,  energy,  and  punctuality.  The  prop 
erty  he  acquired. 

WE  have  looked  at  Trumbull  thus  far,  in  the  sphere, 
mainly,  of  public  life — in  his  connections  as  legislator,  coun 
sellor,  judge,  and  military  officer,  with  the  events  of  his  day. 
We  have  now  to  look  at  him  in  another  and  different 
sphere — that  of  trade  and  commerce — in  his  capacity  as  mer 
chant  and  business  man.  And  here  we  shall  find  him  leading 
at  all  times  a  life  of  stirring  industry,  and  stretching  this 
industry  out,  with  enlarged  aims,  both  upon  the  ocean  and 
the  land. 

The  loss  of  a  brother  at  sea,  who  was  engaged  with  his 
father  in  trade,  and  the  failing  energies  of  the  latter,  brought 
him  into  this  department,  as  has  been  already  noticed,  in 
1731 — and  he  soon  managed,  by  his  good  care  and  economy, 
to  repair  the  damages  which  the  family  estate  had  suffered 
by  misfortune  on  the  sea.  He  was  soon  left  to  do  business 
alone.*  But  in  1755 — thereabouts — he  united  in  trade  with 
others,  under  the  partnership  title  of  "Williams,  Trumble 
and'Pitkin" — which  firm,  with  .a  branch  at  Wethersfield, 
and  another  at  Norwich,  and  probably  a  third  at  East  Had- 
darn,  in  addition  to  that  at  Lebanon,  continued  to  exist  down 
to  1764 — at  which  time  it  was  supplanted  by  a  new  associa 
tion  between  Colonel  Trumbull,  his  son  Joseph,  and  Colonel 

*  A  printed  note  of  hand,  bearing  date  Aug.  llth,  1741,  describes  him  as 
"  Jonathan  Trumble,  Trader." 

a* 


66  CHAP.    V. — TRUMBULL.  1731—1764. 

Eleazer  Fitch,  under  the  partnership  title  of  "  Trumble, 
Fitch,  and  Trumble." 

His  dealings  as  merchant,  during  the  period  of  thirty-three 
years  extending  from  1731  to  the  Peace  of  Paris  in  1763 — 
with  which  period  alone  we  are  concerned  in  the  present 
chapter — were,  as  already  intimated,  extensive — both  at  home 
and  abroad — in  all  the  country  surrounding  Lebanon — in 
New  York — in  Boston* — and  with  Nantucket — particularly 
on  this  island  with  Joseph  Rotch,  and  Joseph  Swain,  to 
whom  he  transmitted  provisions  of  various  kinds  in  exchange 
for  oil — an  article  with  which,  in  a  subsequent  part  of  his 
mercantile  career,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  he  had 
much  to  do,  and  in  the  character  too  of  whaling  merchant — 
for  he  sent  forth  his  own  ships  to  hunt  the  leviathans  of  the 
deep.f 

He  dealt  also  much  with  Halifax,  particularly  there  with 
Captain  Joshua  Meagher,  and  Joseph  Ranger — the  former  of 
whom  he  describes  as  a  most  punctual  business  man,  and 
generous  in  his  management.  Early  as  1752,  Meagher,  by 
letter,  had  solicited  to  open  a  trade  with  him  in  the  produce 
of  Connecticut — saying  that  he  should  "joyfully  embrace 
the  opportunity"  of  a  correspondence  and  commerce  with 
him,  because  "  of  the  good  character  "  he  had  heard  of  him 
as  "a  lover  of  mankind" — "A  rolling  stone  gathers  no 
moss,"  added  Meagher,  quickening  business  between  them — 
and  it  soon  became  very  active,  was  long  continued,  and 
was  mutually  beneficial — Trumbull  sending  out  Meagher 
beef,  pork,  and  other  provisions — particularly  for  ships  of 
war  that  arrived  at  Halifax — and  receiving  in  return  cargoes 
of  dry  goods.J 

*  Particularly  in  Boston  with  the  firms  of  Inman  &  Apthorp,  Green  &  Walker, 
with  James  Bowdoin,  John  Gray,  and  James  Pitts  &  Sons— of  which  last  firm 
Trumbull  himself  testifies  specially  that  they  were  high-minded  men,  whose  pa 
tience  as  creditors  he  had  himself,  in  some  cases,  known  "  to  endure  even  to 
long-suffering." 

t "  If  thou  hast  a  mind  to  ship  to  Nantucket  any  articles  on  thine  own  ac 
count,"  wrote  Swain  to  him  from  this  celebrated  whaling  island,  "  we  will  do 
the  best  we  can  with  them  "—and  Trumbull  did  so,  adding  private  adventures 
to  those  on  partnership  account. 

J  As  scarlet  cloaks,  scarlet  calimancoes,  scarlet  caps,  corded  cambittees,  black 
leather  and  morocco  clogs,  waistcoats,  surtouts,  great-coats,  felt  hats,  cloths 


1731—1764.  CHAP.     V.  —  TRUMBULL.  67 

But  Trumbull's  trade  abroad  was  specially  extensive  with, 
the  West  Indies,  and  with  England — particularly  in  London, 
with  the  firms  of  Lane  and  Booth,  of  Hayley  and  Champion, 
and  with  Samuel  Sparrow — in  Bristol  with  Stephen  Ap- 
thorp — in  Liverpool,  occasionally  with  some  firms  there — 
and  on  the  continent,  through  England,  with  Amsterdam, 
but  especially  with  the  house  of  Casper  Yoght  and  Company, 
of  Hamburgh,  the  richest  and  most  substantial  of  all  in  that 
famous  mart  for  German  manufactures — and  from  which, 
on  account  of  the  high  credit  and  connections  of  his  firm,  he 
received  invitations  to  engage  in  trade.  He  exported,  either 
in  vessels  belonging  to  his  own  firm,  or  in  others  chartered 
for  the  purpose,  the  principal  American  products — those 
which  from  the  infancy  of  commerce  in  Connecticut  had 
been  used  for  foreign  trade,*  and  among  these,  besides  salted 
provisions,  part/secularly  oil,  much  of  it,  flax-seed,  potash, 
lumber,  fish,  whale-fins,  and  skins  and  furs. 

drab,  and  chocolate-colored,  and  light,  and  Saxon-green,  horsemen's  coats,  drag- 
get,  and  a  great  variety  of  other  articles,  which  show  the  taste  of  the  day,  and 
strikingly  illustrate  the  colonial  dependence  on  the  mother-country. 

It  was  in  the  time  of  Trumbull's  connection  in  trade  with  Meagher,  that  the 
former  lost  his  father.  In  a  letter  to  him  from  Halifax,  dated  July  7th,  1755, 
Meagher  says :  "  I  am  sorry  for  the  loss  you  have  sustained  by  the  death  of  your 
father ;  but  it  is  a  debt  we  must  all  pay — we  must  not  repine  at  the  will  of  Prov 
idence." 

The  following  are  the  inscriptions  upon  the  father's  monument  and  that  of  his 
wife,  who  survived  him  a  little  over  thirteen  years : — 

"Here  lies  the  body  of 

Capt.  Joseph  Trumble, 

one  of  the  Fathers  of  ye  town  and 

just  Friend  to  it,  of  a  compassionate 

kind  disposition  who  after  a  short 

illness  departed  this  life  in  the  hope 

of  a  better  June  16, 1755  in  the  77th  year  of  his  age." 

"Here  are  deposited  ye  remains  of 

Mrs.  Hannah  Trumbull,  late  wife  of 

Capt.  Joseph  Trumbull,  Daughter  of  John 

Higley  of  Simsbury  Esqr.  who  came  from 

Finnley  in  ye  County  of  Surrey,  by  Mrs.  Hannah 

Drake  his  first  wife.    She  was  born 

at  Windsor  22d  April  1683.    Died  at 

Lebanon  8th  Nov.  1768,  aged  85  years,  6  mo.  &  15  days." 

*As  wheat,  peas,  barley,  Indian  corn,  pork,  beef,  wool,  hemp,  flax,  cider, 

perry,  tar,  turpentine,  deal  boards,  lumber,  pipe-staves,  horses,  pine  and  spruce 

for  masts,  cattle,  swine,  sheep,  goats,  and  fish. 


68  CHAP.    V. — TRUMBULL.  1731—1764. 

For  the  purpose  of  procuring  the  skins  and  furs,  it  was  his 
habit  to  employ  the  Indians  of  his  neighborhood.  Famous 
among  these  both  as  a  hunter  and  a  friend  to  Trumbull,  was 
Zachary — a  principal  councillor  in  the  Mohegan  tribe,  whose 
favorite  ground  was  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Thames  be 
tween  New  London  and  Norwich.  Of  him  Trumbull's  son, 
the  painter  John,  relates  the  following  remarkable  story — one 
which,  while  it  bears  on  the  point  now  under  consideration, 
at  the  same  time  admirably  illustrates  Cooper's  remark  that 
"few  men  exhibit  greater  diversity,  or,  if  we  may  so  express 
it,  greater  antithesis  of  character,  than  the  native  warriors  of 
North  America." 

"  The  government  of  this  Mohegan  tribe,"  he  proceeds,  "  had  become 
hereditary  in  the  family  of  the  celebrated  chief  Uncas.  During  the  time 
of  my  father's  mercantile  prosperity,  he  had  emploved  several  Indians 
of  this  tribe  in  hunting  animals  whose  skins  were  valuable  for  their  furs. 
Among  these  hunters  was  one  named  Zachary,  of  the  royal  race,  an  ex 
cellent  hunter,  but  as  drunken  and  worthless  an  Indian  as  ever  lived. 
When  he  had  somewhat  passed  the  age  of  fifty,  several  members  of  the 
royal  family  who  stood  between  Zachary  and  the  throne  of  his  tribe 
died,  and  he  found  himself  with  only  one  life  between  himself  and  em 
pire.  In  this  moment  his  better  genius  resumed  its  sway,  and  he  re 
flected  seriously,  *  How  can  such  a  drunken  wretch  as  I  am,  aspire  to  be 
the  chief  of  an  honorable  race — what  will  my  people  say — and  how  will 
the  shades  of  my  noble  ancestors  look  down  indignant  upon  such  a  base 
successor?  Can  I  succeed  to  the  great  Uncas?  1  will  drink  no  more!1 
He  solemnly  resolved  never  to  taste  again  any  drink  but  water,  and  he 
kept  his  resolution. 

"  I  had  heard  this  story,  and  did  not  entirely  believe  it ;  for  young  as 
I  was  I  already  partook  in  the  prevailing  contempt  of  Indians.  In  the  be 
ginning  of  May,  the  annual  election  of  the  principal  officers  of  the  colony 
was  held  at  Hartford,  the  capital.  My  father  attended  officially,  and  it  was 
customary  for  the  chief  of  the  Mohegans  also  to  attend.  Zachary  had 
succeeded  to  the  rule  of  his  tribe.*  My  father's  house  was  situated  about 
midway  on  the  road  between  Mohegan  and  Hartford,  and  the  old  chief 

*  He  was  not,  according  to  De  Forest,  in  his  History  of  the  Indians  of  Connec 
ticut,  a  sachem,  or  entitled  by  blood  to  this  distinction.  "  The  individual  to 
whom  Trumbull's  reminiscence  refers,"  says  this  author,  "  was  unquestionably 
our  old  friend  Zachary  Johnson,  the  principal  Councillor  of  the  last  Ben  Uncas, 
and  after  his  death  the  leading  man  among  the  Mohegans.  He  was  sometimes,  I 
"believe,  styled  the  regent  of  the  tribe,  and,  as  already  mentioned,  received  in  his 
latter  days  a  support  from  the  rents  of  the  lands ;  "but  he  did  not  belong  to  the 
royal  family,  and  never  became  sachem."— Page  477. 


1731—1764.  CHAP.    V. — TRUMBULL.  69 

was  in  the  habit  of  coming  a  few  days  before  the  election,  and  dining 
with  his  brother  governor.  One  day  the  mischievous  thought  struck  me, 
to  try  the  sincerity  of  the  old  man's  temperance.  The  family  was  seated 
at  dinner,  and  there  was  excellent  home-brewed  beer  on  the  table.  I  ad 
dressed  the  old  chief — "  Zachary,  this  beer  is  excellent — will  you  taste 
it  ?  "  The  old  man  dropped  his  knife  and  fork — leaned  forward  with  a 
stern  intensity  of  expression ;  his  black  eye,  sparkling  with  indignation, 
was  fixed  on  me.  "  John,"  said  he,  "  you  do  not  know  what  you  are 
doing.  You  are  serving  the  devil,  boy !  Do  you  not  know  that  I  am  an 
Indian  ?  I  tell  you  that  I  am,  and  that,  if  I  should  but  take  your  beer, 
I  could  never  stop  until  I  got  to  rum,  and  become  again  the  drunken, 
contemptible  wretch  your  father  remembers  me  to  have  been.  John, 
while  you  live,  never  again  tempt  any  man  to  break  a  good  resolution.*'* 
Socrates  never  uttered  a  more  valuable  precept.  Demosthenes  could  not 
have  uttered  it  in  more  solemn  tones  of  eloquence.  I  was  thunderstruck. 
My  parents  were  deeply  affected ;  they  looked  at  each  other,  and  at  me, 
and  at  the  venerable  old  Indian,  with  deep  feelings  of  awe  and  respect 
They  afterwards  frequently  reminded  me  of  the  scene,  and  charged  me 
never  to  forget  it.  Zachary  lived  to  pass  the  age  of  eighty,  and  sacredly 
kept  his  resolution.  He  lies  buried  in  the  royal  burial  place  of  his  tribe, 
near  the  beautiful  falls  of  the  Yantic,  the  western  branch  of  the  Thames, 
in  Norwich,  on  land  now  owned  by  my  friend  Calvin  Goddard,  Esq.  I 
visited  the  grave  of  the  old  chief  lately,  and  there  repeated  to  myself  his 
inestimable  lesson." 

For  the  various  products  which  Colonel  Trumbull  exported 
to  England,  and  through  England  to  Amsterdam,  to  Ham 
burgh,  and  to  a  few  other  places  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
he  received  in  return  almost  every  variety  of  merchandise 
for  which  there  was  a  colonial  demand — English  and  Ger 
man  manufactures  of  all  sorts — particularly  woolen  cloths, 
silks,  scythes,  nails,  glass,  brass,  fire-arms,  and  all  sorts  of 
crockery,  cutlery,  and  iron  and  pewter-ware.  Many  old  in 
voices  preserved  among  his  Papers,  show  that  his  business 
was  conducted  on  a  large  scale,  and  that  he  was  one  among 
the  very  first  in  Connecticut  to  substitute  for  the  old  interme 
diate  trade,  in  English  goods,  at  New  York,  Boston,  and 
Halifax,  the  system  of  direct  importation  from  the  Mother- 
country.*  The  sloops,  schooners,  brigantines,  and  snows, 

*  Stocks  of  goods,  worth  many  thousand  pounds  each,  with  his  own  business 
mark — j  J  'J  j — at  the  head  of  the  accounts — are  frequently  noted  among  Ms 
Papers.  Rich  black  serges,  rich  black-spotted  grogatoons,  broad  knee-gartering, 


70  CHAP.    V. — TRUMBULL.  1731—1764. 

either  chartered,  or  owned  in  part  or  whole  by  himself — the 
Prince  George,  the  Abigail,  the  Sarah,  the  Friendship,  the 
Boscawen,  the  Amelia,  the  Endeavor,  the  Alliance,  the  Polly, 
the  Thomas  Allen,  the  Sea  Horse — furled  their  sails  fre 
quently  in  New  London  harbor — or  at  the  wharf  in  Nor 
wich — or  along  the  banks  of  Connecticut  River  at  times — 
full-freighted  with  goods  and  merchandise  for  the  enterprising 
tradesman  of  quiet,  agricultural  Lebanon. 

His  business  as  merchant  and  importer  was  at  times  very 
much  enhanced  through  connections  which  he  established — 
either  through  his  own  firm,  or  with  partners  elsewhere — for 
supplying  military  forces  during  the  French  Wars — connec 
tions  which  were  independent  of  his  duties  as  military  and 
colonial  officer,  and  which  yielded  him  bills  of  exchange  for 
his  trade  with  England. 

Thus  in  1746,  for  example,  with  his  partners  Williams  and 
Pitkin,  he  advanced  twenty-five  hundred  pounds  for  the  offi 
cers  and  soldiers  of  Connecticut  in  the  expedition  to  Canada. 
This  was  done  at  a  time  when  discriminating  duties  in  favor 
of  direct  importations  from  Europe,  and  against  the  interven 
tion  of  New  York  and  Boston  in  the  commerce  of  Connec 
ticut,  were  laid  by  the  Colony — when,  to  encourage  the  direct 
foreign  trade,  a  bounty  even  of  five  per  cent  was  given  on 
imports  from  Great  Britain.  The  goods  imported  by  Trum- 
bull  under  the  favorable  laws  of  which  we  now  speak,  did 

calicoes,  muslins,  cambrics — canvass,  kerseys,  linens,  duffils,  broadcloths,  drug 
gets,  grograms,  and  caps — hose,  silk  gloves,  and  topt-outs — crapes,  satins  and 
lace — thread,  galloons,  sorted  velvet  masks,  lawns,  checks,  and  black  and  colored 
balladine — ribbons,  fans  and  taffaties — fine  cloth — colored  Brussels  camlets — 
mourning  crapes  and  bombazines — women's  stuffed  shoes,  flowered  silk  shoes  and 
cloggs — glasses  in  walnut  and  mahogany  frames,  and  some  in  frames  of  walnut 
and  shells,  and  some  in  japanned  frames — paper,  lead,  indigo,  and  bear  skins — 
such  are  the  articles  which  figure  chiefly  among  his  imports  from  England — while 
from  the  West  India  isles — from  Jamaica,  Martinique,  Barbadoes,  and  the  Car- 
ribbee  islands  more  especially — in  exchange  usually  for  live  stock,  and  beef,  and 
pork,  he  brought  sugar,  rum,  molasses,  cotton- wool,  salt,  and  bills  of  exchange — 
with  which  to  pay  for  European  goods.  The  following  extract  from  one  of  his 
letters,  in  August,  1763,  to  his  chief  correspondents  in  London,  Messrs.  Lane  and 
Booth,  illustrates  his  trade  in  this  last  direction.  "  I  have  sent,"  he  writes,  "to 
the  "West  Indies  twenty-one  head  of  fat  cattle,  nine  horses,  seventy-four  barrels 
of  flour,  forty-four  barrels  of  pork,  with  some  beef  and  lumber,  with  orders  to 
Capt.  Clark  to  go  to  Martinique,  or  wherever  he  can  find  the  English  fleet  and 
forces,  and  sell  out  sloop  and  cargo,  for  bills  on  London  to  be  remitted  to  you." 


1731— 1?64.  CHAP.    V. — TRUMBULL.  71 

not  happen  to  arrive  till  after  the  laws  were  repealed,  whereby 
his  adventure  was  seriously  damaged.  In  addition  to  this — 
on  account  of  discontent  in  England  with  a  furlough  allowed 
the  Connecticut  troops  for  whom  he  had  advanced  money— 
quite  an  amount  of  his  bills  of  exchange  was  refused  payment. 
In  consequence  of  all  this,  he  met  with  a  loss  of  eleven  or 
twelve  hundred  pounds — but  subsequently — his  case,  as  in 
his  Memorial  to  the  General  Assembly  he  stated,  being  "a 
very  peculiar  and  distinguishing  one  " — he  received  from  this 
Body  some  relief. 

Again  in  1761 — in  partnership  with  Hezekiah  Huntington 
of  Norwich,  John  Ledyard  of  Hartford,  Eleazer  Fitch  of 
Windham,  and  William  Williams  of  Lebanon — and  for  the 
purpose  in  part  of  procuring  bills  of  exchange  for  his  trade 
abroad — Trumbull  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  General 
Assembly  of  Connecticut,  to  supply  the  troops  of  the  Colony 
in  his  Majesty's  service,  the  then  current  year,  with  clothing 
and  refreshments — the  said  Assembly  agreeing  to  lend 
the  Undertakers,  for  the  affair,  the  sum  of  six  thousand 
pounds.  The  contract  was  a  large  one,  and  it  was  punctu 
ally  discharged — Trumbull  himself  entering  upon  it  with 
zeal,  and  becoming  in  consequence  engaged  in  constant 
correspondence  with  his  Majesty's  Commander-in-chief  in 
America,  General  Amherst. 

Neither  of  the  operations  now  mentioned,  however,  were 
to  him  particularly  advantageous.  The  first,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  a  losing  one.  The  second  yielded  something.  But 
much  profit  in  the  case  was  out  of  question,  both  because  of 
the  great  difficulty  at  times  in  procuring  suitable  remittances 
for  the  European  trade — and  because  besides,  the  British 
government  was  extremely  remiss,  and  often  entirely  neglect 
ful  in  meeting  its  pecuniary  obligations  to  troops  in  America. 
Connecticut,  in  fact,  never  received  from  the  parent  country 
one -half  of  what  was  fairly  her  due  for  services  in  the  two 
old  French  Wars.* 

*  In  1763,  Colonel  Trumbull  sent  his  eldest  son  to  England,  to  obtain  among 
other  things— with  the  aid  of  his  correspondents  Lane  and  Booth,  and  of  Phine- 
has  Lyman,  then  in  London — such  dividends  as  were  due  to  those  regiments  in 
America  with  which  he  had  been  concerned.  Williams,  his  partner,  had  before 


72  CHAP.    V. — TEUMBULL.  1731—1764. 

But  while  thus,  in  some  few  cases,  embarrassed  in  his 
operations  abroad,  Trumbull  on  the  whole,  during  the  period 
now  under  contemplation,  was  highly  fortunate  in  his  busi 
ness.  "He  had  for  years  been  a  successful  merchant,"  wrote 
his  son  John  of  his  father  at  this  time,  "and  looked  forward 
to  an  old  age  of  ease  and  affluence."  His  home  business,  at 
Lebanon,  flourished.  By  his  own  personal  exertions  he  had 
made  this  village  a  mart  for  buying,  selling,  and  exchanging, 
semi-annually,  merchandize  and  commodities  of  various 
descriptions.  By  a  vote  of  his  native  town,  he  was  consti 
tuted  sole  agent,  in  its  behalf,  to  apply  to  the  General  Assem 
bly  for  this  valuable  purpose — and  he  did  so.  "Whereas," 
says  his  Memorial  to  the  Legislature  on  this  subject,  in  his 
own  handwriting — "whereas  Markets  and  Fairs  are  found 
beneficial  and  serviceable  to  facilitate  the  transaction  of  busi 
ness  among  people,  in  a  manner  both  expeditious  and  advan 
tageous,  and  the  situation  and  circumstances  of  the  town  of 
Lebanon  are  such  as  render  it  convenient  and  fit  for  a  Fair 
and  Market  to  be  set  up  and  kept  therein" — therefore  he 
prays  for  liberty  to  establish  them,  "at  proper  times,  and 
with  the  privileges,  and  under  such  convenient  and  suitable 
regulations  as  are  usually  annexed  thereto." 

These  Fairs  gave  him  much  employment,  and  valuable 
harvests  of  profit.  It  is  the  testimony  from  every  quarter, 
that  "his  upright  dealing  secured  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  the  public."  Wholly  free  from  all  the  petty  exactions  of 
trade,  he  was  a  provident  manager — careful  of  his  invest 
ments  of  capital,  even  to  the  smallest — a  strict  accountant, 
and  reckoner  of  his  gains — yet  ever  spending  these  gains 
with  liberality  and  satisfaction  both  upon  his  own  family 
and  the  public — striking  evidences  of  which  fact  we  shall 
have  occasion  hereafter  to  observe.  More  than  any  man  of 

gone  out  to  London,  for  the  same  purpose,  on  his  first  contract — with  what  suc 
cess,  in  either  case,  we  do  not  positively  learn,  though  doubtless  with  some.  "  It 
is  difficult,"  wrote  Trumbull  at  this  time,  by  his  son,  "to  find  ways  and  means 
to  make  remittances  abroad — the  last  two  years  have  been  rather  calamitous  for 
the  country" — and  he  suggests  as  modes  of  relief,  "the  supply  of  our  provisions 
where  needed,"  ship-building,  and  the  exportation  of  flax-seed  to  Ireland,  and 
of  pig  and  bar  iron  from  towns  in  Litchfield  County,  where,  he  says,  these  latter 
articles  "  abound."  He  will  "  fulfil,"  he  adds,  his  "  own  contracts,  both  old  and 
new,  punctually." 


1731—1764  CHAP.    V. — TRUMBULL.  73 

his  day,  in  his  own  region — he  was  called  upon  to  transact 
affairs  for  others — to  draw  up  contracts,  bonds,  and  commer 
cial  papers  generally — to  sell  lands,  and  other  property — 
arbitrate  accounts,  and  settle  controversies  in  trade.  More 
often  declining  than  receiving  compensation  for  services  like 
these,  he  proved  himself  "a  trusty  friend"  indeed  to  all 
who  solicited,  in  behalf  of  their  own  private  interests,  the 
benefit  of  his  mercantile  experience,  true  candor,  and 
unflinching  honesty. 

So  the  first  years  of  Trumbull's  life  as  a  merchant  passed — 
in  successful  commerce  abroad — in  profitable  trade  at 
home — and  with  high  reputation  in  all  his  contracts,  negotia 
tions,  and  adventures.  And  "his  corn  and  riches  did  in 
crease."  A  house  and  home-estate  worth  over  four  thousand 
pounds — furniture,  and  a  library,  worth  six  hundred  pounds — 
a  valuable  store  adjacent  to  his  dwelling — a  store,  wharf,  and 
land  at  East  Haddam — a  lot  and  warehouse  at  Chelsea  in 
Norwich — a  valuable  gristmill  near  his  family  seat  at 
Lebanon — "a  large  convenient  malt  house" — several  pro 
ductive  farms  in  his  neighborhood,  carefully  tilled,  and 
beautifully  spotted  with  rich  acres  of  woodland — extensive 
ownership  too  in  the  "Five  Mile  Propriety,"  as  it  was  called, 
in  Lebanon,  in  whose  management  as  committee-man,  and 
representative  at  courts,  and  moderator  at  meetings  of 
owners,  Trumbull  had  much  to  do — a  stock  of  domestic 
animals  worth  an  hundred  and  thirty  pounds — 'these  posses 
sions — together  with  a  well-secured  indebtedness  to  himself, 
in  bonds,  and  notes  and  mortgages,  resulting  from  his 
mercantile  transactions,  of  about  eight  thousand  pounds — 
rewarded,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1763,  the  toil  of  Trumbull 
in  the  field  of  trade  and  commerce.  In  all  it  was  a  property 
of  not  less  than  eighteen  thousand  pounds — truly  a  large  one 
for  the  day — but  one  destined,  by  reverses  in  trade  which  the 
times  subsequently  rendered  inevitable,  and  by  the  patriotic 
generosity  of  its  owner  during  the  great  Kevolutionary 
Struggle,  to  sink,  in  large  part,  from  his  grasp. 
7 


CHAPTER    VI. 
1764—1770. 

GENERAL  view  of  the  condition  of  the  American  Colonies  at  this  period. 
Investigation  into  the  nature  of  their  connection  with  the  Parent 
State  particularly  roused.  Trurabull's  public  offices  and  duties.  He 
is  appointed  Deputy  Governor  and  Chief  Justice  of  Connecticut.  He 
watches  closely  the  measures  of  England.  Examines  especially  the 
famous  Writs  of  Assistance,  and  writes  to  England  about  them.  The 
conclusions  of  his  mind  upon  these  Writs  are  strongly  in  favor  of  lib 
erty.  The  noted  trial  upon  their  validity  in  Boston  awakens  his  patri 
otic  zeal.  Two  applications  for  their  issue  are  made  in  Connecticut  to 
the  Court  over  which  he  himself  presides.  His  action  and  sentiments 
upon  these  applications.  A  striking  letter  on  the  subject  from  his  pen. 

WE  enter  now  upon  the  period  in  Trumbull's  life  from 
1764  to  1770 — from  the  Peace  of  Paris  to  the  time  when  he 
was  exalted  to  the  post  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  his  native 
Colony — a  period  of  novel  and  startling  experiences  to  the 
American  world — when  the  Colonies  and  the  Mother-Coun 
try — no  longer  moving  side  by  side,  and  shoulder  to  shoul 
der,  for  the  annihilation  of  French  and  Spanish  power,  and 
the  proud  extension  of  British  dominion — fell  into  those  col 
lisions  between  themselves,  which,  sharpened  by  time — 

"  "With  wrath,  and  hate,  and  sacred  vengeance, 
Soon  indissolubly  linked," 

produced  at  last  the  American  Kevolution. 

It  was  the  period  when  plans  for  levying  internal  taxes 
upon  the  Colonies  were  started — and  when  old  and  vexatious 
acts  of  navigation  and  trade,  exhausting  the  life-blood  of 
their  little  treasuries,  were  to  be  enforced  by  swarms  of  rev 
enue  officers,  and  Courts  of  Admiralty  that  outraged  liberty. 
It  was  the  period  of  the  Stamp  Act — of  the  Billeting  Act — 
and  of  Port  Duties  on  glass,  lead,  painters'  colors,  and  tea, 
which  were  to  be  compelled  by  an  intrusive  Board  of  Com 
missioners  for  the  Customs,  and  with  the  aid  of  odious  Writs 
of  Assistance.  It  was  the  period  of  a  British  Act — levelled 
at  all  the  Colonies,  through  New  York — for  suspending,  and 


1764—1770.  CHAP.    VI.  —  THUMB  ULL.  75 

virtually  annihilating  the  legislative  functions  of  General 
Assemblies — when  too  the  charters  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Connecticut,  and  the  liberties  of  all  New-England 
towns  were  "struck  at" — when  the  New-England  fisheries 
were  menaced  with  prohibition — and  the  New-England  "in 
cendiaries,"  as  the  active  patriots  of  that  day  were  styled, 
were  to  be  transported,  if  possible,  to  the  Old  Country  for 
vengeful  trial  and  condemnation.  It  was  the  period,  in  fine, 
when  unnatural  and  oppressive  acts  such  as  these — rousing 
investigation  more  deeply  than  ever  before  into  the  nature 
of  our  political  connection  with  the  parent  State,  and  to  a 
vindication  of  the  natural  right  of  men  quietly  to  enjoy,  and 
fully  to  dispose  of  their  own  property — awoke  the  young 
lion  of  American  resistance  to  so  broad  a  glare  of  defiance, 
to  an  attitude  so  full  of  menace,  that  an  army  with  banners 
at  last — Boston  to  be  the  theatre  for  its  first  murderous  ex 
ploit — landed  on  the  shores  of  the  New- World,  to  drive  the 
infant  monster  back,  it  was  ostentatiously  expected,  to  some 
lair  of  impotent  repose.  Vain  boast — empty  hope!  The 
clutch  of  that  young  lion  was  fatal ! 

Of  Trumbull's  connection  with  these  matters,  down  nearly 
to  that  memorable  spring  which  ushered  in  the  Boston  Mas 
sacre — of  the  feelings  which  were  his  impulse — of  the  prin 
ciples  he  adopted,  and  the  course  he  pursued — we  shall 
speak,  in  part,  in  the  present  chapter — not,  from  lack  of  me 
morials,  with  the  fulness  we  desire — yet  amply  enough,  in 
the  course  of  this  and  succeeding  chapters,  we  shall  trust,  to 
exhibit  him  in  his  true  light.  But  first,  let  us  fill  up,  as 
after  our  manner  hitherto,  the  measure  of  the  offices  of 
honor  and  of  trust  which  he  enjoyed,  at  the  hands  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  during  the  present  period. 

In  1764,  he  was  again  elected  Assistant  for  the  Colony  of 
Connecticut,  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  and  Judge  of  Pro 
bate,  for  the  County  and  District  of  Windham.  In  1765, 
the  same  offices  were  all  renewed  in  his  person.  In  1766, 
October,  he  was  appointed  Chief  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Courts  of  Connecticut  for  the  year  ensuing,  with  Robert 
Walker,  Matthew  Griswold,  Eliphalet  Dyer,  and  Roger 
Sherman,  for  his  associates  on  the  Bench — and  was  also 


76  CHAP.    VI.— TKUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

again  appointed  Judge  of  Probate  for  the  District  of  Wind- 
ham.  In  1767,  he  was  re-elected  Chief  Justice,  with  the 
same  associates,  and  also  Judge  of  Probate,  and  was  also 
chosen  Deputy  Governor  of  the  Colony.  In  1768,  he  was 
again  appointed  Chief  Justice,  with  the  same  associates,  and 
again  Deputy  Governor.  These  offices  he  held  in  1769 — 
until  October  of  this  year — when  upon  the  death  of  Gov 
ernor  William  Pitkin,  relinquishing  the  place  of  Chief  Jus 
tice  in  favor  of  Matthew  Griswold — he  was  chosen  to  the 
post  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  Connecticut — a  post  which  he 
continued  to  occupy  until  within  two  years  of  his  death — 
when,  by  a  voluntary  resignation,  he  gave  it  up  forever. 

So  that,  within  the  thirty-seven  years  which  elapsed  from 
1733  to  1770 — covering  thus  far  the  whole  sphere  of  his 
public  life — Trumbull  seven  times  represented  his  native 
town,  as  Deputy,  in  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut, 
during  three  of  which  he  occupied  the  honorable  post  of 
Speaker  of  the  House — was  chosen  Assistant  for  twenty -two 
years — was  chosen  for  one  year  a  side  Judge,  and  for  seven 
teen  years  Chief  Judge  of  the  County  Court  of  Windham, 
and  for  nineteen  years  Judge  of  Probate  for  the  same  Dis 
trict — was  twice  made  Justice  of  the  Peace — was  once  elected 
an  Assistant  Judge,  and  thrice  Chief  Justice  of  the  Superior 
Courts  of  the  Colony — and  twice  its  Deputy  Governor — and 
had  his  services  at  last,  after  a  gradual  and  sure  accretion  of 
public  influence  and  reputation,  crowned  with  the  highest 
honor  in  the  gift  of  the  people  whom  he  so  long  and  faith 
fully  had  served.  An  amount  all  this,  of  labor,  of  office, 
dignity,  and  trust,  which  rarely  indeed  falls  to  the  lot  of 
men.  Trumbull's  path  to  Posts  and  Honors  was  no  short 
and  petty  byepath,  but  literally  a  broad,  spacious,  solid,  and 
embellished  Highway. 

Of  the  manner  in  which,  in  the  period  upon  which  we 
now  particularly  dwell — that  between  1763  and  1770 — he 
discharged  his  duties — simply  as  legislator  and  member  of 
the  General  Assembly — we  have  not  much  to  present.  Suf 
fice  it  to  say  here,  that,  as  in  preceding  years,  he  was  active 
and  trusted — trusted  upon  important  committees — consulted 
with,  as  of  old,  on  all  questions  of  public  economy  and 


1764—1770.  CHAP.    VI.—  THUMB  ULL.  77 

police— and  specially  relied  upon,  we  observe,  in  cases  that 
came  before  the  Legislature  touching  fraudulent  sales  of 
lands,  the  construction  of  wills,  and  the  administration  of 
estates.*  He  was  relied  upon  also,  especially,  in  ecclesiast 
ical  matters  that  called  for  the  interposition  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  and  in  Indian  affairs — particularly  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Mohegan  tribe,  in  connection,  as  we  shall  hereafter  have  oc 
casion  to  show,  with  that  famous  Mason  controversy,  which 
so  long,  in  suits  against  Connecticut,  agitated  committees, 
counsel,  agents,  and  courts,  both  in  this  Colony,  and  in  Great 
Britain. 

From  all  these  points  we  turn  however  now,  to  consider 
Trumbull  in  that  civil  and  political  sphere  to  which  we  have 
already  alluded,  as  concerning  not  only  all  the  dominant 
interests  of  Connecticut,  but  those  also  of  United  America, 
and  the  rights  and  power  of  a  Motherland  just  commencing 
towards  her  children  a  career  of  despotism  and  tyranny. 

To  the  very  beginnings  of  this  career,  in  fresh  orders  sent 
from  England  to  American  custom-house  officers  to  take 
more  effectual  measures  for  enforcing  the  acts  of  trade  and 
navigation,  Trumbull  gave  heed.  No  man  more  than  him 
self  studied  the  nature  and  operation  of  those  famous  Writs 
of  Assistance,  which — arming  these  officers  with  the  odious 
power  of  breaking  open  buildings  to  search  for  goods  ille 
gally  imported,  as  well  as  for  those  on  which  duties  had  not 
been  paid — first  manifested  the  aggressive  purposes  of  Brit 
ish  power  against  American  property  and  commerce. 

Both  as  merchant  and  a  patriot,  he  watched  them  with  the 
deepest  anxiety.  In  a  mercantile  view  they  were  to  be  em 
ployed  to  enforce  statutes — hitherto  suffered  to  lie  dormant, 
or  disregarded  and  evaded — which  in  their  direct  operation, 
would  cut  off  that  extensive  circuitous  trade  with  the  French 
and  Spanish  West  India  isles,  which  to  himself — as  well  as 
to  hundreds  of  others,  especially  in  New  England,  engaged 
in  commerce — was  a  principal  source  of  prosperity,  and  en- 

*  As  in  the  matter,  particularly,  of  the  estate  of  Dr.  Morrison  of  Hartford — 
that  learned,  though  somewhat  eccentric  Scottish  physician,  whose  recluse  grave, 
within  almost  the  centre  of  this  city,  and  near  its  new  free  Episcopal  Church, 

has  long  attracted  the  curiosity  of  citizens. 
70 


78  CHAP.    VI. — TRUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

abled  them  to  pay  for  the  British  manufactures  they  usually 
imported.  In  a  political  view  these  writs,  if  granted,  would 
be  dire  instruments  of  tyranny. 

They  were  writs  unknown  in  the  history  of  colonial  juris 
prudence.  But  they  were  according  to  the  usages  of  the 
Court  of  Exchequer  in  England,  it  was  said. 

To  England,  therefore — to  Eichard  Jackson,  the  Colonial 
Agent  for  Connecticut  there — Trumbull  wrote  on  the  subject, 
soon  as  it  began  to  assume  importance — carefully  informing 
himself  with  regard  to  these  usages,  all  of  them — especially 
so  after  new  collectors,  to  carry  out  the  behests  of  the  Crown, 
were  appointed  for  his  native  province,  and  after  its  Governor 
was  informed  by  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations  for 
America,  that  his  Majesty's  resolution,  on  the  subject  of  the 
trade  and  navigation  acts,  was  so  fixed  "to  have  the  most 
implicit  obedience  to  his  commands  for  enforcing  them,  that 
he  would  not  pass  unnoticed  any  negligence  on  the  part  of 
any  person." 

The  conclusions  to  which  his  own  mind  came  on  this  im 
portant  subject — the  first  upon  which,  in  the  new  collision 
between  Parliamentary  and  Colonial  authority,  he  had  been 
called  on  to  express  an  opinion — were  all  in  favor  of  his  own 
land.  Circumstances  urged  him — here  at  the  outset  of  the 
struggle  which  was  about  to  ensue — to  choose  his  side — and 
this  side  was  that  of  liberty — unreservedly,  firmly,  and  fer 
vently.  So  that  when  Otis  and  Thatcher — before  a  Court  in 
the  metropolis  of  New  England — in  resistance  to  a  Crown- 
Collector's  application  for  the  obnoxious  Writ — made  their 
brilliant  and  immortal  efforts — American  Independence  was 
not  "then  and  there  born"  more  fully  in  the  heart  of  any 
listener  than  in  that  of  Trumbull,  when  at  his  home  in  Leba 
non  he  heard  of  these  efforts,  and  perused  the  subsequent 
masterly  pamphlet  by  Otis  asserting  and  proving  the  rights 
of  the  Colonies.  No  man  in  that  "crowded  audience"  at 
Boston — in  that  first  scene  of  the  first  opposition  to  the  arbi 
trary  claims  of  Great  Britain — was  more  "  ready  to  take  arms 
against  Writs  of  Assistance" — more  ready,  spite  of  proceed 
ings  somewhat  irregular,  to  sanction  the  conduct  of  that 
crowd  at  Falmouth  in  Maine,  which  subsequently  defeated 


1764—1770.  CHAP.    VI.— TKUMBULL.  79 

their  operation  in  the  hands  of  officers  laboring  under  their 
disputed  authority  to  make  a  seizure  of  goods — or  more 
zealous  to  uphold  and  vindicate  their  refusal  by  the  Superior 
Court  in  Connecticut,  in  one  or  two  cases  in  which  Custom 
House  functionaries  applied  for  their  issue — than  was  that 
son  of  Connecticut  whose  life  we  now  commemorate. 

He  had  prominent  opportunity  to  manifest  his  sentiments 
on  this  point — for  in  March  1768 — and  again  in  April  1769 — 
direct  application  was  made  to  the  Superior  Court  over  which 
he  presided,  for  some  of  the  Writs  in  question.  In  the  first 
instance  it  was  made  to  Chief  Justice  Trumbull  by  the  King's 
Collector  for  the  port  of  New  London,  Duncan  Stewart,  and 
the  King's  Comptroller,  Thomas  Moffat — for  the  mere  pur 
pose,  it  would  seem,  of  testing  the  views  of  the  Court  upon 
the  important  subject — and  not  for  the  reason  that  any 
"special  occasion"  had  arisen  for  their  use.  The  Court, 
therefore,  was  at  perfect  liberty,  at  this  time,  with  a  wary 
prudence,  to  waive  their  issue — and,  in  the  expectation,  and 
with  the  desire  that  further  light  should  be  shed  upon  their 
nature  and  legality,  courteously  to  postpone  their  considera 
tion  to  a  future  period. 

"  Upon  the  Petition  of  Duncan  Stewart,  Collector,"  says  the  Court 
Record  of  their  proceeding  at  this  time — "  and  Thomas  Moffat,  Comp 
troller  of  his  Majesty's  Customs  for  the  port  of  New  London,  Esquires, 
requesting  this  Court  to  grant  them  Writs  of  Assistance  pursuant  to  the 
spirit  and  true  meaning  of  the  Act  of  Parliament  therein  referred  to — 
And  no  information  being  made  by  said  Petitioners,  or  otherwise,  of  any 
special  occasion  for  said  Writ — this  Court  is  of  opinion  that  it  is  needful 
to  consider  on  the  purport  of  said  Act,  and  the  manner  and  form  of 
granting  such  Writs  of  Assistance,  according  to  the  usage  of  his  Majes 
ty's  Court  of  Exchequer  :  Therefore  this  Court  will  further  consider  and 
advise  thereon." 

This  further  consideration  the  Court  did  give  to  the  mat 
ter.  Trumbull  again  wrote  abroad — for  additional  informa 
tion  about  the  Writs — both  to  Jackson,  and  to  Wm.  Samuel 
Johnson,  who  was  then  in  London  as  special  attorney  for 
Connecticut  in  management  of  the  Mohegan  Case.  Singu 
larly  enough — and  certainly  contrary  to  the  impressions  we 
usually  derive  from  history  on  this  point — the  "Writs  in  ques- 


80  CHAP.    VI. — TRUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

tion  were,  by  the  custom  of  England,  legalized,  and  issued 
in  that  country  as  a  matter  of  course.  They  had  been  issued 
also  in  some  of  the  Provinces  of  America. 

"Mr.  Jackson,"  reported  Johnson  to  Trumbull,  September  twenty- 
ninth,  1769,  "  has  no  doubt  wrote  you  on  the  subject  of  Writs  of  Assist 
ance,  as  I  have  also  to  his  Honor  the  Governor,  and  inclosed  him  copies 
of  the  usual  Writs  issued  here.  I  own  I  was  surprised  to  find  such  a 
Writ  in  use  in  a  country  so  jealous  of  its  liberties,  but  it  seems  it  has 
now  custom  on  its  side,  and  issues  quite  of  course.  I  find  it  has  also 
been  adopted  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  some  other  Provinces,  and  is 
said  to  be  grounded  on  this  principle — that  the  presence  of  the  Civil  Offi 
cer  is  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  Peace,  as  well  as  to  give  a 
proper  Countenance  to  the  Officers  of  the  Revenue."* 

So  far  now,  in  the  discharge  of  his  ordinary  and  acknowl 
edged  duties,  as  the  Civil  Officer  required  "countenance," 
Trumbull,  undoubtedly,  would  have  willingly  afforded  it. 
He  would  have  granted  "  Warrants  "  such  as  were  suitable 
for  the  purpose — but  not  a  Writ,  which,  like  that  of  Assist 
ance,  authorized  the  invasion,  even  of  private  dwellings,  in 
an  outraging  process  of  search  and  seizure.  Fortunately  we 
have  his  views  on  this  subject  preserved.  They  are  embod 
ied,  briefly,  in  a  letter  which,  June  fourteenth  1769,  he  wrote 
to  Johnson  in  London — giving  an  account  of  the  proceed 
ings  in  Connecticut  upon  a  second  application  of  the  King's 
officers — which  he  describes — and  commenting,  forcibly,  on 
the  unjust  policy  in  general  of  the  Mother-country  towards 
her  Colonies  in  America. 

"  I  wrote  you  last  summer,"  he  proceeds,  "  per  my  son,  respecting  the 
matter  of  Writs  of  Assistance,  and  received  your  answer  thereon  per 
him.  Since  that,  to  wit,  at  April  Term  last  at  Norwich,  Mr.  Stewart 
[Collector]  made  further  application  to  the  Superior  Court  for  such 
Writs ;  and  produced  Forms  of  such  from  the  Board  of  Commissioners, 
as  they  judged  proper  for  us  to  give,  with  the  Case  per  Mr.  DeGrey.  To 
which  the  Court  replied,  that  they  would  be  further  advised,  and  as  the 
Sessions  of  the  General  Assembly  was  near,  they  should  ask  their  advice 
and  direction.  Accordingly  the  matter  was  fully  laid  before  them. 
They  appointed  a  Committee  to  consider  the  letters  &c.,  laid  before  the 

*  "  I  shall  endeavor  to  make  further  enquiries  concerning  it,"  Johnson  adds— 
"  and  if  anything  material  occurs,  communicate  it." 


1764—1770.  CHAP.    VI. — TRUMBULL.  81 

Assembly.  Within  their  province  fell  this  matter,  and  they  advised  that 
the  Assembly  take  no  notice  of  it — that  it  properly  belonged  to  the  Su 
perior  Court — that,  as  individuals,  not  as  members  of  the  Assembly, 
they  advised  the  Court  not  to  grant  such  Warrants,  which  seemed  to  be 
the  universal  opinion.  Since  this  Mr.  Seymour,*  as  Attorney  for  the 
King,  by  direction  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners,  has  made  application 
to  me  for  a  Judicial  Determination  on  the  Matter.  I  have  given  him  no 
answer,  nor  do  I  intend  giving  any  till  the  Next  Term,  which  now  soon 
comes  on. 

"  I  have  taken  care  to  find  what  the  Courts  in  the  other  Colonies  have 
done,  and  find  no  such  Writs  have  been  given  by  any  of  the  Courts  ex 
cept  in  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  where  they  were  given  as 
soon  as  asked  for.  I  believe  the  Courts  in  all  the  other  Colonies  will  be 
as  well  united,  and  as  firm  in  this  Matter,  as  in  anything  that  has  yet 
happened  between  us  and  Great  Britain. 

"  I  have  never  yet  seen  any  Act  of  Parliament  authorizing  the  Court 
of  Exchequer  in  giving  such  Writs  as  they  give,  but  conceive  they  have 
crept  into  use  by  the  inattention  of  the  people,  and  the  bad  practices  of 
designing  men.  We  are  directed  to  give  such  Writs  as  the  Court  of  Ex 
chequer  are  enabled  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  give,  which  are  very  differ 
ent,  as  I  conceive,  from  such  Writs  as  they  do  give.  Our  Court  will  on 
all  occasions  of  complaint  grant  such  Warrants  as  may  be  necessary  for 
promoting  his  Majesty's  service,  and  at  the  same  time  consistent  with  the 
liberty  and  privilege  of  the  subject,  and  made  returnable  to  the  Court ; 
but  further  than  that  we  dare  not  go,  and  they  must  not  expect  we  shall. 
I  give  you  my  mind  on  this  subject,  as  I  expect  representation  will  be 
made  of  the  conduct  of  the  Court  herein,  and  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
have  you  prepared  on  the  occasion. 

"Administration,  if  not  already  convinced,  must  soon  find  that  their 
plan  of  sending  troops  into  America,  to  overawe  and  intimidate  the  peo 
ple,  has  entirely  failed  them ;  so  far  has  it  been  from  having  the  desired 
effect,  that  the  People  are  more  fixed  and  established  in  their  principles, 
and  determined  to  lose  their  liberties,  dear  to  them  as  their  life,  but  with 
their  lives.  This,  they  may  depend  on  it,  is  not  a  spirit  stirred  up  and 
kept  alive  by  a  few  disaffected,  hot-headed  men  among  those  of  their  own 
temper  and  disposition.  No — that  is  not  the  case,  they  may  be  assured. 
But  it  is  the  united,  universal  determination  of  every  man  in  America,  a 
few  dastardly,  dependent  slaves  and  dupes  to  Administration  only  ex- 
cepted,  who  have  sold  their  country,  and  their  own  Posterity,  for  the 
base  consideration  of  a  poor  present  pittance  for  themselves. 

"  The  treatment  received  from  the  last  Winter's  Session  of  Parliament 
grieves  us  sensibly,  as  every  moment's  delay  of  justice  heightens  our 
distress,  and  raises  our  resentments,  already  almost  too  heavy  to  bear. 
Notwithstanding  all  the  ill-judged  burthens  heaped  upon  us  by  a  weak 

*  Thomas  Seymour. 


82  CHAP.    VI. — TKUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

and  wicked  Administration,  we  still  retain  a  degree  of  regard,  and  even 
fondness  for  Great  Britain,  and  a  firm  attachment  to  his  Majesty's  person, 
family,  and  government,  and  on  just  and  equal  terms,  as  children,  not  as 
slaves,  should  rejoice  to  remain  united  with  them  to  the  latest  time. 
But  to  think  of  being  slaves — we  who  so  well  know  the  bitterness  of  it  by 
the  instances  so  continually  before  our  eyes,  cannot  lear  the  shocking 
thought — Nature  starts  lack  at  the  idea!" 


C  HAPTER    VII. 
1765. 

TRUMBTTLI,  and  the  Stamp  Act.  Resistance  of  Connecticut  to  the  Act, 
and  Trumbull's  participation  in  it  A  thrilling  scene  illustrating  his 
opposition.  Governor  Fitch  calls  his  Council  together  in  order  to  take 
an  oath  to  carry  the  measure  into  effect,  as  required  by  King  and  Par 
liament.  He  announces  his  readiness  to  be  sworn.  Trumbull,  and 
other  Councillors  remonstrate,  and  refuse  to  perform  the  cere 
mony.  The  Governor  argues  the  case  with  them,  and  insists  upon 
talcing  the  Oath.  Four  of  the  Councillors,  enough  for  the  purpose, 
unwillingly  yield  The  remaining  seven,  Trumbull  at  their  head,  still 
resist  Their  motives,  arguments,  and  some  of  their  language  upon 
the  occasion.  The  Governor  rises  to  receive  the  Oath.  At  this  mo 
ment,  Trumbull  refuses  to  witness  a  ceremony  which  he  thinks  will 
degrade  the  Colony,  and  is  an  outrage  upon  liberty,  seizes  his  hat,  and 
indignantly  withdraws  from  the  Council  Chamber,  followed  immedi 
ately  by  six  of  his  associates.  Judgment  of  the  Colony  upon  the 
event. 

THE  course  of  such  a  man  as  Trumbull  in  the  matter  of 
the  Stamp  Act,  from  what  has  already  been  described,  may 
be  easily  anticipated.  It  was  one  of  indignant  opposition 
from  the  very  inception  of  that  project  down  to  the  period  of 
its  repeal.* 

*  His  son  Joseph,  who  was  in  England  when  this  project  was  started,  kept  his 
father  constantly  informed  of  all  Acts  of  Parliament  affecting  America,  and  gave 
much  useful  information  to  Agent  Jackson  respecting  its  trade  and  commerce, 
which  the  latter  used  zealously  with  the  Ministry,  and  publicly  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  Joseph,  upon  this  occasion,  served  his  country  nobly.  December 
10th,  1763,  for  example,  he  writes  Ms  father  thus  : — 

"  They  talk  of  taxing  the  Colonies  for  the  support  of  the  troops  in  America, 
and  that  tax  to  be  laid  in  the  Colonies  without  any  respect  to  their  Charters,  or 
rather  in  such  manner  as  to  sap  the  foundation  of  all  our  privileges.  Indeed  our 
good  friends  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  Mansfield,  Lord  Sandwich,  the  Duke  of  Bed 
ford,  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  and  some  others,  are  of  opinion  that  all  the  Charters  in 
America  could  be  vacated  immediately,  without  any  ceremony,  and  that  we 
should  be  governed  entirely  by  Governors  and  Councils,  without  any  assemblies 
appointed  by  the  King.  They  say  those  Charters  were  granted  in  High  Times, 
by  the  king  only,  without  consent  of  Parliament,  and  so  are  void  in  themselves ; 
that  there  shall  be  a  superintendent  over  the  whole ;  that  we  must  be  prevented 
making  bar  iron ;  and  several  other  most  barbarous  impositions  are  to  be  laid  on 
us.  I  hope  John  Wilkes  will  live  to  give  them  employment,  to  prevent  them 
from  doing  us  the  mischief  they  intend.  The  people  in  power  have  imbibed  the 
greatest  prejudices  imaginable  against  the  Colonies." 


84  CHAP.    VII.— TKUMBULL.  1765. 

The  conduct  of  Connecticut  upon  this  occasion — the  ardor 
with  which,  at  the  outset — a  year  before  the  measure  passed 
the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  and  when  the  English  Min 
istry  were  gathering  from  the  various  Colonies  statistics  upon 
which  to  found  it — the  ardor  and  emphasis  with  which,  by 
acts  of  her  General  Assembly,  by  letters  and  petitions  to  her 
agents  and  to  statesmen  in  England,  and  to  the  Ministry, 
Court,  and  Parliament,  she  lifted  up  her  voice  of  remon 
strance  and  of  prayer  ere  the  impending  blow  was  struck — 
and  her  demonstrations  after  the  blow  fell — are  familiar  to  the 
readers  of  Connecticut  history. 

Her  funeral  processions  with  the  coffined  Stamp  Act — her 
burnings  and  hangings  of  the  effigies  of  its  aiders  and  abet 
tors,  that  glared  from  the  hill-tops  and  plains  of  almost  every 
one  of  her  villages,  and  told  to  the  day  and  to  the  night,  to 
the  sun  and  to  the  stars,  a  tale  of  maddened  distress — her 
fierce  crowds  that  assailed,  humiliated,  and  displaced  the 
Stamp-Master  appointed  for  her  jurisdiction — the  success 
which  crowned  her  efforts,  in  preventing  a  single  application 
of  the  Act  within  her  limits — and  her  unbounded  congratu 
lations,  manifested  by  bonfires,  illuminations,  feu  de  joies,  and 
in  every  form  of  gladness,  when  the  stroke  aimed  at  her  hap 
piness  was  stayed,  require  no  description  at  our  hands  here. 

We  but  allude  to  these  events  now,  in  order  to  say  that  in 
all  of  them,  save  probably  in  those  eccentric  pageants  which 
mocked  the  designs  of  the  Motherland,  Trumbull  took  an 
active  part.  Even  on  the  pageants  to  which  we  refer,  he 
gazed,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  with  no  averted  eye, 
and  with  no  disposition — magistrate  and  order-loving  citizen 
though  he  was — to  interpose  either  his  authority  in  behalf  of 
the  "King's  peace,"  or  his  counsel  in  behalf  of  sedate  resist 
ance.  Nay  we  think  that  his  brow  must  have  relaxed  its  ac 
customed  gravity,  and  his  ordinarily  compressed  lips  have 

February  13th,  1764,  he  writes  thus :— "  The  Courts  are  contriving  every  scheme 
to  saddle  us  in  America  with  troops — and  some  carry  it  so  far  as  not  to  be  content 
with  our  paying  and  supporting  them,  but  also  would  have  us  pay  a  considerable 
sum  to  the  Civil  List — all  of  which  monies  are  to  be  raised  by  duties  on  French, 
and  Dutch  goods — by  our  paying  in  New  England  the  same  duties  on  East  India 
goods  as  are  paid  here— by  the  Post  Office  regulations  in  the  manner  they  are 
here— and  by  a  Stamp  Office— all  which  the  friends  to  America  are  doing  every 
thing  in  their  power  to  prevent." 


1765.  CHAP.    VII. — TKUMBULL.  85 

even  expanded  with  hearty  laughter,  when  from  his  own 
mansion  at  Lebanon — in  the  summer  immediately  succeeding 
the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act — he  saw  a  crowd  of  his  own 
neighbors  and  friends  giving  to  this  Act  the  formality  of  a 
mock  trial — subjecting  it  to  unanimous  condemnation — and 
then,  in  due  form,  and  with  pageantry  the  most  comical,  pro 
ceeding  to  hang  and  burn  the  criminal. 

Be  this,  however,  as  it  may  have  been,  it  is  certain  that  in 
other  respects — in  the  preparation  of  legislative  and  execu 
tive  papers,  of  petitions,  and  letters,  in  behalf  of  the  Colony 
against  the  Stamp  Act — in  correspondence,  both  in  his  own 
country  and  abroad,  on  this  subject,  but  particularly  with  the 
Colonial  Agent  in  England,  with  his  Majesty's  Secretary  of 
State,  and  with  the  Sons  of  Liberty  at  home — in  circulating 
patriotic  resolves,  especially  those  of  Virginia,  and  patriotic 
essays  and  writings,  like  those,  distinctly,  of  Otis,  and 
Thatcher,  and  of  the  earnest  and  didactic  Johnson  of 
Lyme — in  efforts  such  as  these  to  rouse,  justify,  and  con 
centrate  opinion  and  feeling  against  the  Act,  no  man  in  Con 
necticut  was  more  conspicuous  than  Trumbull — hardly  one 
as  much  so. 

We  may  safely  say  no  person  as  much  so,  when  we  come 
to  gaze  upon  one  particular  scene  in  the  drama  of  Connecti 
cut  opposition  to  the  obnoxious  Act,  in  which  Trumbull 
figured — and  in  a  manner  that  should — if  everything 
else  in  patriotic  development  were  wanting — immortalize 
his  memory  with  all  lovers  of  freedom.  Let  us  look 
at  it. 

It  became  necessary,  under  the  provisions  of  the  Stamp 
Act,  that  the  Governor  of  each  American  Cok>ny  should 
take  an  oath — to  be  administered  by  his  Council,  or  by  any 
three  of  them — to  do  his  utmost  in  causing  "  all  and  every 
the  clauses"  in  the  Act  to  "be  punctually  and  bona  fide  ob 
served,  according  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  thereof." 
This  requisition  upon  Thomas  Fitch,  the  Governor  of  Con 
necticut,  as  upon  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  every  British  Col 
ony,  was  imperative.  Removal  from  office — disqualification 
in  future  to  hold  it — the  King's  highest  displeasure — and  a 
fine  of  one  thousand  pounds  sterling — stared  him  in  the  face, 


86  CHAP.     VII. — TRUMBULL.  1765. 

in  case  lie  either  refused  the  Oath,  or  neglected  to  do  his 
duty  accordingly. 

The  Oath  was  to  be  taken  before  the  First  of  November, 
1765.  That  day — day  when  the  Stamp  Act  was  first  to  take 
effect — was  close  at  hand — and  Governor  Fitch  assembled 
his  Councillors  to  fulfil  the  obligations,  which,  sorely  he 
knew,  but  inevitably,  he  thought,  rested  upon  them  all. 
There  were  Ebenezer  Silliman,  Hezekiah  Huntington,  John 
Chester,  Benjamin  Hall,  Jabez  Hamlin,  Matthew  Griswold, 
Shubal  Conant,  Elisha  Sheldon,  Eliphalet  Dyer,  and  Jabez 
Huntington — names  all  of  them  of  proud  distinction  in  the 
Colony — and  last  of  all — patriot  deepest  interwoven  with 
the  roots,  and  branches,  and  blossoming  of  Connecticut 
Independence — Colonel  Jonathan  Trumbull.  There  they 
were—eleven  in  all — one  Tuesday  morning — summoned  to 
officiate  as  high-priests  in  a  sacrifice  whose  victims  were  to 
be  their  own  countrymen  and  brothers,  and  the  mothers, 
sisters,  wives,  and  children  too,  all  that  lived,  and  loved,  and 
clustered  in  the  little  province  of  which  they  were  chosen 
leaders. 

Governor  Fitch  called  upon  them  to  discharge  their  duty. 
He  was  himself  ready  to  be  sworn.  The  sovereignty  of 
England,  he  affirmed,  commanded  it.  Loyalty  claimed  it. 
The  safety  of  the  Colony  required  it.  Gentlemen,  he  said, 
will  you  obey  your  Commission,  and  administer  the  Oath ! 

There  was  hesitation — there  were  averted  looks  on  the 
part  of  a  majority  of  the  Council — and  soon  words  of  re 
monstrance,  determined  tones,  earnest  gestures — and  at  last 
a  blank  refusal. 

The  Act-  of  Parliament,  reasoned  Colonel  Trumbull,  Dyer, 
and  others,  is  in  derogation  of  the  rights  of  the  Col 
ony.  No  law  can  be  made  to  tax  us  but  by  our  own  con 
sent,  freely  given.  This  is  the  very  essence  of  freedom.  It 
is  the  ruling  excellency  of  the  British  Constitution — and  is 
fast  chained  to  its  roots.  The  power  which  can  tax  us  as  it 
pleases,  can  also  govern  us  as  it  pleases.  We  are  as  truly,  in 
every  respect,  the  King's  subjects  as  any  to  whom  God  has 
given  life  in  any  part  of  the  British  dominions.  Their  priv 
ileges,  their  liberties,  their  immunities,  are  also  our  own — the 


1765.  CHAP.     VII.  —  TRUMBULL.  87 

Stamp  Act  robs  us  of  all  these.  It  is  a  condemnation  of  us 
as  freemen.  It  is  ingratitude  towards  us  as  generous,  loyal, 
and  faithful  subjects.  It  is  in  the  teeth  of  our  Charter.  It 
will  reduce  us  to  poverty.  We  cannot  then,  in  conscience, 
aid  in  any  measure  to  enforce  it.  We  will  not,  therefore, 
administer  the  Oath! 

But,  urged  the  Governor  in  reply — and  we  have  fortu 
nately  his  own  pamphlet  from  which  to  state  his  reasoning — 
the  Officers  of  his  Majesty  must  obey  his  commands.  They 
are  bound  to  do  so,  not  only  by  their  allegiance,  but  also  by 
the  agreement  and  contract  of  their  offices — by  accepting 
positions  to  which  a  Commission  like  the  present  one  is  at 
tached.  All  royal  mandates,  all  Acts  of  Parliament,  all 
Provincial  Acts,  depend  and  hinge  on  obedience.  To  evade 
the  Oath  required  by  the  Stamp  Act,  would  be  to  evade 
those  solemn  obligations  implied  in  our  own  office-oaths.  If 
we  refuse  it  in  this  case,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
people  themselves  will  be  deprived  of  all  power  hereafter  to 
elect  any  officers  of  their  own.  Our  whole  Charter,  in  such 
an  event,  would  be  "  struck  at." — What  now  if  I  should  de 
cline  the  Oath?  My  own  condemnation  would  be  certain. 
Nor  would  you  yourselves  escape  condemnation — for  breach 
of  trust — for  high  contempt  both  of  King  and  Parliament — 
and  you  would  be  forced  to  undergo  penalties  severe  and 
remediless.  We  all  know  the  nature  of  the  King's  displeas 
ure.  It  is  fatal.  Is  it  reasonable  then  that  I,  that  you,  that 
any  of  us  should  thus  expose  ourselves?  Duty  certainly 
does  not  demand  it — neither  duty  to  ourselves,  nor  fo  the 
Colony,  whose  present  liberties  it  is  our  business  to  save,  and 
not  to  lose.  Gentlemen,  I  am  ready  for  the  Oath,  and  again 
ask  you  to  administer  it. 

What  said  the  Council  now,  to  these  views — thus  earnest — 
thus  decided — urged  by  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Colony? 
Here  was  argument  from  what  seemed  resistless  official  obli 
gation — argument  from  vital  considerations  of  personal  safety 
and  reputation — argument  out  of  the  very  heart,  apparently, 
of  an  endangered  Colonial  Charter.  Duty,  necessity,  loy 
alty,  hope,  fear,  all  seemed  to  press  overpoweringly  for  obe 
dience. 


00  CHAP.     VII.  —  TRUMBULL.  1765. 

Had  not  every  Governor  of  every  province  of  his  Maj 
esty's  dominions  in  America — save  the  solitary  "rebel"  Gov 
ernor  of  Rhode  Island — already  taken  the  Oath  required? 
He  had. 

Had  not  the  seeming  resistlessness  of  the  Stamp  Act  in 
duced  even  the  high-souled  Eichard  Henry  Lee,  himself  to 
solicit  the  office  of  Stamp-Distributor  for  Virginia — and  to 
proclaim  his  readiness  to  take  an  oath  similar  to  that  now 
demanded  ?  It  had. 

Did  not  some  of  the  very  best  patriots  of  the  land  incul 
cate  submission  as  a  necessity  that  was  overwhelming  ?  They 
did. 

Was  not  even  Franklin  unable  to  see  any  way  out  of  the 
existing  darkness,  but  by  lighting  up  "the  candles  of  frugal 
ity  and  industry  ?  "  He  was. 

Had  not  even  that  idolator  of  freedom,  the  deeply-medi 
tative  Otis,  declared  it  to  be  "  the  duty  of  all  humbly  and 
silently  to  acquiesce  in  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Legisla 
ture  of  Great  Britain  ?  "  He  had. 

Viewed  under  all  its  aspects  then,  how  constraining  the 
force  now  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Council  of  Connecticut 
by  Governor  Fitch — himself  Head  of  the  Colony — himself 
hitherto  high  in  reverence — himself,  for  his  wisdom,  for  his 
probity,  for  his  fidelity,  kept  by  the  People  for  twelve  long 
years — years  too,  many  of  them,  of  harassing  war — steadily 
kept  at  the  helm  of  State!  How  darkly  difficult  to  avoid  his 
demand !  What  force  could  resist ! 

But  did  the  Council  yield?  No — not  the  Council  in  the 
strength  of  its  majority — not  the  Council  in  the  power  of  a 
vote  close  upon  that  of  two- thirds  of  its  number !  Seven  out 
of  eleven  of  them — spite  of  all  the  Governor  had  urged, 
would  not  yield — but  blunted  the  edge  of  his  appeals,  and 
outreasoned,  and  outfaced  his  repeated  demand  for  the  Oath. 
Themselves — and  the  Governor  along  with  them — had  sworn 
"  to  promote  the  public  good  and  peace  "  of  Connecticut,  and 
"  to  maintain  all  its  lawful  privileges  "  intact.  They  then  do 
an  act,  which,  as  they  verily  believed,  stabbed  "the  public 
good,"  wounded  the  "peace,"  and  annihilated  the  "privi 
leges  "  of  this  Commonwealth — which  let  out  the  rich  blood 


1765.  CHAP.    VII. — TRUMBULL.  89 

of  its  freedom  from  every  vein  almost  of  that  glorious  old 
Charter,  which,  for  a  hoary  century  and  more,  had  gladdened, 
with  a  joy  that  was  ever  fresh  and  bounding,  the  whole  heart 
of  Connecticut!  They — through  a  measure  unprecedented 
for  its  harshness — aid  to  torture  the  industry  of  their  native 
land,  and  to  wrench  from  it  those  pittances  of  gain  which 
themselves  were  wrenched,  with  hardest  toil,  from  a  cold, 
stern  earth,  and  beneath  an  ungenial  heaven  ! 

No — let  royal  indignation  swell,  they  thought  and  felt — 
let  the  thunders  of  Parliament  all  burst — let  its  armies  and 
navies  even  descend  in  storm  upon  this  infant  State — let  loss 
of  office  come,  arrest,  trials,  fines,  confiscations,  imprisonment, 
banishment,  every  thing  that  is  distressful  in  the  artillery  of 
angry  power,  let  it  all  come — the  patriots  whom  we  com 
memorate  were  ready — ready  for  the  worst — rather  than  sur 
render  a  righteous  and  cleaving  conviction  of  their  own  in 
favor  of  liberty !  Again,  therefore,  they  refused  to  adminis 
ter  the  Oath. 

What  was  to  be  done  ?  Alas,  tyranny  was  never  yet  found 
wanting  in  means.  Its  genius  for  mischief,  hydra-headed,  is 
fertile  in  expedients,  and  exact  even  to  a  hair.  The  Govern 
or,  according  to  the  Commission,  was  to  be  sworn  by  the 
Council,  or  "  by  any  three  of  them."  By  any  three  of  them!— 
here  was  the  ugly  resource.  And  there  at  the  Council-Board 
sat  four  members — enough,  and  just  one  more  than  enough — 
who,  under  all  the  embarrassing  circumstances  of  the  occa 
sion — from  motives  too  of  sympathy  with  the  Chief  Execu 
tive  in  what  they  deemed  his  "critical  situation" — and  in  a 
spirit  of  caution — honest,  we  do  not  doubt — but  which  yet 
to  our  own  eye  cannot  but  appear  overstrained — consented  to 
exercise  the  dreaded  authority.  Sorrow,  reluctance  even,  we 
cannot  but  think,  painted  in  their  looks — they  announced 
their  readiness  to  give  the  Oath. 

A  glow  of  satisfaction  now  must  have  brightened  the  face 
of  Thomas  Fitch — but  there  was  sadness  there  too,  we  are 
ready  to  believe — moved  though  he  was,  as  he  tells  us  him 
self,  "from  principles  of  loyalty  to  the  King,  from  a  serious 
and  tender  concern  for  the  privileges  of  the  Colony,  from  a 

conscientious  regard  to  the  solemn  obligations  of  his  office- 
8 


90  CHAP.    VII. — TRUMBULL. 


1765. 


oath,  and  a  just  regard  for  his  own  interest,  reputation,  and 
usefulness  in  life." 

But  how,  at  this  moment,  looked  the  dissenting  Members 
of  the  Board  ?  History  gives  us  hints  from  which  we  can 
safely  judge.  Deep  disquietude  sat  upon  their  faces. 
Thoughts — again  of  the  past  free  life  of  Connecticut — of  her 
long  and  painful  struggles  for  God,  liberty,  and  civilization — 
of  her  services,  ever  generous,  in  extending  the  might  and 
domain  of  her  Motherland,  and  of  the  ingratitude  of  that 
Parent  whose  duty  was  love,  was  tender  nurture,  was  protec 
tion,  not  oppression — thoughts  like  these  came  freshly  rush 
ing  over  their  souls  as  light  and  darkness  rush  over  the  face 
of  an  angry  heaven,  when  the  winds  are  up,  and  the  storm 
sits  brooding  for  an  explosion. 

Again,  therefore,  they  pleaded  with  the  Governor  against 
the  step  he  was  about  to  take.  Again,  pointedly,  they  pro 
tested — and  in  language  some  of  which  is  fortunately 
preserved. 

"It  is  in  violation  of  your  Provincial  Oath!" — exclaimed 
with  bold  earnestness,  Colonel  Trumbull. 

"It  certainly  is" — repeated  every  other  dissenting  Coun 
cillor. 

"You  have  sworn,"  continued  they  all,  as  they  could  catch 
the  opportunity  to  speak — "by  the  dreadful  name  of  God 
you  have  sworn  to  labor  for  the  good  of  this  Colony,  and  you 
are  now  preparing  to  labor  for  its  ruin.  You  have  sworn  to 
promote  its  peace — you  are  now  going  to  promote  its  disturb 
ance.  The  Law  you  are  called  upon  to  see  enforced  is,  from 
its  very  nature,  a  nullity.  It  is  unconstitutional.  It  is  void. 
For  our  own  part,"  they  added — and  here  the  patriots  utter 
a  sentiment  which  shows  strikingly  the  unspeakable  depth 
and  conscientiousness  of  their  convictions — "for  our  own 
part,  as  Judges  of  this  land — sitting  in  its  highest  Courts — 
under  all  the  responsibilities  which  would  there  surround 
us — were  we  called  to  decide  upon  the  Stamp  Act,  we  should 
not  hesitate  to  pronounce  this  measure  of  Parliament  ipso 
facto  void ! " 

Did  the  Governor  pause — reconsider — shrink?  Under 
these  appeals,  did  he  refuse  the  Oath  ?  Alas,  no !  His  opin- 


1765.  CHAP.    VII. — TRUMBULL.  91 

ion  settled  beyond  the  possibility  of  change — his  will  fixed, 
and  doubtless  from  the  wounding  imputations  upon  his  own 
judgment  conveyed  in  the  remonstrances  of  the  speakers, 
wrought  into  the  compactness  of  iron — he  rose  from  his 
seat — called  for  the  ceremonial — and,  with  uplifted  hand, 
stood  ready  to  take  upon  his  lips  that  appeal  which  invoked 
the  Almighty  Kuler  of  the  Universe  to  help  him  faithfully 
to  administer — upon  his  own  countrymen  and  brothers — a 
Law,  which,  no  matter  what  his  own  views  of  its  obligations 
may  have  been,  was  one  in  fact  of  surpassing  tyranny. 

At  this  stirring  moment — moment  too  near  the  close  of 
the  day,  as  we  are  informed  by  Eliphalet  Dyer,  when  the 
sun  was  just  hasting  to  set* — Colonel  Jonathan  Trumbull — 
roused  to  unwonted  excitement — his  high,  massive  forehead, 
as  we  see  it  in  his  portraits,  deeply  plaited,  we  doubt  not, 
with  grief  and  resentment — his  large,  brilliant  black  eyes, 
from  beneath  brows  of  singular  delicacy,  flashing  fire — his 
small,  firm  mouth  compressed  at  once  into  energy  and  deter 
mination — started  from  his  seat — seized  his  tri-cornered  hat — 
and,  avowing  in  tones  most  sonorous,  that  he  would  never 
.witness  a  ceremony  which  so  degraded  liberty,  and  degraded 
the  Colony — he  moved — 

"  Erect,  severe,  austere,  sublime  " — 

towards  the  door  of  the  Council-Chamber.  Every  eye  was 
fastened  on  his  retreating  form.  Every  heart  thrilled  at 
sight  of  his  resolute  bearing — and  following  his  example, 
Eliphalet  Dyer — words  in  angry  denunciation  of  the  im 
pending  ceremony  on  his  lips  too — rose  also  from  his  seat — 
almost  simultaneously  with  Trumbull — and  moved  towards 
the  door.f  And  then  Hezekiah  Huntington,  Elisha  Shel- 

*  "  The  Council  adjourned  till  afternoon,"  writes  Colonel  Dyer,  after  describing 
the  discussion  as  having  occupied  the  whole  forenoon.  "  When  we  met,  other 
affairs  came  on  till  near  the  close  of  the  day,  when  the  Oath  was  proposed  to  be 
administered. ' ' 

t  "  I  immediately  arose,  took  my  hat,  and  declared  openly  and  publicly  that 
the  Oath  about  to  be  administered  was  in  my  opinion  directly  contrary  to  the 
Oath  the  Governor  and  Council  had  before  taken  to  maintain  the  rights  and  priv 
ileges  of  the  people.  It  was  an  Oath  I  myself  could  not  take,  neither  could  I  be 
present  aiding  and  assisting  therein ;  and  then  withdrew,  the  other  gentlemen 
with  me." — Dyer's  Letter. 


92  CHAP.     VII. — TRUMBULL.  1765. 

don,  Matthew  Griswold,  Shubal  Conant,  and  Jabez  Hunting- 
ton,  started  also — hats  likewise  in  hand — and,  pressing  on 
the  steps  of  their  leader,  passed  with  him,  one  and  all,  out 
of  the  door — on  and  away  from  their  yielding  colleagues 
and  timorous  chief — whom  they  left  bewildered  and  chidden, 
to  execute  alone  their  odious  rite — in  a  chamber  which  the 
Patriot  Seceders  themselves  solemnly  believed  to  be  a  cham 
ber  of  disgrace. 

Act  grand  and  thrilling  I  Chivalric  and  sublime  its  vindi 
cation  of  life,  liberty,  and  property!  Grateful  and  soul- 
stirring  its  example  for  all  worshippers  of  freedom!  Rich 
and  glowing  its  inspiration  for  the  poet's  pen,  and  the  easel 
of  the  painter  I 

Act  too,  which  received  cordial  approbation  from  the 
Lower  Branch  of  the  General  Assembly — for  this  House 
also,  through  a  large  majority,  had  but  a  few  days  previous 
pleaded  with  Governor  Fitch  against  the  step  he  was  about 
to  take — and  some  of  its  patriotic  members  went  so  far  even 
as  to  agree  fully  to  indemnify  him  against  the  impending 
fine,  and  against  any  penalty  whatever,  so  far  as  they  could, 
on  condition  that  he  would  refuse  all  connection  with  the 
detested  scheme.  A  Committee  of  their  number  eagerly 
waited  on  him  with  this  information.  It  was  a  short  time 
only  after  his  Councillors  had  left  him,  in  the  manner  we 
have  already  described,  that  they  reached  him — but  all  too 
late.  The  Oath  had  just  passed  his  lips.  The  fatal  chain 
had  bound  him — and  the  cup  of  the  People's  sorrow  was  full. 

But  not  too  full  for  anger — not  too  full  for  a  peaceable  re 
venge — for  at  a  General  Election,  very  soon,  they  almost 
unanimously  threw  him,  and  every  Councillor  who  had  abet 
ted  him,  out  of  office — consigned  them  all,  indignantly,  to 
the  shades  of  private  life — and  placing  the  reins  of  govern 
ment  in  the  more  resolute  hands  of  Honorable  William  Pit- 
kin,  the  Deputy  Governor  of  the  preceding  year — and  ex 
alting  the  high-souled  Jonathan  Trumbull  to  Pitkin's  former 
station — they  went  on  their  way  rejoicing.* 

*  "  Connecticut,  overjoyed  at  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  applauding  its 
connection  with  Great  Britain,  elected  as  its  Governor  the  discreet  and  patriotio 
William  Pitkin  in  place  of  the  loyalist  Fitch."— JBancroffs  Hist.  U.  States,  Vol. 
VI.,  p.  U. 


C  HAPTER    VIII. 
1764—1770. 

STATE  of  the  quarrel  •with.  Great  Britain  just  after  the  Stamp  Act. 
Trumbull  expresses  his  views  concerning  it  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Johnson. 
His  moderation  and  foresight.  His  character  "by  Bancroft.  Great  Brit 
ain  engaged  in  forging  new  fetters  for  America.  Trumbull's  opinion  of 
these  given  in  another  letter  to  Dr.  Johnson — and  in  one  also  to  Rich 
ard  Jackson,  a  Member  of  the  British  Parliament.  Thus  far  a  prudent 
remonstrant,  "but  firm  in  his  spirit  of  resistance  to  the  obnoxious 
measures  of  the  day.  This  spirit  begins  to  vent  itself  -with  increased 
energy,  when  the  tyranny  deepens — as  shown  from  his  letters  to  Dr. 
Johnson  and  Gen.  Lyman  in  London  particularly,  and  from  his  corres 
pondence  elsewhere.  He  sends  abroad  State  documents  of  great  im 
portance  as  regards  the  contest.  He  is  thoroughly  informed  of  every 
thing  passing  in  England.  Is  familiar  with  the  politics  and  condition 
of  Europe  generally — but  especially  with  those  of  France,  the  pro 
ceedings  of  whose  Prime  Minister,  the  Duke  de  Choiseul,  he  watches 
with  deep  interest.  He  is  made  Governor  of  Connecticut  at  the  close 
of  1769.  His  appointment  a  fortunate  one  for  the  Colony.  Dr.  John- 
son's  letter  upon  the  occasion 

IN  keeping  with  the  stand  taken  by  Trumbull  on  the 
Stamp  Act,  as  described  in  the  last  chapter,  was  his  position 
towards  the  Mother-Country  during  the  remaining  portion 
of  that  period  of  his  life  upon  which  we  now  dwell.  And 
here,  fortunately,  we  shall  be  able  to  let  him  speak,  in  part, 
for  himself,  through  the  medium  of  a  few  letters  preserved 
among  his  Papers. 

There  was  a  short  pause  in  the  career  of  aggression,  on 
the  part  of  Great  Britain,  against  colonial  rights,  just  after 
the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.  The  interval — spite  of  the 
adder,  in  the  form  of  a  claim  to  universal  and  unconditional 
colonial  submission,  that  lay  coiled  in  temporary  repose 
within  the  bosom  of  the  Declaratory  Act — spite  of  the  half- 
suppressed  murmurs  that  mingled  with  the  general  trans 
port — was  yet  one  of  hope,  somewhat,  to  most  of  the  inhab 
itants  of  British  America.  They  sincerely  nourished  the 
wish,  and  contemplated  the  means,  for  a  thorough  reconcilia 
tion  with  the  Motherland — for  a  reconciliation  though,  that 
was  to  be  based,  fixedly,  upon  the  old  and  kind  relations  of 


94  CHAP.    VIII. — TKUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

the  two  countries,  and  their  mutual  interests  and  advantage. 
On  this  point — in  a  letter  written  June  twenty- third,  1767, 
to  Wm.  Samuel  Johnson,  Colonial  Agent  for  Connecticut  at 
the  time  in  London — Trumbull  expresses  clearly  his  own, 
and  the  prevailing  views  of  his  countrymen.  After  alluding 
to  the  quartering  of  British  troops  in  Connecticut — for 
which,  in  February,  a  demand  had  been  made  by  General 
Gage  upon  the  Governor  of  this  State,  but  which,  until  duly 
authorized  by  the  General  Assembly,  had  been  refused — he 
thus  proceeds: — 

"  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  think,  that  at  this  critical  juncture  it  is  very 
happy  for  the  Colony  that  it  is  represented  at  Great  Britain  by  a  special 
agent,  so  well  able  to  obviate  the  objections  thrown  out  against  us,  and 
set  the  affairs  of  America  in  general,  and  of  this  Colony  in  particular,  in 
so  true  and  just  a  light,  and  thereby  to  prostrate  the  malign  designs  of 
selfish,  deceitful,  and  wicked  incendiaries.  Great  Britain  and  her  Colo 
nies'  interests  are  mutual  and  inseparable.  So  long  as  the  Colonies  want 
protection  and  supplies  of  necessary  manufactures  from  the  mother  coun 
try,  it  cannot  be  their  interest  to  separate,  and  it  is  always  the  interest 
of  the  mother  country  to  keep  them  dependent  and  employed  in  such 
productions,  in  such  industry,  in  raising  such  commodities,  in  perform 
ing  such  services,  as  will  return  most  benefit  to  their  native  country. 
But  if  violence,  or  methods  tending  to  violence,  be  taken  to  maintain  this 
dependence,  it  tends  to  hasten  a  separation.  If  mutual  jealousies  are 
sown,  it  will  require  all  their  address  to  keep  the  Colonies  dependent  and 
employed  so  as  at  least  not  to  prejudice  the  mother  country — and  it  is 
certainly  more  easily  and  effectually  done  by  gentle  and  insensible  meth 
ods  than  by  power  or  force."* 

Such  were  the  views  of  Trumbull,  at  the  period  now  under 
consideration,  with  regard  to  the  proper  policy  of  the  Mother- 
Country  towards  her  trans- Atlantic  colonies — views,  which, 
though  seasoned  with  moderation,  and  expressed  with  calm- 

*  "  Happy  would  it  be  for  this  country,"  wrote  Johnson  to  Trumbull  in  reply, 
September  14th,  1767,  from  London—"  as  well  as  that  of  [America,]  did  all  men 
entertain  the  same  just  notions  of  the  mutual  and  inseparable  interests  of  the 
two  countries  which  you  express,  and  that  those  who  guide  the  great  affairs  of 
State  would  found  their  system  upon  those  ideas,  and  pursue  a  conduct  conform 
able  to  them.  Instead  of  which  too  many  seem  to  indulge  haughty  ideas  of  Em 
pire,  and  that  America  should  be  made  entirely  subservient  to  the  dignity,  plun 
der  and  general  emolument  of  this  country,  and  reduced  to  a  state  of  perfect  (I 
had  almost  said)  dependence  upon  it,  and  pay  the  most  implicit  obedience  to  its 
dictates." 


1764— mo.  CHAP.    VIII. — TRUMBULL.  95 

ness,  yet  imply  apprehensions  of  approaching  danger.  That 
some  great  change  "hung  over  America,"  says  Bancroft — 
while  commenting  in  his  History  on  the  passage  just  quot 
ed — "could  not  escape  the  penetration  of  the  Deputy  Gov 
ernor  of  Connecticut.  A  perfect  model  of  a  rural  magistrate," 
he  continues — finely,  in  this  connection  characterizing  the 
man — "never  weary  of  business,  profoundly  religious,  grave 
in  his  manners,  calm  and  discriminating  in  judgment,  fixed 
in  his  principles,  steadfast  in  purpose,  and  by  his  ability  en 
chaining  universal  respect  and  the  unfailing  confidence  of 
the  freemen  of  his  Colony,  his  opinion  was  formed  that  'if 
methods  tending  to  violence  should  be  taken  to  maintain  the 
dependence  of  the  Colonies,  it  would  hasten  a  separation,'  and 
that  the  connection  with  England  could  be  preserved  'by  gen 
tle  and  insensible  methods,'  rather  than  'by  power  or  force.'" 

But  the  alternative  of  force,  alas,  was  chosen.  Who  would 
have  thought  it?  Just  when  Trumbull  was  expressing  the 
mild  views  now  presented,  and  dwelling,  as  if  in  anticipation 
of  their  realization,  on  kind  feelings,  and  a  reciprocity  of 
material  exchanges  between  Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies, 
as  the  true  conservative  policy — just  too  after  Shelburne,  the 
gentle  Secretary  for  American  affairs,  had  matured  that 
promising  Conciliatory  Plan,  which  condemned  the  principle 
of  the  Billeting  Act — put  an  end  to  the  political  dependence 
of  Colonial  judges — removed  all  troops  from  the  principal 
towns  in  America  to  the  frontiers  of  younger  States,  for  their 
necessary  protection — quieted  violent  State  controversies 
respecting  territory — smoothed  the  settlement  of  Canadian 
affairs — broke  up  the  system  of  squandering  American  grants 
and  income  on  worthless  Court  favorites,  and  aimed  to  de 
fray  American  expenses  through  an  easy  and  improved  sys 
tem  of  quit-rents — who  would  have  thought  that  Great  Brit 
ain,  just  at  this  time,  and  after  all  her  experience  too  with 
the  Stamp  Act,  should  have  been  actually  engaged  in  forg 
ing  new  fetters  for  America — and  in  fact  should  have  per 
fected  them? 

Yet  so  it  was.  "Fear,  fear — cowards — dare  not  tax  Ameri 
ca  ! " — exclaimed,  in  language  familiar  to  the  Keader,  the  ec 
centric,  impetuous,  indefatigable  Townshend  in  the  British 


96  CHAP.    VIII. — TRUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

House  of  Commons,  in  reply  to  the  taunting  Grenville — "  J 
dare  tax  America!" — and  he  brought  in  those  his  famous 
bills  for  direct  taxation,  for  Commissioners  of  Customs, 
for  Writs  of  Assistance,  and  for  suspending  the  legislative 
power  of  New  York.  How  Trumbull  felt  on  this  occasion, 
is  manifest  from  the  following  letters,  written  by  him  in  the 
summer  of  1768.  The  first — addressed,  doubtless,  to  John 
son,  though  to  whom  does  not  appear  on  its  face — bears  date 
Lebanon,  July  first,  and  in  that  portion  of  it  germane  to  our 
purpose,  thus  proceeds : — 

"  The  present  difficulties  that  subsist  between  Great  Britain  and  her 
American  Colonies,  look  very  alarming  and  distressing — and  I  fear  are 
heightened  by  misrepresentations  on  both  sides  the  water.  I  think  it 
may  be  truly  said  there  is  no  disposition  in  the  Colonists  to  contend  with 
Great  Britain  but  for  what  they  look  upon  to  be  their  sacred  constitu 
tional  rights  and  privileges.  To  be  taxed  for  the  sole  purpose  of  raising 
a  revenue  without  their  consent,  is  what  they  know  to  be  as  disagreeable 
to  an  Englishman  in  Great  Britain  as  in  America.  The  establishment  of 
a  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Customs,  with  their  numerous  train  of  de 
pendents,  is  novel  among  us,  and  our  own  free  mode  of  collecting  taxes 
so  very  different,  and  attended  with  such  small  expense,  in  comparison 
with  this,  that  the  People  of  the  Colonies  cannot  look  with  any  compla 
cency  or  satisfaction  upon  it.  The  keeping  on  foot  a  body  of  troops  in 
the  old  Colonies,  where  they  serve  no  other  utility  but  only  to  overawe 
the  inhabitants  into  compliance  with  something  they  think  grievous  and 
burdensome,  is  what  they  are  very  uneasy  with.  The  mischief,  rapine, 
and  villany,  commonly  prevalent  among  troops  that  are  kept  up  in  idle 
ness,  are  such  as  ever  will  be  intolerable  in  the  Colonies.  It  has  a  ten 
dency  to  destroy  the  morals  of  the  People,  and  raise  distrust  of  the  good 
intentions  of  their  Governors  in  the  better  sort,  and  stir  up  strife  and 
contention  among  the  whole. 

"  There  is  an  ardent  desire  and  diffusive  love  of  liberty  throughout 
these  Colonies,  and  everything  that  appears  an  infringement  of  it  is  and 
ever  will  be  grievous  to  them.  The  people  are  generally  virtuous. 
They  have  not  an  inclination  to  sedition,  faction,  or  disloyalty.  They 
honor  their  king,  love  their  mother-country,  desire  to  live  peaceably,  and 
enjoy  the  fruit  of  their  own  labors.  They  have  at  their  own  expense  of 
blood  and  treasure  subdued  and  cultivated  a  wilderness,  and  contributed 
what  was  in  their  power  to  the  general  good.  They  have  supported  the 
government,  and  readily  complied  with  his  Majesty's  requisitions — and 
they  have  been  accustomed  to  be  treated  in  this  way,  and  make  the 
grants  of  taxes  by  their  own  representatives,  and  are  as  fond  of  that 
constitutional  right  as  any  of  their  fellow-subjects  in  Great  Britain. 


1764^-1770.  CHAP.    VIII. — TKUMBULL.  97 

"  It  is  unhappy  that  those  difficulties  have  arisen,  and  'tis  needful  the 
occasion  for  them  should  be  removed  early — that  they  should  be  obliter 
ated.  For  a  number  of  judicious,  calm,  and  dispassionate  gentlemen  to 
come  into  America,  and  go  through  the  several  governments,  might  be 
serviceable  to  both  countries.  It  is  impossible  to  have  an  adequate  idea 
of  the  genuine  temper  and  peculiar  circumstances  of  this  sparse  country, 
without  coming  among  the  people,  and  using  more  freedom  and  open 
ness  than  is  commonly  used  in  older  countries.  They  are  ever  jealous 
of  their  liberty,  and  fear  every  innovation.  They  greatly  fear  the  inde 
pendency  of  their  Governors,  and  cannot  think  it  reasonable  that  they 
should  be  rendered  independent  of  them  for  support.  They  know  the 
difficulties  of  obtaining  redress  when  oppressed,  and  that  their  Govern 
ors  have  the  advantage  of  being  heard  before  them,  and  their  represent 
ations  attended  to,  when  the  remonstrances  from  the  people  cannot 
obtain  a  hearing,  and  their  attempts  to  petition  the  throne  for  redress 
of  grievances  are  presently  called  the  voice  of  sedition,  faction,  and 
rebellion."* 

*"Many  here,"  says  Johnson  in  reply,  from  London,  September  29th,  1768 — 
and  we  quote  a  passage  or  two,  just  to  show  how  well  Trumbull  kept  himself 
informed  of  events  passing  on  the  other  side  of  the  water — "  many  here  seem  to 
be  infatuated,  and,  influenced  by  vain  ideas  of  Superiority  and  Imperial  Dignity, 
seem  determined  to  pull  down  destruction  upon  their  own  heads  and  ours,  and 
regardless  of  consequences,  to  plunge  the  two  unfortunate  countries  into  the 
deepest  distress,  which  however,  if  it  must  come,  I  think  we  are  as  well  pre 
pared  to  meet,  and  more  likely  to  get  thro'  with  tban  they  are.  Upon  those  no 
tions  of  Supremacy  and  false  Honor  are  grounded  the  present  prevailing  argu 
ments  against  repealing  the  late  acts  complained  of  in  America.  We  can't,  say 
they,  in  Honour  recede  ;  our  dignity,  our  Supremacy  are  at  stake,  and  we  must 
abide  by  what  we  have  done,  be  the  consequences  what  they  may.  We  have 
solemnly  enacted  our  right  to  tax  the  Colonies  ;  the  right  of  Taxation  is  essen 
tial  to  our  Supremacy ;  the  Americans  treasonably  deny  it,  and  insist  upon  the 
repeal  of  those  Acts  as  being  unconstitutional.  We  cannot,  we  must  not  give  up 
this  point  to  them,  but  if  they  refuse  to  pay  obedience  to  our  laws,  apply  force  to 
compel  them.  Had  they  applied  upon  the  inexpediency  of  the  Acts  only,  or 
their  inability  to  pay  the  duty,  we  would  have  listened  to  their  complaints,  but 
while  they  dispute  our  right,  we  cannot  even  hear  them. 

"  Such  is  the  present  language  here.  It  may  change,  indeed  it  must  if  Parlia 
ment  when  they  take  up  the  matter,  enter  upon  it  with  that  coolness  and  mod 
eration  which  becomes  so  respectable  a  Body.  Much  will  depend  on  the  state 
of  parties  at  the  opening  of  Parliament,  and  whether  the  Ministry  find  them 
selves  possessed  of  a  clear  majority  in  the  House.  Should  the  Eockingham  party 
in  any  degree  unite  witb  Administration,  tbey  will  probably  soften  them  with 
respect  to  American  matters ;  if  with  tbe  Grenvillians,  as  some  threaten  us  that 
they  will,  upon  this  subject,  the  tide  will  be  turned  against  us.  A  few  months  will 
now  decide  it ;  in  the  meantime  all  that  can  be  done  is  to  preserve  a  just  modera 
tion  and  firmness  in  that  country,  and  to  apply  the  warmest  solicitations  in  this, 
and  leave  the  issue  to  him  who  disposeth  of  all  events.  *  *  The  tumults  at 
Boston  are  made  use  of  as  a  powerful  argument  against  the  Eepeal,  and  urged  as 
evident  proofs  of  a  rebellious  disposition  in  the  Colonists,  and  a  formed  design 
to  cast  off  their  dependence  on  this  Country.  *  *  The  people  of  Boston  have 
9 


98  CHAP.    VIII. — TRUMBULL.  1764— 1770. 

In  another  letter,  bearing  date  also  July  1768 — written, 
like  that  just  quoted,  after  the  promulgation  of  that  famous 
Massachusetts  Circular,  which — embodying  in  a  masterly 
manner  the  substance  of  all  the  American  remonstrances  to 
Great  Britain — was  designed  to  promote  an  immediate  and 
close  concert  between  the  Colonies,  and  was  the  pre-eminent 
dread  of  the  English  Ministry — Trumbull  again  gives  his 
views  on  the  existing  Quarrel — addressing  this  time  Kichard 
Jackson,  Esquire,  the  English  agent  in  London  for  Connecti 
cut,  and  a  Member  of  the  British  Parliament. 

"The  unhappy  disputes  between  the  American  Colonies  and  our 
mother  country,"  he  proceeds,  "  look  with  a  very  discouraging  aspect. 
The  clouds  seem  to  thicken  up  and  blacken  upon  us.  You  will  see  by 
the  papers  the  unhappy  situation  of  Boston.  What  will  be  the  end  God 
only  knows.  You  are  sensible  the  people  here  are  virtuous,  and  not  dis 
posed  to  sedition,  faction,  and  disloyalty.  They  are  fond  of  the  great 
darling  of  Englishmen — Liberty — and  ever  zealous  for  their  natural, 
constitutional  rights  and  privileges. 

"  It  seems  hard  that  the  Massachusetts  Province  should  be  so  severely 
handled  for  endeavoring  a  happy  union  of  the  Colonies  in  petitioning  the 
King  for  redress  of  grievances.  I  am  told  no  one  Colony  has  failed  to 
present  such  petition.  To  be  held  to  pay  taxes  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
raising  a  revenue — to  render  the  judges  independent  of  the  people  for 
support,  and  especially  for  this  Colony,  which  has  no  expectation  that 
way,  to  pay  for  the  support  of  others,  appears  unequal — and  the  mode 
of  collection,  at  so  very  great  expense,  by  a  Board  of  Commissioners  of 
the  Customs,  and  their  long  train  of  dependents,  is  alarming  to  a  people 
whose  frugal  methods  of  collecting  make  this  the  more  grievous.  *  * 
We  shall  be  obliged  to  leave  oif  the  articles  of  luxury,  as  our  ability  to 
use  them  declines.  Necessity  will  constrain  us  to  industry  and  frugality, 
which  in  time  may  relieve  us,  but  then  it  seems  hard  to  labor  for  others 
to  live  in  idleness  and  luxury  among  us,  who  serve  only  to  suck  the 
blood  fresh  from  our  veins,  &c." 

The  letters  now  quoted  state  the  points  of  difference  be 
tween  Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies  with  precision,  and 
show  Trumbull's  own  views  very  decidedly.  They  thus  far, 
though,  exhibit  him  in  the  light  of  a  prudent  remonstrant. 

great  merit  for  their  firmness  and  zeal  in  the  cause  of  Liberty ;  it  is  only  to  be 
wished  it  might  never  be  disgraced  by  any  ill-judged  tumults  and  violences, 
which,  forge  the  keenest  weapons  for  our  adversaries,  and  which  they  wield 
against  us  with  the  greatest  success." 


1764—1770.  CHAP.    VIII. — TRUMBULL.  99 

There  is,  comparatively,  a  tone  of  moderation  in  his  resist 
ance — a  tone,  however,  that  naturally  resulted  from  the  posi 
tion  of  his  own  native  State — a  State  which — as  yet  un 
scathed  by  any  direct  application  of  stringent  measures  such 
as  afflicted  Boston — could  look  with  comparative  calmness, 
therefore,  on  the  course  of  that  susceptible  and  exasperated 
city,  which  had  been  "chosen,"  as  it  were,  "to  keep  guard 
over  the  liberties  of  mankind" — could  aso  mingle  caution 
with  its  patriotism,"  as  to  compel  successive  British  Ministers 
"to  delay  abrogating  its  Charter  for  want  of  a  plausible  ex 
cuse" — and  could  extort  from  a  British  Minister  of  State  for 
American  affairs  the  gracious  declaration  that  Connecticut 
had  "  used  its  very  extraordinary  powers  with  modera 
tion" — might  "always  depend  on  his  friendship  and  affec 
tion  " — and  was  only  faulty  in  not  keeping  up  a  closer  con 
nection  with  the  parent  country  by  correspondence,  and  in 
neglecting  to  send  over  to  the  Department  in  England  a 
copy  of  its  Laws.* 

Yet  the  patriot  temper  of  Trumbull,  though  thus  far  calm 
in  its  manifestations,  showed  itself  ready,  if  further  pro- 

*  See  Hillsborough' s  Conversation  with  Dr.  W.  S.  Johnson,  in  Bancroft,  Vol. 
VI.,  p.  112.  It  was  reported  by  Johnson  to  Trumbull.  The  following  is  an  ex 
tract  from  it  :— 

"  I  have  not  seen  these  things,"  said  Hillsborough,  "in  the  light  in  which  you 
endeavor  to  place  them.  You  are  in  danger  of  being  too  much  a  separate,  inde 
pendent  State,  and  of  having  too  little  subordination  for  this  country."  And 
then  he  spoke  of  the  equal  aifection  the  King  bore  his  American  subjects,  and  of 
the  great  regard  of  the  Ministers  for  them  as  Britons,  whose  rights  were  not  to 
be  injured. 

"  Upon  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,"  said  Johnson,  "  we  had  hoped  these 
were  the  principles  adopted,  but  the  new  duties  imposed  last  winter,  and  other 
essential  regulations  in  America,  have  damped  those  expectations,  and  given 
alarm  to  the  Colonies." 

"  Let  neither  side,"  said  Hillsborough,  "stick  at  small  matters.  As  to  taxes, 
you  are  infinitely  better  off  than  any  of  your  fellow-subjects  in  Europe.  You 
are  less  burdened  than  even  the  Irish." 

"I  hope  that  England  will  not  add  to  our  burdens,"  said  Johnson;  "you 
would  certainly  find  it  redound  to  your  own  prejudice." 

"  Thus  for  two  hours  together,"  adds  Bancroft,  "  they  reasoned  on  the  rights 
of  Connecticut ;  and  Hillsborough  showed  plainly  his  opinion,  that  its  Charter 
must  be  declared  void,  not  on  the  pretence  that  it  had  been  violated  or  misused, 
but  because  the  people  by  the  enjoyment  of  it  were  too  free." 

Bancroft  justly  styles  the  correspondence  of  Johnson,  during  his  agency 
abroad,  "  copious  and  most  interesting."  It  is  preserved  in  the  Historical  Soci 
ety  of  Connecticut. 


100  CHAP.     VIII.  —  TRUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

yoked,  for  a  stern  outbreak.  With  the  Assembly  of  his 
native  State — and  as  in  May  of  the  year  1768  this  Assembly 
took  occasion,  after  grave  debate,  solemnly  to  affirm — it  was 
his  opinion  that  no  application  farther  should  be  made  to 
Parliament — that  misled,  factious,  and  intractable  Body — for 
relief  from  the  public  grievances — but  only  to  the  King — 
lest,  peradventure  even,  the  application  might  imply  a  con 
cession  to  Parliamentary  authority.*  With  the  Assembly 
of  Connecticut  too,  at  this  period,  he  co-operated  heartily  in 
sending,  through  its  Speaker,  that  warm  letter  of  sympathy 
to  Massachusetts  which  aided  materially  to  brace  up  her 
firmness  just  at  the  time  when  Hillsborough's  mandate,  com 
manding  this  " ringleading  Province"  to  rescind  her  obnox 
ious  Circular  to  the  American  Colonies,  was  under  consider 
ation,  in  a  full  House  of  Delegates,  before  a  crowded  gal 
lery — and  when  the  fiery  Otis — extolling  the  sentence  that 
sent  Charles  the  First  to  the  block — contrasting  the  Puritan 
days  of  England  with  those  then  passing,  when  "  the  people 
of  England,"  he  said,  "no  longer  knew  the  rights  of  English 
men,"  and  the  King  had  "  none  but  boys  for  his  Ministers" — 
in  impetuous  tones,  and  in  language  that  is  immortal,  ex 
claimed — "Let  Britain  rescind  their  measures,  or  they  are  lost 
forever!" 

In  the  passages  we  are  now  about  to  cite — from  letters 
written  by  Trurnbull  a  few  months  later  than  those  already 
introduced — his  spirit  vents  itself,  it  will  be  observed,  as  the 
progress  of  events  fully  justified,  with  increased  energy. 

For  now  those  clouds,  whose  gatherings  he  noted,  had  in 
this  interval  begun  to  burst.  A  Board  of  Eevenue  Commis 
sioners  had,  at  Boston,  entered  on  the  duties  of  their  odious 
office.  The  sloop  Liberty  of  the  patriot  Hancock — for  an 
alleged  violation  of  the  laws  of  trade — with  accompanying 
demonstrations  of  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  people — had 
been  seized  by  armed  boats  from  the  British  ship  of  war 
Komney,  and  placed  under  her  guns.  American  seamen,  in 
defiance  even  of  a  plain  British  statute,  had  been  forcibly 

*  We  will  petition  only  the  King,  declared  the  Assembly,  "because,"  said 
they,  "  to  petition  the  Parliament  would  be  a  tacit  confession  of  its  right  to  lay 
impositions  upon  us  ;  which  right  and  authority  we  publicly  disavow." 


1764—1770.  CHAP.     VIII. — TRUMBULL.  101 

impressed,  and  hurried  on  board  this  his  Majesty's  floating 
armament.  Two  regiments  of  British  troops,  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Dalrymple,  had  been  quartered  on  the 
favorite  Green,  and  in  the  Market  Hall  and  State  House  at 
Boston — to  enforce  with  bloodshed,  if  necessary — in  the 
Metropolis  of  New-England — the  system  of  British  oppres 
sion.  Fresh  British  legislation  had  provided  for  all  active 
opponents  in  America  of  the  ministerial  policy  of  revenue, 
imprisonment  and  a  trial  in  distant  England.  All  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  Colonists,  in  defence  of  their  rights,  had 
been  re-pronounced,  in  the  most  solemn  forms  of  British  leg 
islation,  "illegal,  unconstitutional,  derogatory  to  the  rights 
of  the  Crown  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  scandalous 
even  and  flagitious" — and  were,  at  all  hazards,  to  be  made  a 
nullity.  America,  at  any  cost  of  blood  or  of  treasure,  was, 
in  the  language  of  the  Prime  Minister  of  England,  "  to  be 
laid  prostrate  at  the  feet "  of  her  haughty  mistress. 

Hear  Trumbull  now — under  these  circumstances — as,  in 
the  following  passages,  he  vindicates,  against  British  miscon 
struction  and  censure,  a  then  recent  Petition  of  Connecticut 
to  the  King — as  he  re-affirms  the  justice  and  equity  of  the 
old  gentle  mode  of  treating  the  Colonies — denounces  the 
policy  of  sending  troops  to  Boston — gives  assurance  of  the 
sincerity,  union,  and  firmness  of  America  in  its  struggle  for 
freedom — and  proclaims  its  determination  to  persevere. 

"  Is  it  so,"  he  writes  January  twenty-fourth,  1769,  to  Johnson  in  Eng 
land — u  that  the  Petition  of  this  Colony  to  the  King  is  founded  upon 
principles,  and  implies  claims  and  pretensions  that  do  not  correspond 
with  the  Constitution,  and  tend  to  deny  and  draw  into  question  the  su 
preme  authority  of  the  Legislature  of  Great  Britain  to  enact  laws  bind 
ing  on  the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatever  ?  Are  there  no  constitutional 
rights  belonging  to  the  Colonies?  Have  there  not  been  methods  and 
ways  of  treatment  from  the  Crown,  by  the  way  of  requisitions,  made 
many  times  in  consequence  of  addresses  from  Parliament,  which  always 
succeeded  and  answered  the  ends  of  government,  and  the  Colonies  were 
thereby  treated  as  children,  and  not  as  slaves  ?  Why  is  the  method 
changed  ?  Surely  the  Colonies,  and  this  especially,  have  given  abundant 
evidence  of  loyalty  to  his  Majesty,  reverence  and  esteem  of  the  wisdom, 
justice,  and  equity  of  his  Parliament,  and  affection  to  our  mother  country. 
Reverential  fear  and  filial  love  towards  them  have  always  possessed  our 

hearts.     What  other  kind  of  love  and  fear  is  desired  ?  " 
9* 


102  CHAP.    VIII. — TRUMBULL.  1764— 1110. 

"  The  troops  sent  to  Boston,"  he  writes  Agent  Richard  Jackson,  July 
seventeenth,  1769 — "have  answered  no  good  intention.  The  People  of 
the  Colonies  are  wonderfully  united,  and  firm  in  adherence  to  what  they 
coolly  and  calmly  apprehend  to  be  their  right.  There  is  no  way  to  con 
ciliate  matters  better  than  in  the  method  of  treatment  always  heretofore 
used.  The  refusal  to  hear  the  united  petitions  of  the  whole  country 
heightens  the  resentments  of  the  Colonies,  which  still  retain  warm  re 
gards  and  even  fondness  for  Great  Britain.  They  are  firmly  attached  to 
his  Majesty's  person,  family,  and  government,  and  on  free  and  equal  terms, 
as  children  not  as  slaves,  will  rejoice  in  a  firm  and  lasting  union.  If  the 
Colonies  are  kept  in  their  present  form,  separate  and  independent  of  each 
other,  and  treated  with  kindness  and  freedom,  there  can  be  no  danger  of 
any  revolt,  or  of  even  a  distant  desire  to  set  up  a  separate  state,  common 
wealth,  or  kingdom." 

"  Americans,"  he  writes  again,  July  eighteenth,  1769,  to  General  Ly- 
man,  then  in  London — "  are  unwilling  to  give  up  their  own  importance, 
and  become  slaves  and  dupes.  The  troops  sent  to  Boston,  and  quartered 
there  the  last  winter,  had  not  the  effect  the  Administration  expected. 
The  spirit  of  liberty  is  not  abated,  and  it  is  a  mistaken  judgment  made 
of  the  country  that  the  opposition  to  ministerial  measures  is  owing  to  a 
few  hot-headed,  factious  men.  The  whole  body  of  the  People  of  the 
Colonies  prize  and  adhere  to  their  freedom,  and  [rather  than  lose  it]  will 
go  back  to  their  way  of  living  in  days  of  yore,  eat,  drink,  and  wear  what 
the  land  will  produce,  and  they  can  manufacture  themselves.  The  good 
women,  and  even  our  ladies  very  readily  lay  their  hands  to  the  distaff, 
spin  our  wool  and  flax,  and  make  such  clothing  as  is  warm  and  decent,  and 
are  willing  to  give  up  British  fineries  for  American  plain  dress,  with  liberty." 

Such  are  specimens  of  Trumbull's  views,  down  to  1770, 
of  the  quarrel  with  the  Mother-Country — and  mingled  with 
comment  on  all  public  affairs,  they  were  expressed  to  numer 
ous  correspondents  other  than  those  to  whom  we  have 
already  referred.  Sometimes  it  was  his  fortune  in  this 
connection,  to  send  abroad  State  documents  of  great  import 
ance,  that  were  kept  concealed  from  the  public  in  England, 
and  whose  communication  enlightened  the  friends  of  America 
in  Great  Britain  upon  the  policy  and  movements  of  the  Brit 
ish  Ministry—  as  upon  one  occasion,  for  example,  Letters  from 
Lord  Hillsborough  to  the  Colony  of  Connecticut.*  He  took 

*  "I  am  much  obliged  to  you,"  says  Johnson,  writing  him  from  London,  Sept. 
29th,  1768,  "for  the  Abstracts  you  have  favored  me  with  of  the  Ministers'  Letters 
to  the  Colony,  which  I  think  it  of  much  use  to  be  acquainted  with.  They  keep 
all  things  as  secret  as  possible,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  penetrate  into  their  de- 


1764—1770.  CHAP.    VIII.— TRUMBULL.  103 

great  pains,  it  is  obvious,  to  keep  himself  thoroughly  in 
formed  of  all  that  was  passing  the  other  side  of  the  Atlan 
tic — and  by  means  of  correspondents  who  were  highly  intel 
ligent  and  observing. 

The  acute  and  indefatigable  Wm.  Samuel  Johnson,  for  in 
stance — both  before,  and  for  nearly  two  years  after  Trum- 
bull's  accession  to  the  Chief  Executive  Chair  of  Connecti 
cut — down  to  the  period  of  his  return  to  his  native  land — 
wrote  him  constantly.  The  plans  and  intentions  of  the  Brit 
ish  Government,  both  with  regard  to  England  and  America — 
the  character  and  conduct  of  the  English  Ministers,  particu 
larly  of  Lord  Chatham,  Grenville,  Grafton,  Lord  North, 
Townshend,  Bedford,  and  Hillsborough — the  proceedings 
and  debates  in  the  English  Parliament — the  opinions,  and 
often  the  speeches  of  leading  members — these  matters — to 
gether  with  minute  accounts  of  the  state  of  territorial  con 
troversies  then  pending  in  England,  in  which  Connecticut  was 
deeply  interested — were  the  frequent  themes  of  Johnson's 
communications — as  they  were  also  of  the  letters  addressed  to 
Trumbull  by  Eichard  Jackson — and  for  a  while  also,  during 
the  time  they  were  in  London,  of  those  from  his  son  Joseph, 
and  his  friend  General  Phinehas  Lyman.* 

The  politics  and  condition  of  Europe  generally,  also  at 
tracted  Trumbull's  attention,  and  formed  the  burden  of  many 
a  paragraph  in  his  own  letters  abroad,  and  of  those  which  he 
received  in  reply.  He  was  fond  of  watching  the  public 
affairs  of  the  Old  "World — not  merely  because  they  fed  his 
mind  with  information — but  because  also  he  found  in  them 
much  that  bore,  directly  or  indirectly,  upon  the  interests  of 
his  native  land — and  much  too  that  enlightened  him  as  to  the 
general  progress  or  decay  of  art,  science,  and  civilization,  and 
which,  in  his  view,  realized  the  prophecies  of  Christianity. 

The  war,  for  example,  between   the  Kussians   and  the 

signs.  Being  acquainted  with  the  course  of  their  correspondence  opens  at  least 
a  part  of  their  plans,  and  enables  one  to  treat  with  them  as  occasion  may  require, 
to  much  better  advantage." 

*"You,  who  see  what  passes  in  London,"  wrote  Trumbull,  in  July  1768,  to 
Lyman — "  and  know  both  countries,  must  be  able  to  form  a  better  judgment  than 
we  can  about  the  springs  of  action  that  side  of  the  water,  and  your  good  observ 
ation  on  the  subject  would  be  an  agreeable  entertainment  to  me." 


104  CHAP.    VIII. — TRUMBULL.  1764— It70. 

Turks,  which,  during  the  period  of  his  life  now  under  exam 
ination,  raged  in  Europe,  interested  him  deeply — both  as  it 
affected  the  American  scheme  of  commercial  resistance  to 
Great  Britain,  and  as  it  seemed  to  realize  in  its  character  and 
consequences  the  predictions  of  Holy  Writ — and,  therefore, 
elicited  from  his  pen  long  comment  and  speculation  in  his 
letters  to  Johnson  in  England.  The  Northern  War — John 
son,  in  1769,  anxiously  informed  him — had  caused  a  great 
demand  for  English  goods — had,  spite  of  the  American  non 
importation  agreements,  kept  the  English  manufacturers 
alive.  The  East  India  Company,  he  said,  were  exporting  to 
that  quarter  of  the  world — new  sources  of  trade  for  England 
were  opened  in  Germany — new  avenues  for  exportation  into 
France.  The  American  merchants,  he  added,  to  a  great  ex 
tent,  were  violating  their  pledges  as  to  importation  from  the 
Mother-Country,  especially  through  the  avenue  of  the  West- 
India  neutral  ports.  This  was  plain — from  numerous  trading 
transactions  in  London  and  other  parts  of  England — and  was 
known  to  the  Ministry,  was  encouraged,  and  even  fully  re 
deemed  their  confidence  in  the  speedy  total  failure  of  the 
existing  colonial  scheme  of  resistance. 

All  this  gave  Trumbull  deep  anxiety — quickened  his 
efforts  at  home  for  the  strict  observation  of  the  American 
commercial  compact — and  multiplied  the  thoughts  and  the 
warnings  on  the  subject  which  he  sent  across  the  Atlantic. 
These  were  thoughts,  however,  whose  sadness  was  somewhat 
counterbalanced  by  the  consideration — to  his  mind  grateful — 
in  his  conviction  profound — that,  while  a  cloud  was  resting 
on  the  American  world,  yet  on  the  European  there  was  the 
brightness  of  God's  Providence — for  there — through  wars, 
and  in  spite  of  wars — God  was  working  out  plainly  his  own 
pre-ordained  results  in  regard  both  to  the  Turkish  Empire, 
and  to  the  Empire  of  Eome.  "Your  conjecture,"  wrote 
Johnson  to  him,  January  twenty-eighth,  1770,  in  sympathy 
with  his  views  on  this  point,  and  confirming  them — "  seems 
extremely  probable,  that  the  great  operations  now  carrying 
on  in  the  North,  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  the  Morea,  are 
in  the  course  of  Providence  preparing  the  way  for  the  speedy 
completion  of  the  prophecies  relating  to  the  Turkish  Empire 


1764—1770.  CHAP.   VIII. — TRUMBULL.  105 

as  well  as  the  Pontifical  tyranny  and  superstition,  both  which 
are  on  the  decline,  and  seem  hastening  to  their  period.  The 
latter  is  indeed  already  become  contemptible  in  almost  every 
Court  in  Europe,  and  has  been  obliged  to  put  up  with  very 
gross  affronts  from  the  Powers  which  were  imagined  most 
devoted  to  the  interest  of  Rome." 

But  the  politics  of  France,  more  particularly  than  those 
of  any  other  country  in  Europe,  at  this  time  arrested  Trum- 
bull's  attention — for  there,  at  the  head  of  the  French  Gov 
ernment — eager  to  fan  the  difficulties  of  Great  Britain  with 
her  Colonies  into  a  flame,  and  intent  upon  turning  them  to 
account — sat  the  keen,  able,  far-seeing,  liberal,  and  lynx-eyed 
Duke  de  Choiseul. 

Painfully  aware,  as  this  renowned  Prince-Minister  was,  of 
the  ascendency  of  the  great  rival  of  France  both  in  America 
and  in  Asia,  it  was  his  ambition  to  reduce  English  superior 
ity.  Taking  advantage  of  her  rupture  with  her  colonies,  he 
would  have  had  the  latter  strike  off  entirely  from  their  pa 
rent  State,  establish  their  own  independence,  and  turn  the 
tide  of  their  commerce  into  the  lap  of  France,  and  of  Europe 
at  large.  For  this  purpose  he  most  carefully  scanned  their 
condition — their  peculiarities  of  government,  their  industrial 
capacities,  their  products — their  habits,  their  tones  of  thought, 
but  especially  their  purposes,  if  any,  of  revolt,  their  leaders, 
and  their  resources  for  resistance — not  forgetting,  in  the  in- 
quisitiveness  of  his  investigations,  to  study  even  their  news 
papers,  and  the  sermons  of  their  Puritan  Clergy.*  Could 
he  but  have  realized  fully  on  his  own  plan — had  but  the 
timid  and  vascilating  Court  of  Spain,  whose  alliance  he 
earnestly  sought,  lent  to  him  a  willing  ear — his  own,  instead 
of  that  of  the  Count  de  Yergennes,  would  have  been  the 
honor  of  having  first  placed  the  strong  and  friendly  arm  of 
France  beneath  the  shoulder  of  struggling  America.  His 

*  To  collect  information,  he  sent  "  the  able  and  upright"  De  Kalb  among  the 
American  merchants  at  Amsterdam — and  the  shrewd  and  sharp-scented  Count 
du  Chatelet  among  the  American  merchants  at  London — and  to  the  French  Min 
ister  at  the  English  Court,  Durand,  committed  the  task  of  questioning  Franklin, 
and  the  American  agents  there  generally — while  he  caused  all  the  proceedings 
of  the  English  Ministry  and  Parliament  relative  to  America  to  be  sifted,  and  re 
ported  to  himself  with  strictest  accuracy  and  unfailing  vigilance. 


108  CHAP.     VIII. — TRUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

"  I  have  now  the  honor,"  wrote  Johnson  to  him  upon  the  occasion, 
from  Westminster,*  after  having  alluded  to  the  death  of  Governor  Pit- 
kinf — "  sincerely  to  rejoice  with  you  and  the  Colony  in  your  elevation  to 
the  chief  command,  and  the  happy  supply  thereby  of  the  vacancy — in 
consequence  of  which  I  doubt  not  the  affairs  of  the  Government  will  be 
well  and  wisely  administered.  Nothing  can  fill  me  with  greater  satisfac 
tion  than  to  find  the  principal  offices  of  Government  filled  by  Gentlemen 
of  the  first  reputation  for  ability,  wisdom,  and  integrity,  upon  which  the 
honor  and  interests  of  the  Colony,  and  its  security  and  happiness,  for 
which  I  am  extremely  solicitous,  do  most  essentially  and  absolutely  de 
pend.  *  *  As  this  event  devolves  on  you  the  immediate  care  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Colony,  give  me  leave  to  congratulate  you  on  the  honor 
which  attends  so  elevated  a  station,  and  to  wish  you  all  the  success  and 
happiness  that  can  accompany  the  most  able  and  acceptable  discharge  of 
so  important  a  trust." 

All  Trumbull's  other  offices  ceased,  of  course,  with  his  ap 
pointment  as  Governor,  and  were  never  afterwards  resumed. 
No  longer  Deputy  Governor — no  longer  Assistant  and  Coun 
cillor — no  longer  a  Judge  in  the  Courts — he  was  to  stand 
thereafter,  all-absorbed  with  duty,  at  the  helm  of  that  Ship 
of  State  whose  course  he  had,  in  subordinate  positions,  for 
thirty -six  years,  so  ably  aided  to  manage  and  guide. 

*In  letters  dated  Dec.  5th,  1769,  and  Feb.  3d,  1770. 

t  Whom  he  calls — "  a  good  citizen,  a  sincere  Christian,  an  upright  man,  and  a 
zealous-hearted  friend  to  Ms  country." 


J.1I  Buffer^  Hh. 


C  HAPTER    IX. 

TKUMBULL'S  judicial  career — down  to  1770 — as  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Judge 
of  the  County  and  Prohate  Courts,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Colony. 
Testimony  of  Wna.  Samuel  Johnson,  and  of  the  public  on  this  point. 

WE  have  looked  at  Trumbull,  hereunto,  with  some  particu 
larity,  in  all  his  offices  save  that  of  Judge — an  office  upon 
which,  until  the  time  of  his  appointment  as  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Colony,  we  had  but  few  memorials  from  which  to  derive 
light.  Nor  do  we  possess  much  light  now — but  what  we 
have — here  appropriately,  at  the  close  of  his  judicial  career — 
we  shall  aim  to  shed. 

The  records  of  the  Superior  Court,  during  the  three  years 
and  forty-five  days  in  which  he  held  the  post  of  Chief 
Judge — from  August  twelfth,  1766,  to  September  twenty- 
sixth,  1769 — though,  in  general,  succinct  statements  merely  of 
cases,  comparatively  barren  of  information  as  to  the  particu 
lar  mode  in  which  they  were  conducted — though  they  con 
tain  no  opinions  from  the  Chief  Justice  expressed  at  length, 
no  decisions,  interlocutory  or  final,  upon  points  of  law  or 
forms  and  rules  of  proceeding,  and  none  of  the  sentences 
which  he  was  called  to  pronounce  upon  criminals — yet  they 
show  some  important  facts  bearing  on  the  fidelity  with  which 
Trumbull  discharged  his  judicial  duties. 

There  were  thirty-nine  Sessions  of  the  Superior  Court  dur 
ing  the  time  that  he  presided — held  by  turns  at  Norwich, 
New  London,  Windham,  Hartford,  Litchfield,  New  Haven, 
and  Fairfield — held  annually,  and  occupying  each,  on  an 
average,  from  ten  days  to  a  fortnight — a  few,  however,  from 
four  days  to  a  week  only.  At  each  one  of  these  sessions, 
without  exception,  Judge  Trumbull  was  present,  the  entire 
time  of  each  session— a  fact  which  speaks  well  both  for  his 
assiduity  and  his  health.  By  far  the  largest  number  of  ac 
tions  that  were  tried  before  him — forty-nine  out  of  fifty- 
were  civil  actions,  almost  all  of  which  came  by  way  of  ap 
peal  from  Inferior  Courts — the  County  and  Probate  Courts — 

or  on  writs  of  error.     They  were  actions  for  debt,  on  book 
10 


110  CHAP.    IX. — TRUMBULL. 

account,  on  notes,  on  bonds,  and  on  all  forms  of  pecuniary 
obligation  known  in  the  practice  of  the  day — actions  on  dis 
puted  titles  to  land — actions  on  damages  to  rights  in  various 
forms,  in  trespass  and  on  the  case,  where  the  mulct  was  pe 
cuniary — and  actions  on  wills  and  the  administration  and 
settlement  of  estates — involving  both  law  and  equity,  and 
implying,  on  the  part  of  the  judge,  accurate  acquaintance 
with  both  these  great  departments  of  jurisprudence. 

Of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors — all  of  which,  in  the 
time  of  Judge  Trumbull,  fell  exclusively  under  the  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  Court  over  which  he  presided — there  were  six 
cases  of  counterfeiting,  the  most  numerous  of  any  on  the 
calendar — five  of  burglary — four  of  assault  and  battery- 
one  of  resistance  to  a  tax  collector — two  of  theft — one  of  blas 
phemy — one  of  libel — one  of  the  crime  against  nature — one 
of  firing  a  jail — and  one  of  attempted  murder — an  aggre 
gate  of  crime  for  three  years  and  upwards  in  Connecticut 
which  is  exceedingly  small,  and  bespeaks  an  unusually  high 
state  of  public  morals.  Judge  Trumbull,  therefore,  in  the 
sphere  of  criminal  jurisdiction,  had  comparatively  little  to  do. 

Almost  as  much,  in  the  sphere  of  the  domestic  relations — 
and  in  one  of  these  relations  only,  that  of  husband  and 
wife — underwent  his  attention — for  the  records  show  no  less 
than  twenty-two  applications  for  divorce  while  he  was  judge. 
Of  these,  three  were  from  the  husband  against  the  wife,  on 
account  of  adultery.  The  rest  were  from  the  wife — three 
for  unheard-of  absence,  or  supposed  loss  at  sea,  of  the  hus 
band — one  for  bigamy,  and  the  residue  for  desertion — and  in 
every  case  a  divorce  was  granted,  full  proof  having  been 
made  of  all  the  facts.  It  was  an  action  of  this  kind — a  peti 
tion  for  divorce  by  Emma  Brown,  whose  husband  Abner, 
having  sailed  for  Antigua,  had  not  been  heard  of  for  more 
than  four  years — which  was  the  last  but  one  ever  tried  by 
Trumbull — the  very  last — in  Court  at  New  London,  Octo 
ber  fifth,  1769 — being  an  action  of  trespass  on  the  case — in 
which  Phinehas  Stanton  of  Stonington,  demanding  "five 
hundred  pounds,  lawful  money,"  of  Adam  Babcock  of  New 
Haven,  was  stayed  in  his  proceedings  by  a  motion  on  the 
part  of  the  defendant  for  an  arrest  of  judgment — which  forms 


CHAP.    IX. — TRUMBULL.  Ill 

the  somewhat  significant  entry,  on  the  records  of  the  Su 
perior  Court,  at  the  termination  of  Trumbull's  judicial 
career. 

The  criminal  laws  of  Connecticut,  in  his  time,  though  in 
general  milder  much  than  in  the  first  years  of  the  Colony, 
had  not  yet  lost  all  of  their  primitive  severity.  It  would  have 
been  gratifying,  therefore,  in  this  connection,  had  some  of 
Trumbull's  dicta  and  sentences  as  criminal  judge  been  pre 
served — as  well  to  show  the  bearing  of  his  own  mind  in  re 
gard  to  any  amelioration,  as  in  regard  also  to  the  practical 
administration  of  criminal  law.  What,  for  instance,  his  own 
views  and  emotions  might  have  been,  when,  in  cases  of  burg 
lary,  it  became  his  duty  to  sentence  the  criminal  to  be  car 
ried  back  to  jail — thence  to  the  place  of  execution — there  to 
be  branded  with  the  letter  B  upon  his  forehead,  and  have 
one  ear  nailed  to  a  post,  and  be  whipped  fifteen  stripes — it 
would  have  been  interesting  to  observe.  No  doubt,  how 
ever,  that  though  strict  in  administering  the  law,  he  at  times 
somewhat  repined  at  features  which  he  must  have  wished  ob 
solete — for  he  was  too  enlightened  not  to  perceive  their 
revolting  harshness,  and  too  prone  to  temper  mercy  with 
judgment,  not  to  shrink  from  their  application. 

During  his  long  career  as  magistrate  before  he  sat  on  the 
bench  of  the  Superior  Court — in  his  capacity  as  Judge  of  the 
County  and  Probate  Courts  of  Windham,  he  had  also  much 
judicial  business  to  perform — all  in  his  circuit  that  related  to 
the  settlement,  often  intricate,  of  the  estates  of  persons  de 
ceased,  and  all  that  involved  inferior  civil  actions,  and  delin 
quencies — even,  as  regards  delinquencies,  down  to  the  trial, 
for  example,  at  his  own  dwelling  house  at  Lebanon,  of  one 
Hannah  Squaw,  an  Indian,  for  a  petty  theft,  and  of  Cato,  and 
Newport,  and  Adam,  three  negro  slaves,  for  "  being  found 
abroad,  from  home,  in  the  night  season,  after  nine  o'clock  " — 
whom  he  sentenced  to  receive,  ll  seven  stripes  each,  on  the 
naked  body,  at  the  public  sign  post,"  unless  redeemed  by 
their  masters  through  the  payment  of  a  fine  of  seven  shil 
lings  for  each,  and  the  costs.  His  experience,  therefore,  in 
the  judicial  department,  taken  throughout,  had  a  wide 
range — from  the  humblest  to  the  very  highest  grade  of 


112  CHAP.    IX. — TRUMBULL. 

duty — the  whole  range,  in  short,  of  Connecticut  law  and 
equity. 

That  he  fitted  himself  well  for  this  duty — availing  him 
self  industriously  of  all  the  helps  which  the  times  afforded, 
is  certain.  His  early  addiction  to  the  study  of  jurispru 
dence — -just  after  he  had  abandoned  the  pulpit,  and  betaken 
himself  to  civil  life — we  have  already  noted.  And  he  pur 
sued  this  study — as  we  gather  from  numerous  hints  found 
among  his  Papers — from  judicial  authorities  carefully  col 
lated  by  himself — from  numerous  legal  and  civil  documents, 
in  his  own  handwriting,  which  are  drawn  up  with  profes 
sional  accuracy — and  from  the  testimony  in  part  of  others — 
he  pursued  it  with  fondness,  and  with  such  success  as  to  ren 
der  him,  for  the  day  in  which  he  lived,  doubtless  an  accom 
plished  lawyer. 

Fortunately  preserved,  we  have  on  this  point  the  testi 
mony  of  one  of  the  best  jurists  and  lawyers  of  America — 
himself  cotemporary  with  Trumbull,  and  conversant  with  his 
judicial  career.  We  refer  again  to  Wm.  Samuel  Johnson, 
of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  long  the  distinguished  attorney  of 
Connecticut  at  the  Court  of  Great  Britain — a  gentleman  who 
was  counsel  in  the  Mohegan,  the  Susquehannah,  the  New 
Hampshire,  and  other  territorial  cases  of  great  moment,  and 
who  in  force  of  talent,  extent  of  knowledge,  acuteness  of  ob 
servation,  and  soundness  of  reasoning,  was  hardly  excelled 
by  any  man  of  his  day.  Writing  from  London,  November 
first,  1769,  to  Wm.  Williams  of  Lebanon — after  alluding  to 
the  prevalence  in  the  Colony  at  that  time  of  a  "  Party  spirit" 
from  whose  attacks,  according  to  information  from  Williams, 
not  even  Trumbull  himself,  as  judge,  had  quite  escaped — he 
thus  proceeds: — 

"  For  the  short  time  I  had  the  honor  of  practice  under  his  [Trum- 
bull's]  Presidency,  I  sincerely  tho't  the  business  of  the  Court  as  well 
conducted  as  ever  it  had  been,  and  I  really  tho't  this  had  been  the  gen 
eral  sense  both  of  the  Bar  and  of  the  Suitors,  having  heard  these  senti 
ments  expressed  by  many.  Certainly  there  was  as  great  harmony  be 
tween  the  Bar  and  Bench  as  I  have  known,  and  I  believe  the  Records  of 
the  Court  will  evince  as  much  business  to  have  been  dispatched  at  that 
time  as  during  any  former  period  ;  nor  can  I  imagine  but  that  longer  ex 
perience  has  rendered  him  since  that  time  still  more  able.  In  the  gen- 


CHAP.     IX. — TRUMBULL.  113 

eral  affairs  of  the  Colony,  I  was  a  witness  to  his  attention  and  ability. 
Every  subject  he  touched  upon,  and  very  few  I  believe  escaped  him,  re 
ceived  new  light  and  new  elucidation  from  his  observations  upon  it.  In 
the  Mohegan  case  especially,  in  which  I  had  very  particular  occasion  to 
observe  everything  that  occurred,  he  certainly  discovered  great  extent 
of  knowledge,  and  exact  attention.  In  that  interesting  business,  and  it 
is  as  perplexed  a  one  almost  as  will  be  met  with,  I  am  very  certain  the 
Colony  and  the  Proprietors  of  the  land  are  much  indebted  to  him  for  his 
good  service." 

Such  is  the  strong  testimony  of  Johnson  to  the  judicial,  as 
well  as  incidentally  to  the  general  ability  of  Jonathan  Trum- 
bull — and  we  find  other  cotemporaneous  evidence  also  on 
the  same  point,  which  characterizes  him  as  "  always  the  wise 
and  able  magistrate" — and  "revered  in  times  of  peace  as  an 
upright  judge,"  as  well  as  "a  wise  legislator,  and  a  shining 
example  of  manners  and  virtue." 

But  to  his  accomplishments  for  the  Bench  we  should  not 
forget  to  add  here,  particularly,  his  religious  character.  "It 
is  reserved  for  Christians,"  remarks  Colton — while  comment 
ing  on  that  old  sophism — so  much  dreaded  by  such  a  philos 
opher  even  as  Cicero — which  made  Justice  a  nonentity,  be 
cause  a  virtue  inseparable  from  a  folly  cannot  be  just — "it  is 
reserved  for  Christians,  who  take  into  their  consideration  the 
whole  existence  of  man,  to  argue  clearly  and  consequentially 
on  the  sterling  value  of  justice."  In  this  view,  Trumbull 
must  have  been  a  shining  exponent  of  the  great  virtue  in 
question,  and  a  signal  refutation  of  that  sophism  which 
would  overthrow  it — for  to  his  mind  an  Hereafter  was  no 
eternal  oblivion,  but  a  living  conviction,  and  an  active  real 
ity.  Justice  to  his  mind,  therefore,  was  "  the  rudder  of  all 
our  other  virtues" — the  great  interest  of  man  both  on  earth 
and  in  heaven — "  the  foundation  for  social  security,  general 
happiness,  and  the  improvement  and  progress  of  our  race." 
We  may  fairly  conclude,  then,  that  he  labored  on  its  edifice 
with  usefulness  and  distinction — contributing  all  in  his  power 
"  to  clear  its  foundations,  strengthen  its  pillars,  adorn  its  en 
tablatures,  and  raise  its  august  dome  still  higher  to  the  skies." 
10* 


CHAPTER   X. 
1764—1770. 

TauMBULt,  as  merchant  He  enters  into  a  new  partnership.  The  times 
are  out  of  joint,  and  clouds  darken  over  his  business  life.  The  general 
course  of  trade  and  commerce  at  this  time,  and  his  own  in  particular. 
He  sends  his  son  Joseph  to  England.  The  son's  occupation  there,  and 
correspondence  with  his  father.  Trumbull  "becomes  a  whaling  mer 
chant.  His  vessels.  He  meets  with  severe  reverses — what  they  were, 
and  how  occasioned.  His  manly  conduct  in  his  troubles.  It  wins  the 
respect  of  all  his  creditors.  He  makes  to  them  a  full  statement  of  his 
pecuniary  affairs.  This  statement.  He  takes  pains,  through  his  corres 
pondence  in  England,  to  develop  the  resources  of  his  native  land.  The 
iron  ore  of  Western  Connecticut  in  this  connection.  He  commends 
particularly  the  Society  in  England  for  promoting  Arts  and  Commerce, 
and  circ\ilates  their  pamphlets.  His  creditors  forbear  to  press  him. 
Adversity  serves  but  to  stiffen  his  energies. 

AGAIN,  Keader,  to  the  department  of  trade  and  com 
merce — again,  in  this  chapter,  to  Trumbull  as  merchant — 
that  we  may  mark  the  man,  so  worthy  of  note,  in  every 
channel  of  his  effort.  Singular,  somewhat,  that  learning,  so 
almost  professional  and  exclusive,  in  the  times  of  which  we 
speak,  so  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  the  bar, 
and  incumbents  of  literary  chairs — should  have  found  its 
way,  so  much  as  it  did,  into  the  engrossing  avenues  of  busi 
ness,  and  there  too  trained  intellects  for  higher  and  might 
ier  spheres  of  effort.  But  so  it  was.  If  the  bar  yielded  to 
the  American  Kevolution  its  Otis,  its  Quincy,  its  Jay,  its 
Hamilton,  its  Henry,  its  Pinckney,  its  Rutledge,  and  its 
Dickinson — and  the  farm  its  Putnam  and  its  Washington — 
and  the  healing  art  its  Warren — and  the  pulpit  its  Wither- 
spoon — the  counter  also  yielded  its  Hancock,  and  its  Trurn- 
bull — merchant-patriots  both — strong-minded,  of  high  culti 
vation,  and  illustrious  among  those  who  worked  out  the 
giant  problem  of  our  freedom. 

We  left  Trumbull,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1763,  active  in 
mercantile  pursuits,  and  highly  fortunate.  We  have  now  to 
see  him — from  1763  to  1770 — diligent  still  as  ever — but  un 
fortunate.  Clouds  soon  darkened  over  his  business  life,  and 


1764— 1770.  CHAP.    X. — TKUMBULL.  115 

hung  heavy  upon  it  during  the  remainder  of  his  career.  We 
shall  find  him,  however,  in  adversity  remarkable  as  in  pros 
perity — nay,  more  so — for  adversity  it  is  which  is  "the  true 
Touchstone  of  merit" — • 

"As  Night  to  Stars,  "Woe  lustre  gives  to  Man." 

Early  in  1764,  he  formed  a  new  partnership  in  trade,  with 
his  son  Joseph  and  Colonel  Eleazar  Fitch,  under  the  partner 
ship  name  of  "Trumble,  Fitch  and  Trumble" — the  main 
stem  of  the  Company  being  located  at  Norwich,  Connecticut, 
where  his  son  Joseph  went  to  reside.  January  ninth,  1764, 
he  announced  the  new  partnership  to  Lane  and  Booth,  his 
chief  commercial  correspondents  in  London,  and  stated  its 
readiness  "to  go  on  in  business" — which,  he  added,  will  be 
attended  to  "  with  the  strictest  honor  and  punctuality." 

The  general  course  and  nature  of  foreign  trade  in  Connec 
ticut,  at  this  time,  was  nearly  the  same  as  we  have  described 
it  to  have  been  in  our  former  chapter  on  Trumbull's  life  as  a 
merchant.  It  consisted  in  exporting  the  various  produce  of 
the  country  to  Boston,  Ehode  Island,  Halifax,  New- York, 
and  a  few  other  points  on  the  American  coast,  to  be  ex 
changed  for  European  goods  found  at  these  places — in  ex 
porting  also  stock  and  provisions,  chiefly,  to  the  West  Indies 
in  exchange  for  the  peculiar  produce  of  these  isles,  and  for 
bills  of  exchange — in  sending  a  few  ships  up  the  Mediterra 
nean  with  fish — in  occasionally  building  vessels  for  sale 
abroad — in  voyages  at  times  to  parts  of  Ireland,  chiefly  with 
flax -seed,  timber,  and  naval  stores — and  in  a  direct  trade 
with  various  ports  in  England  for  English  and  European 
goods.  About  sixty  sail  of  vessels — from  sloops  of  twelve, 
to  brigantines  of  eighty,  and  in  a  few  instances  of  two  hund 
red  tons — were  engaged  in  this  various  commerce. 

In  most  of  this  trade  "  Trumble,  Fitch  and  Trumble  "  par 
ticipated — the  elder  Trumbull,  as  before,  still  continuing  his 
store  at  Lebanon,  and  occasionally,  as  before,  making  ven 
tures  on  his  own  private  account.  They  traded  particularly, 
among  the  West  India  Isles,  with  Barbadoes — in  Ireland, 
with  the  firm  of  Eobert  and  Alexander  Jaifray  in  Dublin, 
and  with  that  of  Francis  Goold  and  Company  in  Cork — and 


116  CHAP.    X. — TRUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

in  England,  particularly  with  the  cities  of  London  and  Bris 
tol,  and  with  a  new  firm  of  Campbell  and  Haye  at  Liverpool. 
They  both  built  and  bought,  and  they  chartered  vessels, 
which  very  soon  after  they  commenced  business  came  to  be 
many  in  number,*  and  made  frequent  voyages.  They  sailed 
from  New-London  chiefly,  though  at  times  also  from  other 
American  ports,  laden  heavily  with  stock  or  other  produce. 
"And  so  God  send  the  good  sloop  to  her  destined  port  in 
safety — Amen  " — concluded  many  a  Bill  of  Lading  signed 
by  Nathaniel  Shaw  of  New-London  in  behalf  of  the  firm  of 
which  we  speak — and  many  an  insurance  upon  return  car 
goes  in  favor  of  the  same  firm — from  fourteen  hundred 
pounds  sterling  on  to  greater  amounts — was  taken  in  the 
metropolis  of  the  commercial  world. 

To  this  metropolis — to  "  a  very  good  place,"  as  he  calls  it, 
"  in  the  centre  between  the  Court  and  City,"  on  the  south 
side  of  St.  Paul's  Church-yard — the  younger  partner,  Joseph 
Trumbull,  repaired  in  September,  1763f — for  the  purpose, 
chiefly,  of  promoting  the  business  of  the  firm.  And  he  re 
mained  abroad  one  entire  year — establishing  new  connections 
in  trade — purchasing  and  shipping  goods — seeking  commis 
sions  for  building  vessels,  and  for  their  sale,  and  for  the  con 
struction  also  of  houses  and  other  buildings,  especially  at 
St.  Kitts  and  Grenada  in  the  West  Indies.  He  sought  con 
tracts  also  for  provisioning  some  of  the  British  troops.  He 
suggested  to  his  partners  at  home  new  articles  for  exporta 
tion,  and  new  forms  occasionally  for  their  business — as,  par 
ticularly,  that  of  manufacturing  iron  ore.  And  he  executed 

*  "  I  have  determined,"  wrote  Trumbull,  in  January  of  the  year  1764,  to  Lane 
and  Booth,  "  to  direct  my  course  immediately  to  you,  and  have  set  about  build 
ing  a  ship  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  tons,  and  to  lade  her  with  flax-seed,  oil, 
&c.,  directly  for  Europe" — and  besides  this  ship  which  was  called  the  Neptune, 
and  cost  about  two  thousand  pounds,  Papers  show  that  the  firm  of  Trumble, 
Fitch  and  Trumble  owned  the  sloop  Alliance,  which  cost  five  hundred  pounds — 
the  sloop  Seaflower,  which  cost  two  hundred  and  twenty  pounds — the  sloop 
Nancy,  which  cost  five  hundred  and  eighty-eight  pounds — the  ship  Dublin, 
which  cost  seventeen  hundred  and  nine  pounds — and  one-third  of  a  sloop  called 
the  Calypso — besides  some  other  sloops,  whose  names  do  not  appear,  which  they 
built,  and  with  their  cargoes  sold  abroad — in  the  West  Indies,  at  Bristol  in  Eng 
land,  and  in  Ireland. 

t  Col.  Dyer  was  his  companion  on  the  voyage,  which  was  made  in  thirty-five 
days. 


1764—1770.  CHAP.    X. — TKUMBULL.  117 

at  times  various  commissions  for  his  friends  in  Connecticut — 
as  once  we  observe  as  worthy  of  note,  that  of  procuring  pa 
pering,  "stamped  on  purpose,  very  elegant  and  neat,"  for 
what  he  styles  "the  grand  passage  and  staircase  and  best 
rooms"  of  his  father's  house  at  Lebanon — a  plan  of  all  which 
he  requests  should  be  sent  him.* 

During  this  period,  he  kept  his  father  informed  not  alone 
of  his  business  transactions,  but  also  of  all  important  events 
in  England — and  beguiled  many  an  hour  for  him  at  his 
house  in  Lebanon,  with  singularly  pleasing  and  graphic  de 
scriptions  of  English  scenery  and  curiosities — as  particularly 
of  the  rich  fields  in  the  County  of  Kent — of  the  noble  ca 
thedral  at  Canterbury — of  the  royal  palaces  in  London  and 
Windsor — of  Westminster  Abbey — of  Greenwich  Hospital — 
of  Kensington  Gardens — of  his  visit  to  the  theatre,  and  sight 
of  the  "really  fine-looking"  royal  family — of  the  beautiful 

*  "  I  believe  it  may  do  well,"  he  wrote  home  in  December,  1763,  "to  build  a 
vessel  of  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  tons,  double-decked.  As  to  a  mixed 
cargo  of  oil  and  flax-seed,  I  don't  know  how  they  will  answer,  but  am  deter 
mined  to  make  a  trip  to  Ireland,  and  settle  a  correspondence  at  Dublin  or  Bel 
fast.  I  shall  send  out  duck  and  hemp  for  rigging.  I  think  it  best  to  secure  Nan- 
tucket  for  next  year  if  possible.  I  am  looking  out  here  to  find  who  has  the  con 
tract  for  supplying  the  troops  in  America  with  provisions,  and  am  determined  to 
secure  that  if  possible,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  getting  the  contract  of  those  who 
now  have  it,  or  by  taking  it  of  the  Government. — I  have  not  yet  tried  Mr.  Hinck- 
ley's  ore.  I  have  been  making  inquiry  for  a  proper  person,  and  shall  soon  get  it 
done.  The  bag  of  diamonds  I  have  tried — they  prove  to  be  crystals  of  very  small 
value." 

"  I  shall  soon  go  to  Liverpool  and  Belfast,"  he  wrote  in  January,  1764—"  and 
shall  contract  for  flax-seed  and  naval  stores  at  Belfast,  and  at  Liverpool  for  salt, 
Liverpool  and  Manchester  goods,  &c." 

"  I  have  engaged,"  he  wrote  in  February,  "  with  Mr.  Edward  Dixon  to  build  a 
sloop  of  sixty  tons  burden,  to  be  employed  in  the  trade  to  St.  Kitts — to  be  con 
signed  to  him — he  to  own  i  part  of  sloop  and  cargo.  Hope  you'll  plan  her  in 
the  best  manner  for  that  trade,  and  have  her  built  well,  and  as  soon  as  may  be — 
and  hope  to  send  out  rigging  and  sails  for  her  with  those  I  send  for  the  snow  de 
signed  for  the  Irish  trade.  One  Dr.  Bryant  has  been  with  me  for  himself  and 
the  Governor  of  Grenada — they  want  frames,  boards,  shingles,  &c.,  for  two 
dwelling-houses,  and  a  large  hospital,  all  to  be  sent  out  to  that  island,  together 
with  carpenters  and  joiners  for  finishing  the  buildings — which  I  hope  will  prove 
a  good  job." 

"  I  shall  endeavor,"  he  wrote  in  April,  "  to  make  a  market  for  the  new  ship  in 
Ireland  or  Liverpool,  as  I  fancy  that  a  load  of  flax-seed,  naval  stores,  and  lumber, 
will  be  the  best  cargo  that  can  be  put  into  her.  If  she  can't  be  sold,  she  must  go 
to  Liverpool,  and  take  in  salt,  and  Liverpool  and  Manchester  goods,  and  so 
home — when  it  will  be  necessary  to  have  some  other  cargo  for  her." 


118  CHAP.    X. — TRUMBULL.  1764—1710. 

seat  of  the  Princess  Dowager  of  Wales,  and  of  his  own  de 
scent,  five  hundred  feet,  into  the  tin  and  copper  mines  of 
Eedneth — into  which,  he  observes,  "had  Eneas  or  Ulysses 
descended,"  it  might  well  have  served  aas  a  foundation  for 
the  fables  of  Virgil  or  Homer." 

In  excellent  health — having  been  ailing  but  once  during 
his  entire  absence* — and  having,  from  some  investigations 
made  at  the  Herald's  Office  in  London,  been  led  to  change 
the  spelling  of  his  name  in  the  last  syllable,  from  lie  to  lull — 
a  change  which  in  1766  his  father  also  adopted — he  returned 
home  with  Captain  Marshall  in  a  Boston  packet,  in  the  fall 
of  1764.  He  returned,  as  he  says  himself,  "with  eagerness 
to  his  dear  native  country  and  friends,"  and  sat  down  with 
his  father  in  what  he  hoped  would  prove  "  a  steady,  busy 
round  of  sure,  and  safe,  and  profitable  trade" — a  trade  to 
which  his  father,  about  this  time,  added  a  new  feature — that 
of  whaling — to  which  we  have  heretofore  alluded  as  one 
among  the  business  occupations  of  the  latter.  It  was  not, 
however,  with  him  a  principal  employment,  but  an  incidental 
one.  He  became  a  whaling  merchant  to  further  his  trade  in 
oil.  Trumbull's  own  mariners,  therefore,  hunted  that  largest 
fish  which  welters  "in  the  ocean's  trough  of  brine,"  and 
tosses  its  billows  from  "  its  flashing  fin."f 

But  neither  his  whaling,  nor  his  other  extensive  commer 
cial  enterprises,  proved  long  profitable  in  the  new  firm  with 
which  he  was  now  connected.  The  beautiful  and  auspicious 
names  of  the  Neptune,  the  Seaflower,  the  Calypso,  and  the 
Alliance,  which  floated  proudly  in  the  winds  from  the  pen 
nants  of  his  vessels,  falsified  their  omens.  In  1766  came 
severe  reverses — misfortune  after  misfortune — loss  after 
loss. 

*"I  have  been,"  he  wrote  in  December,  1763,  "most  terribly  poisoned  by 
eating  roasted  cushoo  nuts  (a  West  India  nut) — my  face  was  swelled  so  that  I 
was  quite  blind  for  two  or  three  days,  and  one  of  my  hands  was  much  swelled. 
The  rest  of  my  body  was  not  at  all  affected." 

t"  Outfits  for  whaling,"  in  the  sloop  Alliance,  says  one  of  his  business  ac 
counts,  "  £388  :  4 : 10."  "  Costs  in  outfits  for  whaling,"  in  sloop  Nancy,  says 
another  of  his  accounts,  "  £214 : 14 : 1." — "  One-third  loss,  on  close  of  her  whal 
ing  voyages,"  says  another  account  of  profit  and  loss  on  his  sloop  the  Seaflower. 
"  I  like  the  scheme  of  a  whaling  voyage  very  well  for  both  sloops,"  writes  Joseph 
from  London,  December  14th,  1763 — "  if  the  Alliance  can't  be  sold." 


1764—1170.  CHAP.    X.— TRUMBULL.  119 

"About  this  time,  when  I  was  nine  or  ten  years  old,"  writes  his  son 
Colonel  John,  "my  father's  mercantile  failure  took  place.  *  *  In 
one  season,  almost  every  vessel,  and  all  the  property  which  he  had  upon 
the  ocean,  was  swept  away,  and  he  was  a  poor  man  at  so  late  a  period  of 
his  life,  as  left  no  hope  of  retrieving  his  aifairs.  My  eldest  brother  was 
involved  in  the  wreck  as  a  partner,  which  rendered  the  condition  of  the 
family  utterly  hopeless.  My  mother  and  sisters  were  deeply  afflicted, 
and  although  I  was  too  young  clearly  to  comprehend  the  cause,  yet  sym 
pathy  led  me  too  to  droop." 

Here  was  sad  havoc  indeed — a  volley  of  misfortunes !  The 
Wedding  of  Trumbull's  Trade  was  turned,  all  at  once,  to  "a 
black  Funeral." 

From  various  documents  it  appears  that  the  losses  thus 
sustained — not  taking  into  account  the  destruction  of  vessels 
themselves — amounted,  in  the  way  of  cargoes  chiefly,  to  the 
sum  of  four  thousand  and  thirty-four  pounds  sterling,  fifteen 
shillings  and  four  pence.  Add  to  this  now  the  value  of  the 
vessels  themselves,  on  the  supposition,  as  Trumbull's  son 
states,  that  almost  every  one  was  swept  away — add  also  dam 
age  at  this  time  in  other  forms,  as  by  bad  debts — such  as  we 
have  found  occasionally  noted  in  sums  varying  from  a  few 
up,  in  one  instance,  to  eighteen  hundred  pounds — and  we 
have  a  total  of  loss  which  Trumbull  and  Company  sustained 
at  this  time  that  may  be  safely  estimated  at  from  ten  to 
twelve  thousand  pounds  sterling — a  sum  hardly  equal  to 
their  existing  indebtedness  abroad,  not  to  speak  of  that, 
more  or  less,  which  existed  at  home — nor  to  speak  here  par 
ticularly  of  that,  not  inconsiderable,  which  the  elder  Trum 
bull  had  incurred  on  private  account. 

It  may,  at  first  sight,  appear  somewhat  strange  that  at  this 
juncture,  on  united  individual  and  partnership  account,  his 
indebtedness  should  be  so  large.  A  moment's  reflection, 
however,  will  dissipate  this  impression.  In  the  first  place, 
but  for  the  treacherous  ocean,  there  would  have  been  prop 
erty  afloat  almost  enough  to  have  met  his  pecuniary  obliga 
tions.  In  the  next  place,  he  had  property  on  the  land,  real 
and  personal,  more  than  enough  for  this  purpose,  if  it  could 
have  been  rendered  available.  But  the  want  of  a  circulating 
medium,  and  of  suitable  articles  for  remittance  abroad — in 
duced  almost  entirely,  and  quite  suddenly,  by  that  wretched 


120  CHAP.     X. — TRUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

policy  of  the  Mother-Country  towards  the  Colonies  which 
almost  foreclosed  their  trade  with  the  French,  Spanish, 
Dutch,  and  Portuguese  West  India  Islands — this  cause,  to 
gether  with  the  general  depression  and  alarm  in  the  business 
as  well  as  in  the  political  world  occasioned  by  the  Stamp 
Act,  and  by  the  threatened  enforcement  of  the  old  and 
odious  laws  of  trade  and  revenue — brought  about  a  sudden 
revulsion  in  all  American  commerce,  which  overbore  almost 
every  American  merchant — and  under  which  Trumbull — 
with  no  power  in  his  hands  of  prevention — with  no  conduct 
on  his  own  part,  as  a  merchant,  which  a  prudent  forethought 
would  not  have  suggested — suffered  incalculable  damage. 

But  how  did  he  behave  under  these  circumstances  ?  With 
patience — with  fortitude — with  hope — with  an  intense  anx 
iety  arid  effort  to  retrieve  his  affairs — and  with  a  candor  so 
remarkable  in  making  known,  fully  and  freely,  to  all  con 
cerned,  even  in  the  smallest  details,  his  debts  and  his  means, 
as  to  command  respect  and  sympathy  from  his  friends  in 
every  quarter,  and  forbearance  and  thorough  confidence  on 
the  part  of  all  his  creditors. 

Conspicuous  among  these  creditors  was  the  firm  of  Lane 
and  Booth — -continued  into  the  firm  of  Lane,  Son  and  Fra- 
zier,  in  London — to  which,  jointly  and  severally  with  his 
son  Joseph,  he  owed  a  debt  of  three  thousand  and  three 
hundred  pounds.  "You  may  be  assured,"  he  wrote  this 
firm,  June  twenty-third,  1767 — and  we  cite  the  case  as  an 
example  of  his  course  towards  all  his  important  creditors* — 
"you  may  be  assured  I  shall  not  forget  replacing  your 
money  in  your  hands  whenever  I  can  collect  my  outstanding 
debts,  and  get  them  into  cash,  or  anything  that  will  make 
remittance.  I  heartily  wish  my  prospects  better  for  doing  it 
soon.  Cash  is  so  very  scarce  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
collect  it  for  outstanding  debts,  or  by  sale  of  lands."  And 
he  goes  on  to  say,  that  for  the  purpose  of  discharging  his 
debt,  he  had  built  a  sloop,  and  sent  her  to  the  West  Indies 
with  horses  and  provisions,  but  had  been  "  much  disappoint 
ed"  in  this  adventure — and  that  after  it,  he  had  been  ship- 

*  As  particularly,  besides  the  firm  above  mentioned,  to  that  also  of  Champion 
and  Hayley  in  London,  and  to  Stephen  Apthorp  in  Bristol. 


1764— mo.  CHAP.    X. — TRUMBULL.  121 

building,  in  expectation,  through  this  business,  by  sale  of 
vessels  and  cargoes  abroad,  of  raising  money  for  his  cred 
itors — but  that  here  again  "loss  and  disappointment"  had  so 
attended  him  that  he  was  "  determined  against  any  further 
trials  that  way."  And  he  goes  on  farther  to  state  to  Lane, 
Son  and  Frazier,  his  resources — all  of  them,  without  excep 
tion,  drawn  out  into  careful  detail — down  even  to  his  salary, 
to  the  books  in  his  Library,  and  the  cows  in  his  barn-fold — 
an  aggregate,  he  represents,  of  eleven  thousand,  eight  hund 
red  and  sixty  pounds — yielding  him,  by  way  of  income, 
about  five  hundred  pounds  a  year — all  his  own  individual 
property,  and  on  which  the  incumbrance  was  but  small. 

"  You  may  say  these  valuations  are  of  my  own  making,"  he  proceeds. 
"  True — but  then  some  of  them  have  been  lately  made  by  freeholders 
under  oath,  and  there  is  room  for  large  abatements,  and  yet  my  creditors 
are  safe,  although  not  well  pleased  for  want  of  payment.  You  know  how 
liable  all  men  are  to  misfortunes.  Mine  hath  been  stopping  my  retailing 
business,  to  collect  my  debts,  and  going  into  navigation  to  help  therein, 
to  my  injury  and  loss.  In  my  old  way  of  business  I  have  had  success, 
and  to  have  kept  to  it  would  have  been  happy  for  me — to  return  to  it  is 
what  I  crave.  It  gives  me  great  uneasiness  when  it  is  not  in  my  power 
to  answer  every  reasonable  expectation  from  me.  I  have,  however,  the 
comfort  of  being  conscious  that  my  intentions  were  always  honest,  and 
that  it  would  have  given  the  highest  pleasure  to  me  to  have  discharged 
every  debt  at  the  time  it  became  due ;  and  I  think  myself  bound  in 
honor  and  conscience  to  do  everything  in  my  power  to  do  it  as  soon  as 
possible ;  and  if  I  did  not  believe  fresh  credit  from  you,  to  return  to  my 
old  way  of  business,  would  be  mutually  serviceable,  I  would  not  ask,  or 
even  accept  the  favor.  My  late  partner,  Col.  Fitch,  has  a  good  estate  in 
his  hands. — We  are  sufferers  together.  We  hope  to  be  able  to  get 
through  safe,  though  with  loss  and  damage — with  which  my  son  is  much 
chagrined — though  he  keeps  up  his  spirit  and  courage,  yet  it  proves  very 
heavy  at  first  setting  out.  Thus  I  have  opened  my  affairs  to  you,  and 
beg  your  kind  answer  and  advice.  The  lenity  and  forbearance  I  have 
experienced,  emboldens  me  to  hope  for  a  favorable  answer." 

In  another  letter  soon  to  the  same  correspondents,  after 
briefly  stating  again  the  causes  of  his  pecuniary  misfortunes, 
Trumbull  recounts  what  he  is  doing  to  make  his  creditors 
whole.  Without  the  knowledge  of  Lane,  Son  and  Frazier, 
lie  tells  them  that  he  has  collaterally  secured  his  debt  to 
them.  He  has  a  prospect,  he  says,  of  selling  two  valuable 


122  CHAP.    X. — TRUMBULL. 


1764— mo. 


farms  for  "Mr.  Wheeler's  Indian  School,"  and,  if  he  does, 
he  will  soon  remit  them  funds.  He  will  not  put  them  to  the 
trouble,  he  adds,  of  bringing  any  suit  against  him — but,  if 
not  satisfied,  he  will  convey  them  more  estate,  "appraised  as 
the  law  directs  for  levying  executions." — "I  have  nothing  to 
dispute,"  he  writes — "you  ought  to  be  paid,  and  I  will  do 
everything  in  my  power  to  bring  it  to  pass."  He  has  been 
long  obliged  to  take  mortgages  of  land  to  secure  his  own 
debts,  he  says — since  he  would  not  injure  his  own  debtors 
"by  what  may  be  called  hard  crowding,"  in  times  when  a 
circulating  medium  was  so  much  wanting.  And  he  goes  on 
to  express  the  hope  that  Parliament  will  soon  grant  leave  for 
the  Colonists  to  enjoy  a  good  paper  currency — that  thus,  by 
the  relief  afforded  to  specie,  merchants  in  Connecticut  may 
be  easily  enabled  to  pay  their  debts  to  England.  For  himself, 
he  concludes — he  will  "get  into  his  old  path  of  business — be 
gin  small,  give  little  or  no  credit,  run  no  risks,"  and  in  this 
way  trusts — with  a  little  forbearance  on  the  part  of  his  cred 
itors — soon  to  retrieve  his  condition. 

At  the  same  time  that  Trumbull  was  thus  writing  to  his 
business  correspondents  abroad,  he  sent  his  son  Joseph  again 
to  England,  to  promote  in  person  the  amelioration  and  settle 
ment  of  his  business — transmitting  by  him,  to  his  creditors, 
kind  letters  from  Jared  Ingersoll,  whose  acquaintanceship  in 
England,  from  his  former  connections  there  as  the  Colonial 
Agent  of  Connecticut,  was  quite  extensive,  and  who  cheer 
fully  endorsed  all  the  statements  of  Trumbull,  and  employed 
his  influence  in  soothing  his  creditors  to  lenity. 

And  he  did  another  thing  in  this  connection  worthy  of 
special  note — as  bearing  not  alone  upon  the  improvement  of 
his  own  particular  business,  but  on  that  of  Connecticut  at  large. 
He  wrote  personally  to  many  influential  friends  in  England, 
suggesting  methods  of  developing  the  resources  of  his  native 
land — urging  their  adoption — and  commending  particularly 
the  efforts  in  this  direction  of  the  Society  in  England  for  pro 
moting  Arts  and  Commerce — whose  transactions  he  from  time 
to  time  procured,  and  circulated  in  his  own  country.* 

*"Thus,  for  example,  in  1769,  he  received  a  parcel  of  pamphlets  from  this 
eource,  by  the  hands  of  Capt.  Billings,  from  London— on  the  subject  of  the  man- 


1764—1770.  CHAP.    X. — TRUMBULL.  123 

"  Iron  ore  of  the  best  quality,"  he  proceeds,  for  example,  in  one  letter 
of  this  description  to  Jackson  of  the  British  Parliament — "  appears  in 
plenty  in  the  western  part  of  this  Colony,  among  the  mountainous 
lands  by  the  sides  of  the  Housatonic  River.  Last  summer  Capt.  Stevens 
raised  a  large  quantity  of  hemp — by  which  it  appears  that  abundance  of 
lands  in  this  Colony  will  answer  for  it.  Setting  us  to  work  too  at  ship 
building,  and  sending  us  some  good  workmen,  will  be  a  great  encourage 
ment  in  business.  I  imagine  the  more  our  people  are  acquainted  in  Eng 
land  the  better,  and  that  mutual  advantage  will  come  from  it.  It  must 
be  a  great  pleasure  to  gentlemen  of  your  enlarged  capacity  to  help  build 
up  and  nourish  an  infant  country  as  this  is,  and  render  it  a  pleasant  hab 
itation,  and  profitable  to  its  mother  country,  as  this  certainly  will  be  un 
der  proper  direction  and  encouragement. 

"  Here  I  cannot  forbear  the  praises  justly  due  to  the  Honorable  Society 
for  promoting  Arts  and  Commerce,  for  the  encouragement  given  by 
them — at  the  same  time  wishing  that  many  of  the  ingenious  gentlemen, 
who  travel  abroad,  would  take  this  way,  view  this  rising  country,  and 
point  out  and  promote  various  profitable  things  here.  Would  it  not  give 
more  lasting  pleasure  than  even  the  tour  of  Europe  ?  " 

Such  was  the  manner  in  which  Trumbull  met  the  calamity 
of  mercantile  failure — met  pecuniary  embarrassments  which, 
in  a  letter  to  Ingersoll,  he  himself  describes  as  "  shocking." 
"Was  not  his  course  marked  by  every  virtue  that  would  re 
deem  his  situation  ?  That  it  was,  the  result  showed.  Not  a 
creditor  that  pressed  him  with  a  suit — not  a  creditor  that 
took  one  legal  step  to  secure  himself — not  a  creditor  but  for 
bore  in  any  manner  to  urge  his  claims  on  one  whose  candor, 
honesty,  and  earnest,  hopeful  effort,  in  his  time  of  distress, 
were  charms,  in  the  way  of  business  security,  stronger  than 
any  ties  which  the  law,  in  its  fettering  severity,  could  bind 
around  assets,  or  with  oppressive  weight  hang  on  the  person 
of  the  debtor.  "  Our  confidence  in  your  ability  to  pay  us  is 
great,"  wrote  to  him  Lane  and  the  Frazers,  and  others  to 
whom  he  was  indebted — "  we  will  wait  until  you  can  collect 
your  outstanding  debts."  And  Trumbull — keenly  grateful 
for  the  lenity  he  had  won — and  resolute  to  reward  it,  and  re- 

nfacture  of  American  potash.  They  contained  the  result  of  two  Inquiries  made 
by  direction  of  the  Society  of  Arts — "which  it  is  hoped,"  wrote  Wm.  Samuel 
Johnson,  "will  be  of  some  use  towards  perfecting  that  useful  manufacture,  and 
for  defeating  any  frauds  which  may  be  attempted  to  be  introduced  into  it.  For 
which  end  you  will  please  to  diffuse  them  as  generally  as  you  can,  into  all  parts 
of  the  Colony." 


124  CHAP.    X.  —  TRUMBULL.  1764—1770. 

establish  his  own  credit  and  property — toiled  on  unceasingly 
for  the  purpose. 

But  almost  in  vain — for  such  was  the  character  of  the 
times — such  and  so  many  the  obstacles  with  which  a  ruinous 
British  policy,  as  has  been  suggested,  had  incumbered  Ameri 
can  trade — so  did  British  naval  commanders,  now  become 
revenue  officers  on  board  their  own  ships,  harass  commerce 
upon  the  seas — so  did  numberless  custom  house  officials  vex 
trade  within  American  ports — so  was  property  in  conse 
quence,  in  New  England  particularly,  depressed,  and  from 
want  of  a  circulating  medium  rendered,  save  by  slow  and 
unfruitful  processes  of  barter,  almost  inconvertible — that  no 
toil,  no  assiduity  in  business  could  stem  the  torrent  that  op 
posed  it.  It  bore  down  Trumbull  spite  of  all  his  efforts — 
though  never  to  the  point  of  absolute  depression.  For  he 
still  kept  up,  and  for  many  years  subsequent  to  his  failure, 
continued  his  small  trade  within  his  own  immediate  home 
circuit.  But  his  balances  in  Europe,  the  larger  ones,  he  was 
unable  to  liquidate.  They  remained  against  him  until  the 
Revolutionary  War  suspended  the  possibility  of  their  collec 
tion,  and  in  the  opinion  of  Trumbull,  at  that  time,  cancelled 
their  obligations,  so  far  as  British  creditors  were  concerned, 
but  not  as  concerned  the  American  public — as  we  shall 
have  occasion,  under  aspects  somewhat  singular,  to  notice 
hereafter. 

Thus,  as  now  described,  did  misfortunes  serve  but  to  show 
Trumbull  in  a  noble  light — to  awaken  honorable  sensibili 
ties — to  expand  in  his  bosom  the  flame  of  effort — to  stiffen 
his  energies,  and  nurse  him  for  other,  and  severer,  but  far 
more  grateful  trials.  The  Oak  did  not  yield  to  the  axe's 
edge,  but  lived  to  give  shelter  and  repose  to  the  imperial 
Eagle  of  Liberty! 


C  HAPT  E  R    XL 
1770—1775. 

OENBRA.L  view  of  the  period  embraced  in  this  chapter.  At  the  outset  of 
Trumbull's  administration  there  is  a  more  cheering  state  of  things — 
particularly  for  Connecticut.  One  important  interruption,  however, 
which  was  carefully  composed  by  the  Governor  How  it  was  done. 
The  repoee  continues.  This  interval  seized  to  look  at  Trumbull  in 
the  sphere  of  his  public  duties,  aside  from  the  American  struggle. 
And  here  his  Election  Speech  in  1771 — and  the  Susquehannah  Contro 
versy.  The  management  of  this  famous  controversy  devolves  almost 
entirely  on  himself.  He  states  the  Case.  Abstract  of  this  Statement. 
The  Case  remains  unsettled  when  the  Revolution  commences,  but  is 
afterwards  determined.  The  result.  Trumbull  waived  its  further 
agitation  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  in  order  to  promote  union 
and  harmony  among  the  Colonies. 

THE  period  in  TrumbuH's  life,  from  1770  to  1775— from 
the  Boston  Massacre  down  nearly  to  the  Battle  of  Lexing 
ton — next  commands  our  attention.  It  is  one — in  a  political 
view,  as  regards  the  quarrel  with  the  Mother-Country — of 
comparative  repose  in  all  the  Colonies,  during  its  first  three 
years,  save  in  Massachusetts — where,  particularly — from  pe 
culiar  causes — the  great  questions  of  American  Liberty  were 
almost  incessantly  agitated,  and  excitement  the  while  kept 
high. 

Not,  however,  that  the  people  of  other  colonies  were  at  all 
forgetful  of  the  great  contest  between  parliamentary  and  min 
isterial  authority  on  the  one  hand,  and  colonial  rights  on  the 
other — they  were  not.  They  noted  constantly  the  principles 
which  Massachusetts  was  so  especially  active  in  sustaining. 
The  blood  shed  in  the  King  Street  of  her  metropolis  by 
Captain  Preston  and  his  company  of  British  troops — the 
garrisoning  of  her  provincial  fortress  in  Boston  harbor  by  a 
British  force,  and  the  frequent  presence  in  her  port  of  armed 
British  vessels,  to  overawe  the  town — the  refusal  of  her  Gov 
ernor  to  give  his  assent  to  a  tax-bill,  which  in  common  with 

other  citizens,  assessed  the  royal  commissioners  and  other 
IP 


126  CHAP.    XI. — TRUMBULL.  1770—1775. 

officers  of  the  customs — the  remonstrances  at  this  "alarming" 
course  by  the  Massachusetts  Assembly  and  people — the  grant 
of  a  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  pounds  per  annum  to  Gov 
ernor  Hutchinson,  and  soon  of  salaries  to  the  Judges  of  the 
Superior  Court,  by  the  king,  independent  wholly  of  any  colo 
nial  appropriations,  and  of  course  of  any  colonial  control — 
the  traitorous  correspondence  between  Hutchinson,  Oliver 
and  others,  and  the  British  Ministry — all  these  leading  events 
and  exigencies  in  the  Massachusetts  struggle — together  also 
with  that  startling  cotemporaneous  clash  in  Rhode  Island 
between  the  citizens  of  Providence  and  the  British  armed 
schooner  Gaspee — met  with  anxious  consideration  at  the 
hands  of  every  American  Colonist.  And  by  no  one  were 
they  more  carefully  watched  than  by  Governor  Trumbull 
himself.  Upon  no  mind — stirred  as  it  had  already  been,  pro 
foundly,  by  past  collisions  with  British  power — did  they 
make  deeper  impression,  or  leave  a  more  ineradicable  sense 
of  wrong. 

But  the  outset  of  his  administration  as  Governor  of  Con 
necticut,  was  distinguished,  during  the  present  period,  by  a 
different  and  more  cheering  state  of  things  than  that  to  which 
we   have   now   alluded.      At   this    time — January   second, 
1770 — he  received  from  England — from  the  watchful  John 
son — the  gratifying  intelligence  that  those  "  dark  approach 
ing  clouds,"  which  just  before  Trumbull  assumed  his  new 
station,  seemed  ready  "  to  burst  upon  the  Massachusetts  Col 
ony,"  and  "  spread  destruction  upon  neighboring  Colonies, 
and  especially  in  Connecticut,"  were  now  "in  good  degree 
dissipated."     Such  "confident  assurances  from  government, 
in  favor  of  Connecticut,"  reported  Johnson,  had  been  ob 
tained,  as  justified  the  belief  that  she  "  had  nothing  to  fear," 
except  what  related  to  the  decision  before  the  King  in  Coun 
cil  of  her  Mohegan  Cause.     Even  Lord   Hillsborough,  he 
said,  had  affirmed  that  the  Colony  might  "  be  at  peace  for  the 
present" — and  that  nothing  done  with  respect  to  Massachu 
setts  should  "  involve  "  Connecticut.     And  even  as  to  the  old 
Bay  Colony  there  was  hope,  he  further  said,  that  the  design 
of  altering  her  Constitution,  for  which  a  Bill  had  been  pre 
pared,  would  "  be  laid  aside" — "  so  strong  at  the  time  were 


1770—1775.  CHAP.     XI.  —  TRUMBULL.  127 

the  remonstrances  against  the  Bill — such  the  peculiar  situa* 
tion  of  public  affairs  in  England — and  such,"  Johnson  said 
he  must  in  justice  add,  was  "  the  moderation  of  his  Majesty's 
ministers." — "  Blessed  be  the  God  of  all  salvation !  " — he 
exclaimed,  in  view  of  this  state  of  affairs,  so  unexpectedly 
promising. 

Promising  it  was  indeed,  at  this  particular  period,  so  far  as 
Connecticut  is  concerned,  in  all  respects  save  one.  There 
was  one  jar  upon  the  seeming  harmony  of  her  relations  with 
the  Mother- Country,  which,  for  a  short  time,  was  somewhat 
startling,  and  called  for  the  special  interposition  of  her 
Governor. 

For  the  necessary  protection,  as  it  seemed,  of  her  own 
commercial  interests,  she  had  passed  a  law  imposing  duties 
on  all  goods  imported  into  the  colony  by  any  persons  who 
were  not  inhabitants — and  this  law  attracted  the  attention, 
and  drew  down  upon  her  the  censure  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
in  England,  and  of  the  Ministry.  Connecticut  had  no  power 
to  pass  such  a  law,  they  said.  It  was  striking  at  the  right  of 
Britons  to  import  directly  from  the  Mother-Country.  At 
least  Britons,  if  not  inhabitants  of  the  Colonies,  should  have 
been  excepted  from  its  operation — and  intimations  were 
given  out  that  it  would  be  declared  void  by  the  King  in 
Council — or  that  Connecticut  would  be  enjoined  by  a  decree 
of  Parliament  to  repeal  it — and  that  the  Colony,  in  future, 
would  be  compelled  to  send  home  all  her  laws,  of  whatever 
character,  for  the  royal  approbation  or  disallowance.  Of  all 
this  Johnson  gave  particular  information  to  Trumbull.  In 
duced  by  the  offensive  Impost  Law,  he  added — in  words  of 
warning — they  are  already  here  in  England  reviewing  and 
striking  at  other  laws  of  the  Colony — and  even  at  its  precious 
Charter. 

To  the  danger  of  which  he  was  thus  notified,  Trumbull 
gave  instant  heed.  He  wrote  to  Johnson  explaining  the  na 
ture  of  the  law  to  which  exception  had  been  taken.  He 
showed  that  its  provisions  were  intended,  in  the  way  of  self- 
protection,  to  apply  especially  to  those  Colonies,  in  North 
America,  adjacent  to  Connecticut,  whose  commercial  policy 
was  thought  to  be  adverse  to  her  interests — and  urged  that 


128  CHAP.    XI. — TRUMBULL.  1770—1775. 

every  soothing  explanation  should  be  made  to  the  English 
Ministry,  and  a  little  time  allowed  for  the  Colony  to  try  the 
law — or,  should  it  not  be  found  useful  and  legitimate,  for 
herself,  through  her  own  General  Assembly,  to  effect  its 
repeal. 

"Lord  Hillsborough,"  wrote  Johnson  in  reply  to  the  Governor,  March 
nineteenth,  1770 — "has  been  prevailed  upon  to  lay  aside  for  the  present 
the  plan  of  laying  the  complaint  relative  to  the  Connecticut  duty  before 
the  King  in  Council,  and  to  give  the  Legislature  of  the  Colony  opportu 
nity  to  correct  it  if  they  think  proper,  which  I  insisted  he  ought  in  jus 
tice  to  do  before  any  proceedings  were  had  upon  it  here.  You  will  there 
fore,  if  you  think  proper,  suggest  it  to  their  consideration.  I  have  never 
been  able  to  see  the  Act,  tho'  I  have  repeatedly  applied  for  it,  but  have 
heard  no  other  objection  to  it  than  that  it  should  have  excepted  goods 
imported  directly  from  England  by  British  subjects,  that  is,  inhabitants 
of  Great  Britain,  for  it  has  not  been  denied  that  we  may  restrain  inhab 
itants  of  other  Plantations  from  importing  goods  there,  even  directly  from 
Great  Britain.  If  that  amendment  were  made,  it  would  I  presume  obvi 
ate  every  objection.  I  have  very  cautiously  avoided  giving  any  assur 
ances  that  any  alteration  at  all  will  be  made,  and  only  contended  that 
there  should  be  opportunity  given  to  do  it,  if  the  General  Assembly 
should  think  proper,  to  whom  it  must  be  referred.  I  have  no  doubt 
they  will  do  what  is  wise  and  fit  with  regard  to  the  matter." 

And  so  the  General  Assembly  did.  At  their  May  Session 
in  1771 — upon  wise  instigation  from  their  Chief  Magistrate — 
on  the  ground  that  "  the  provisions  of  said  Act  prove  not 
beneficial  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  Colony,"  as  in  their  Re 
cords  they  say,  and  on  this  ground  alone — they  repealed  it — 
and  so  one  stumbling  block  in  the  way  of  concord  between 
Connecticut  and  England,  which  for  a  time  threatened  to 
become  a  serious  one,  was  entirely  removed.  "It  is  hard," 
said  Trumbull,  about  this  time,  "  to  break  connections  with 
our  mother-country" — and  he  was  willing,  as  we  see,  in  the 
case  of  an  Impost  Act  which  proved  of  no  service  to  Con 
necticut,  and  was  an  offence  abroad,  to  strike  it  from  the 
Statute  Book  of  the  Colony.  But  when  that  Mother-Coun 
try,  he  added,  with  his  eye  upon  claims  that  could  not  be 
borne,  "  strives  to  enslave  us,  the  strictest  union  must  be  dis 
solved." — "And  as  he  looked  through  the  world,"  remarks 
Bancroft,  "he  exclaimed,  the  Lord  reigneth,  let  the  earth 


1770—1775.  CHAP.    XI. — TRUMBULL.  129 

rejoice,  and  the  multitude  of  isles  be  glad  thereof;  the  ac 
complishment  of  some  notable  prophecy  is  at  hand." 

But,  as  already  intimated,  the  time  had  not  yet  quite 
arrived  for  the  display  of  forcible  resistance.  Great  Britain — 
by  refraining,  to  a  considerable  extent,  from  the  enforcement 
of  her  violent  measures  in  other  Colonies  than  that  of  Mas 
sachusetts — by  withdrawing  her  obnoxious  duties  on  all  the 
articles  enumerated  in  her  American  Revenue  Act  of  1767, 
except  the  duty  on  tea — that  "  one  tax,  the  King's  fixed  rule, 
to  keep  up  the  right " — by  virtual  promises,  through  a  Cir 
cular  sent  to  all  the  Colonies,  to  impose  no  other — by  propo 
sitions  and  professions,  on  the  part  of  her  leading  Minister, 
Lord  North,  that  seemed  sincerely  conciliatory — and  by 
earnest  assurances  to  American  General  Assemblies,  through 
the  Governors  of  Virginia  and  New  York,  that  the  King, 
avoiding  thereafter  all  oppressive  acts,  "  would  perfect  the 
happiness  of  his  people" — by  these  means  Great  Britain 
managed  to  soothe  a  little  the  general  spirit  of  discontent, 
and  create  a  pause  in  the  gathering  storm. 

The  dispute  about  the  Billeting  Act  had  ceased  entirely  in 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  It  never  had  created  any 
practical  difficulty  in  Connecticut — for  here,  in  the  due  exer 
cise  of  her  constitutional  authority — by  virtue  of  her  own 
independent  legislative  power — with  commendable  prudence, 
with  "good  conduct"  that  had  extorted  praise  even  from  the 
British  Ministry — a  Billeting  Act  of  her  own  had  been  en 
acted,  which  not  only  "passed  without  censure,"  but  was 
"  generally  approved."*  And  late  even  as  May  1771,  Con 
necticut  revived  the  Act,  and  extended  its  operation  over 
"  until  the  rising  of  the  General  Assembly  in  October  next 
ensuing." 

In  fact,  at  this  time,  there  was  a  general  tendency  in 
America  to  conciliation.  Even  in  Massachusetts,  at  the  first 
meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1771,  "loyalty  visibly 
prevailed,  and  the  decided  patriots  were  in  a  minority."f  In 

*  Johnson  to  Eliphalet  Dyer,  Aug.  5th,  1767. 

t  Hutchinson,  from  Boston,  reported  "  a  disposition  in  all  the  colonies  to  let 
the  controversy  with  the  kingdom  subside.  Hancock  and  most  of  the  party," 
he  said,  "are  quiet,  and  all  of  them  abate  of  their  virulence,  except  Adams, 


130  CHAP.    XI. — TRUMBULL.  1770—1775. 

truth,  it  may  be  said,  there  was  tranquility  in  America,  at 
this  time,  almost  universally — to  be  broken  only  when  the 
detested  East  India  shrub  should  be  brought  to  find  its  grave 
in  the  harbor  of  Boston,  and  from  Kennebec  to  the  river  of 
Savannah,  a  whole  people  should  rise  to  vindicate  the  free 
dom  of  a  commercial  port,  and  the  life  of  a  doomed  city,  and 
a  patriotic  old  Commonwealth. 

Let  us  embrace  this  interval  then,  to  look  at  Trumbull  in 
the  sphere  of  his  public  duties  aside  from  his  connection  with 
the  great  American  struggle.  We  shall  note  his  Kevolution- 
ary  connections  by  themselves — but  first,  now,  let  us  view 
him  as  Governor  of  Connecticut,  and  in  the  discharge,  as 
such,  of  his  ordinary  duties,  during  the  five  years  which  pre 
ceded  the  Battle  of  Lexington. 

And  here,  save  in  his  relations  with  the  Susquehannah 
Case,  and  with  the  Mohegan  Controversy,  we  find  little 
worthy  of  very  special  note.  He  was  elected  to  office  with 
great  unanimity,  and  performed  its  duties  with  quiet  fidelity. 
Of  the  manner  in  which  he  accepted  it,  and  his  tone  of  feel 
ing  upon  such  an  occasion,  the  following  brief  Speech — such 
as  he  was  accustomed  to  make,  upon  an  election,  to  the  Gene 
ral  Assembly — is  a  good  example. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Freemen  " — he  said,  on  being  chosen  Governor  in 
1771.  "  It  is  with  peculiar  satisfaction  and  pleasure,  that  I  have  this  day 
seen  the  exercise  of  the  inestimable  blessing  of  Freedom,  which  our  re 
nowned  and  highly  venerable  Fathers  obtained,  secured,  and  through 
several  generations  and  various  struggles  have  safely  transmitted  to  us. 

"  Rulers  freely  elected  by  and  from  yourselves — I  take  this  opportu 
nity  of  acquainting  you  that  I  have  had  the  most  grateful  sense  of  the 

[Samuel]  "  who,  he  remarks,  "  would  push  the  continent  into  a  rebellion  to-mor 
row,  if  it  was  in  his  power." — "  The  people,"  wrote  Johnson  from  Connecticut 
to  Wedderburne,  after  his  return  from  his  agency  in  England,  "  seem  to  be  weary 
of  their  altercations  with  the  Mother-Country ;  a  little  discreet  conduct  on  both 
sides,  would  perfectly  re-establish  that  warm  affection  and  respect  towards  Great 
Britain,  for  which  this  country  was  once  so  remarkable."  Governor  Eden,  from 
Maryland,  warmly  congratulated  Hillsborough  on  the  return  of  confidence  and 
harmony.  The  Southern  Governors  felt  no  alarm.  New  York  had  been  propitia 
ted  by  the  grant  of  authority  to  issue  colonial  bills  of  credit,  and  her  loyalty 
"  grew  apace."  Her  merchants  agreed  to  a  general  importation  of  all  articles 
except  tea.  Maryland,  Virginia,  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  had  all  increased  their 
own  imports.  Pennsylvania  and  New  England  imported  nearly  one-half  as 
much  as  usual. 


1770—1775.  CHAP.    XI. — TRUMBULL.  131 

honor  done  me  by  this  election  to  be  Governor  in  and  over  this  Colony 
for  the  year  ensuing. 

"  That  impressed  with  a  deep  sense  of  my  own  unworthiness,  and  the 
fresh  obligations  laid  on  me,  for  his  Majesty's  service,  and  the  best  good 
and  welfare  of  this  People — with  humble  reliance  on  the  all-wise  Govern 
or  of  the  World,  for  his  divine  direction  and  guidance,  I  accept  this 
trust — and  ask  your  present  and  continued  supplications  at  the  Throne 
of  Grace,  that  wisdom,  prudence,  and  discretion  may  be  given  answer 
able  to  the  day,  the  work,  and  the  duty  assigned  me." 

Thus  sincerely  did  the  Governor,  as  was  his  wont,  express 
pleasure  in  the  old  colonial  freedom — thank  his  constitu 
ents — and  rely  on  Providence.  The  Speech,  just  quoted,  is 
highly  characteristic  of  the  man. 

It  was  not  long  after  his  second  election  as  Governor  be 
fore  the  claim  of  Connecticut  to  the  Western  Lands — those 
lying  west  of  the  Delaware  River — came  to  be  seriously  agi 
tated.  Hence  originated  what  is  known  in  history  as  the 
Susquehannah  Controversy — a  controversy  remarkable  for  the 
great  territorial  interests  which  it  involved,  the  profound 
investigations  to  which  it  led,  and  its  ultimate  result — after 
several  intervening  untoward  decisions — in  a  recognition  on 
the  part  of  Congress  of  the  Connecticut  claim — to  an  import 
ant  extent — and  the  consequent  establishment  for  this  State, 
of  its  invaluable  School  Fund.* 

Governor  Trumbull  was  early  appointed  by  the  General 
Assembly — in  connection,  at  the  outset,  with  Secretary  George 
Wyllys,  and  afterwards  with  others — to  establish  this  claim. 
He  was  instructed,  first,  to  search  into  all  land  titles  granted 

*  Connecticut  never  forgot  that  its  Charter  bounded  its  territory  by  the  Pacific. 
"  Its  daring  sons,"  remarks  Bancroft,  "  held  possession  of  the  Wyoming  Valley ; 
and  learned  already  to  claim  lands  westward  to  the  Mississippi" — seven  or  eight 
hundred  miles  in  extent  of  the  finest  country  and  happiest  climate  on  the  Globe. 
'  In  fifty  years,'  said  they,  '  our  people  will  be  more  than  half  over  this  tract, 
extensive  as  it  is ;  in  less  than  one  century,  the  whole  may  become  even  well 
cultivated.  If  the  coming  period  bears  due  proportion  to  that  from  the  first 
landing  of  poor  distressed  fugitives  at  Plymouth,  nothing  that  we  can  in  the  ut 
most  stretch  of  imagination  fancy  of  the  state  of  this  country  at  an  equally  future 
period,  can  exceed  what  it  will  then  be.  A  commerce  must  and  will  arise,  inde 
pendent  of  everything  external,  and  superior  to  anything  ever  known  in  Europe, 
or  of  which  an  European  can  have  an  adequate  idea.'  Thus  the  statesmen  of 
Connecticut  pleased  themselves  with  pictures  of  the  happiness  of  their  poster 
ity  ;  and  themselves  enjoyed  a  vivid  vision  of  the  glory  of  the  New  World." 


132  CHAP.    XI.— TKUMBTJLL.  1770—1775. 

to  Connecticut  by  charter,  and  into  all  grants  in  any  manner 
affecting  this  Colony,  and  report  what  he  might  discover — 
second,  to  collect  all  the  evidence  in  favor  of  the  Connecticut 
claim,  and  all  against  it,  and  transmit  the  same  to  the  Colo 
ny's  Agent  in  Great  Britain,  that  it  might  be  laid  before 
counsel  learned  in  the  law  for  their  opinion  thereon — third, 
to  instruct  the  said  Agent  how  to  proceed,  as  the  exigencies 
of  the  controversy  might  demand,  and  to  confer  with  Gov 
ernor  Penn  of  Pennsylvania  on  the  subject,  with  Congress, 
with  Dr.  Wm.  Samuel  Johnson,  and  with  all  others  whose 
interest  or  agency  in  it  was  important,  and  procure  a  Petition 
to  his  Majesty  respecting  it — fourth,  to  appoint  suitable  per 
sons  to  ascertain  the  latitudes  and  longitudes  of  the  north  and 
south  lines  of  the  Colony,  upon  the  Western  Lands,  in  such 
places  as  they  should  find  necessary — fifth,  to  issue  Procla 
mations  against  squatters  on  lands — and  lastly,  to  take  all 
steps  necessary  and  proper  for  stating  and  prosecuting  the 
Connecticut  claim. 

In  pursuance  of  instructions  thus  received,  Governor 
Trumbull  applied  himself  to  the  task.  And  an  onerous  one 
it  proved,  for  the  substantial  duty  was  all  performed  by  him 
self — and  with  a  patience,  and  thoroughness,  which  reflect 
the  highest  credit  upon  his  ability  as  a  lawyer,  logician,  and 
draughtsman.  Fortunately  his  Paper  on  this  subject — enti 
tled  the  Case  of  Connecticut  Stated — remains,  just  as  he  wrote 
it — to  tell  the  story  of  his  investigation.  It  is  the  same  that 
was  prepared  for  transmission  to  England,  to  be  submitted  to 
the  judgment  of  Thurlow,  the  accomplished  Attorney  Gen 
eral  of  England,  of  Alexander  Wedderburne,  the  King's 
Solicitor  General,  of  J.  Deming,  afterwards  Lord  Ashburton, 
and  of  Eichard  Jackson — all  of  them  men  of  profound  legal 
science,  and  of  the  highest  reputation  in  their  profession. 

He  starts  with  setting  forth,  so  far  as  is  necessary  for  the 
purpose  in  hand,  the  original  Patent  of  New  England  from 
James  the  First — the  incorporation  by  him  of  the  Council  of 
Plymouth — the  grant  by  this  Council  of  Massachusetts — a 
renewed  patent  of  the  same  by  Charles  the  First — and  the 
derivative  grants  from  these  prior  patents  of  many  tracts  of 
country,  and  among  these,  particularly,  of  Connecticut. 


1770—1775.  CHAP.    XI. — TRUMBULL.  133 

He  then  shows,  that — the  Dutch  making  claim — a  bound 
ary  line  was  established  between  New  Netherlands  and  Con 
necticut — but  that  the  right  to  lands  on  the  Delaware  was 
then  left  undetermined. 

Next  he  shows  the  Connecticut  Petition  to  the  King — the 
Charter  and  its  result,  extending  Connecticut  west  "to  the 
south  sea" — and  the  consequent  union  of  Connecticut  and 
Newhaven.  King  Charles'  Patent  to  his  brother  the  Duke 
of  York — covering  Maine,  Long  Island,  and  the  tract  of 
Hudson  Eiver — is  now  proved  not  to  extend  to  lands  west 
of  the  Delaware.  The  claim  of  the  Dutch,  by  the  passage 
of  Hudson  up  the  river  that  has  taken  his  name,  is  denied. 
So  also  is  any  claim  of  the  Swedes.  The  dispossession  of  the 
Dutch  at  New  York  by  a  force  sent  from  England — the 
establishment  of  a  boundary  line  between  New  York  and 
Connecticut  by  Commissioners  then  sent  out  for  the  purpose — 
the  recovery  of  New  York  by  the  Dutch,  and  its  subsequent 
restoration  on  a  treaty  of  peace  to  the  English — all  these  par 
ticulars — together  with  the  Patent  granted  by  Charles  the 
Second  to  William  Penn,  and  with  an  agreement  between 
New  York  and  Connecticut  that  was  confirmed  by  King 
William  in  Council,  but  which  did  not  touch  territory  west 
of  the  Delaware  Eiver — are  described  and  commented  upon 
with  great  force.* 

He  concludes  his  elaborate  document — in  summary  of  the 
whole — with  stating,  first,  that  the  lands  west  of  New  York 
remained  in  possession  of  the  original  Indian  proprietors 
until  they  conveyed  them  to  the  Susquehannah,  and  other 
companies,  under  Connecticut — second,  that  under  her  Patent 
and  Charter,  Connecticut  continued  to  claim  the  lands  in  con 
troversy,  and  had  settled  the  same  as  fast  as  the  nature  of 
things  would  admit— and  third,  that  whereas  Pennsylvania 
was  still  urging  her  claim,  under  color  of  a  Patent  that  was 
granted  nineteen  years  after  that  of  Connecticut,  and  under 
the  allegation  that  Connecticut  was  estopped  by  the  settle 
ment  of  New  York,  therefore,  to  end  the  dispute,  the  three 

*  "  With  great  labor  and  researches,"  says  Trumbull  himself,  in  a  memorial  of 
his  own, 

12 


134  CHAP.    XI. — TRUMBULL. 


1770— m5. 


following  questions  should  be  propounded  to  legal  gentlemen 
in  England,  viz : — 

1.  Do  the  words  "  actually  possessed  and  occupied,"  in  the 
old  Patent,  extend  to  lands  west  of  the  Dutch  settlements  ? 

2.  Has  the  Colony  of  Connecticut  a  right  of  pre-emption 
and  title,  within  the  bounds  of  their  Patent,  west  of  New 
York,  notwithstanding  the  agreement  with  New  York  as  to 
boundaries,  and  the  Charter  of  Pennsylvania  ? 

3.  What  course  of  proceeding  is  it  legal  and  expedient  for 
Connecticut  to  pursue  ? 

The  answers  by  the  law  counsellors  of  England  to  the 
questions  thus  proposed,  avouched  the  excellence  of  the  doc 
ument  prepared  by  Trumbull.  To  the  first  they  answered, 
that  the  words  in  question  did  not  extend  to  lands  west  of  the 
Dutch  settlements — to  the  second,  that  the  settlement  with 
New  York  had  no  effect  on  other  claims,  nor  could  the  grant 
to  Pennsylvania  affect  what  had  been  granted  previously  to 
Connecticut,  but  that  an  actual  settlement  by  Pennsylvania 
might  create  a  doubt — and  to  the  third,  that  an  amicable 
agreement  with  the  proprietors  of  Pennsylvania  was  the 
proper  recourse — or,  if  this  was  refused,  an  appeal  to  the 
King. 

Neither  of  these  resources  were  of  avail,  however,  to  settle 
the  difficulty.  The  Kevolutionary  War  cut  off  the  last. 
Governor  Penn — though  appeal  was  frequently  made  to  him, 
through  special  Commissioners  appointed  by  Connecticut,  and 
also  by  Governor  Trumbull* — refused  all  negotiation  on  the 
subject.  So  Connecticut  went  on  and  extended  her  jurisdic 
tion  to  the  settlers  on  the  contested  lands — and  incorporated 
them  into  a  township  as  a  part  of  Litchfield  County,  by  the 
name  of  Westmoreland — and  the  contest  remained  in  sus 
pense  for  many  years.  But  the  assertion  of  title,  made  in  the 

*"It  is  the  duty  of  our  Governor  and  Company,"  wrote  Trumbull  to  him, 
March  24th,  1774,  "  in  faithfulness  to  the  trust  reposed  in  them,  to  assert  and  sup 
port  the  rights  of  this  government  and  its  inhabitants.  They  do  not  look  upon 
themselves  as  chargeable  with  any  fault  for  the  exercise  of  jurisdiction  over  the 
people  who  inhabit  land  they  have  good  reason  to  think  themselves  entitled  to 
by  legal  purchase  from  the  aboriginal  true  proprietors  thereof,  and  hold  the 
primary  possession  under  the  right  of  pre-emption,  for  the  benefit  and  within 
the  limits  of  this  government." 


1770—1775.  CHAP.    XI. — TRUMBULL.  135 

manner  we  have  described — and  chiefly  by  Tmmbull  him 
self — was  indeed  u  a  happy  circumstance."  For  it  resulted  at 
last — save  in  regard  to  a  small  strip  of  territory  at  present 
included  in  Pennsylvania — in  an  acknowledgment  by  Con 
gress,  after  the  Revolution,  of  that  title  which  rescued  for 
old  Connecticut  that  fine  tract  of  country  in  Ohio  known  as 
New  Connecticut — known  also,  in  honorable  baptism,  as  Trum- 
bull  County — and  it  secured  the  means,  in  consequence,  as  has 
been  already  suggested,  for  the  establishment  of  her  magnifi 
cent  School  Fund.  Education  in  this  State,  it  is  obvious, 
owes  much — very  much — under  this  aspect,  to  the  exertions 
of  Governor  Trumbull. 

It  is  a  striking  and  pleasing  feature  in  his  connection  with 
the  controversy  under  consideration,  that — though  deeply 
involved  in  it,  from  duty,  study,  and  conviction — though  his 
pride  as  an  investigator,  as  a  logician,  as  a  lawyer,  and  as  the 
Chief  Magistrate  of  Connecticut,  was  all  thoroughly  enlisted 
in  educing  a  result  that  should  conform  to  his  own  opinion — 
yet — the  moment  the  great  struggle  for  American  Independ 
ence  commenced — for  the  sake  of  harmony  among  the  Colo 
nies  at  large — he  desired  anxiously  to  waive  the  controversy 
for  the  time — to  hold  it  in  abeyance  for  some  future  fitting 
period. 

"Do  not  hasten  the  case,"  he  wrote  in  March  1775,  to  Thomas  Life, 
the  English  agent  for  Connecticut  in  the  matter — to  whom  previously  he 
had  been  communicating  instructions  with  great  regularity,  and  from 
whom  he  had  received  Office  Copies,  exemplified  in  England,  of  various 
patents  bearing  on  the  subject — "  do  not  hasten  the  case,  most  important 
though  it  be,  in  a  day  of  so  much  difficulty  and  increasing  distress  as  the 
present  between  the  two  countries,  which  every  wise  and  good  man 
wishes  to  have  speedily  terminated." 

44 1  lament,"  he  wrote  the  President  of  the  American  Congress,  in  No 
vember  of  the  same  year — requesting  the  special  interposition  of  Con 
gress  to  put  a  stop  to  the  altercations  then  existing  between  Pennsylva 
nia  and  Connecticut — "  I  lament  that  interested  individuals,  joined  with 
the  enemies  of  the  rights  of  the  Colonies,  have  at  this  time  such  an  han 
dle  to  cause  division  and  mischief  on  that  head.  It  is  far  from  our  de 
sign  to  take  any  advantage  in  the  case  from  the  present  unhappy  divis 
ion  with  Great  Britain.  Our  desire  is  that  no  advantage  be  taken  on 
either  side ;  but  at  a  proper  time,  and  before  competent  judges,  to  have 
the  different  claims  to  these  lands  litigated,  settled,  and  determined  j  in 


136  CHAP.    XI.— TRUMBULL.  1770—1775. 

the  mean  time  to  have  this  lie  dormant,  until  the  other  all-important  con 
troversy  is  brought  to  a  close.  The  wisdom  of  the  Congress,  I  trust, 
will  find  means  to  put  a  stop  to  all  altercations  between  this  Colony  and 
Mr.  Penn,  and  the  settlers  under  each,  until  a  calm  and  peaceable  day. 
The  gun  and  bayonet  are  not  the  constitutional  instruments  to  adjust  and 
settle  real  claims,  neither  will  insidious  methods  turn  to  account  for  such 
as  make  them  their  pursuit." 

How  praiseworthy  the  course  thus  pursued !  Trumbull's 
patriotism  would  permit  no  inter-colonial  controversy — no 
matter  how  profound  the  interests  involved — to  interfere 
while  the  great  dispute  with  the  Mother-Country  remained 
unsettled.  Peace  at  home,  at  all  events,  was  his  anxious 
wish,  in  the  day  when  discord  reigned  abroad.  The  quiver 
for  American  defence,  in  his  view,  should  not  contain  one 
arrow  to  poison  American  harmony,  or  wound  American 
strength. 


C  HAPTER    XII. 


TBUMBULL  and  the  Mohegan  Controversy.  The  origin  of  this  contro 
versy.  Claim  of  Connecticut  Claim  of  and  for  the  Mohegans.  At 
tempted  settlements  of  the  case.  Its  management,  just  before  and 
after  he  became  Governor,  devolved  chiefly  on  Trumbull.  His  fitness 
for  the  task,  from  long  experience  in  Indian  affairs,  and  with  those  of 
the  Mohegans  particularly.  In  1769  one  of  a  Committee  appointed  "by 
the  General  Assembly  to  visit  these  Indians,  and  examine  and  report 
upon  their  condition.  The  manner  in  -which  he  performed  his  task 
described  by  himself  in  a  letter  to  Wm.  Samuel  Johnson.  His  exer 
tions  roused  attention  to  the  appeal  of  1766  on  the  Mohegan  Case, 
and  caused  it,  in  January  1770,  to  receive  a  fresh  hearing  before  the 
Lords  in  Council.  A  motion  to  dismiss  it  made  and  refused — and  an 
other  hearing  ordered.  A  dark  hour  for  Connecticut  on  the  case. 
Trumbull,  however,  makes  preparation  for  it,  and  presses  the  General 
Assembly  to  fresh  effort.  He  accumulates  all  the  resources  of  de 
fence,  and  sends  them  over  to  England.  The  chances  of  the  trial  are 
still  against  Connecticut — but  it  terminates  favorably  to  the  Colony 
The  elder  Winthrop's  Journal  in  this  connection.  Trumbull  copies  it, 
and  causes  it,  for  the  first  time,  to  be  printed.  And  here  his  care 
generally  of  valuable  papers  and  public  documents.  The  Trumbull 
Papers  in  the  Historical  Society  at  Boston.  His  interest  in  sta 
tistical  inquiries.  He  replies  to  the  Queries  of  the  British  Board  of 
Trade. 

AT  the  same  time  with  the  Susquehannah  Case,  Trumbull 
had  on  his  hands  another  important  territorial  controversy — 
which,  "  founded  in  disaffection,  and  matured  in  resentment," 
for  upwards  of  seventy  years,  more  or  less  vexed  the  repose 
of  Connecticut,  and  exacted  at  times  her  strictest  care.  Orig 
inating  in  a  difference  between  the  Mohegan  Indians  and  the 
Colony  touching  title  to  certain  tracts  of  land  in  New  Lon 
don,  Windham,  and  Tolland  counties,  which  comprehended 
in  all  not  far  from  eight  hundred  square  miles — and  industri 
ously  fanned,  so  far  as  the  Indians  are  concerned,  by  the  de 
scendants  of  Major  John  Mason,  who  claimed  the  guardian 
ship  of  these  Ked  Men — and  by  Daniel  Clark,  Nicholas 
Hallam,  Major  Palms,  Major  Fitch,  and  a  few  other  white 
settlers,  who  had  conceived  the  project  of  obtaining  large 

tracts  of  territory  from  the  Indians  for  themselves — it  kept 
12* 


138  CHAP.    XII. — TRUMBTJLL. 

the  Colony  at  times  at  enormous  expense,*  and  in  a  state  of 
almost  perpetual  anxiety  and  suspense. 

Connecticut  claimed  the  lands  in  dispute  on  many 
grounds — by  conquest  from  the  Pequots — by  virtue  of  a 
deed  from  Uncas  in  1640 — of  another,  in  1660,  from  Major 
John  Mason,  her  own  commissioned  agent — by  numerous 
agreements  and  concessions  of  the  Indians  themselves — by 
two  general  acquittances  or  releases  to  the  Colony,  from  all 
charges,  by  Sachem  Ben  Uncas — by  long  possession,  admin 
istration,  and  use — and  particularly,  by  grants  from  the 
Colony,  as  of  acknowledged  right,  to  numerous  purchasers, 
six  or  seven  hundred  even  in  number,  some  of  whom  had 
settled  whole  townships,  and  whose  ejection  would  cause 
infinite  suffering. 

The  Mohegans,  on  the  other  hand — those  of  the  Mason 
party,  who  had  been  stimulated  by  white  men  interested  in 
prosecuting  the  title  against  the  Colony — claimed  that  there 
were  no  considerations,  or  but  trifling  or  fraudulent  ones,  for 
the  deeds  and  settlements  in  favor  of  the  Colony.  They 
claimed  that  they  had  never  sold  their  lands  in  mass  to  the 
Colony — that  Connecticut  had  been  unjust  and  cruel  towards 
them  in  depriving  them  of  their  favorite  Hunting-Grounds — 
that  Major  Mason's  surrendry  to  the  General  Court  merely 
gave  up  the  "jurisdictional  right,"  and  not  the  title  to  the 
soil — that  the  lands  in  fact  had  been  "trusted"  to  Mason  and 
his  descendants  for  the  sake  of  their  guardianship  of  the 
rights  of  the  Indians — and,  in  short,  that  they  were  a  free 
people,  entitled  as  such  to  all  the  rights  of  ownership,  use, 
and  sovereignty,  within  the  disputed  territory. 

Commissions  appointed  by  the  Crown,  sitting  now  at  Ston- 
ington,  and  now  at  Norwich,  Courts  of  Review,  and  Colonial 
Committees,  at  various  times  decided  on  these  rival  claims — 
once  in  1704,  through  Dudley's  Court,  and  by  an  outrageous 
ex  parte  proceeding,  against  the  Colony — again  in  1721,  in 
1738,  and  in  1743  particularly,  in  its  favor — but  with  con- 

*  "  What  I  at  present  most  regret  is  the  enormous  expense  that  attends  it  [the 
case,]  which  is  greatly  enhanced  by  these  unfortunate  delays,  and  exceeds  even 
all  I  could  have  imagined."—  W.  S.  Johnson  to  Trumbull,  from,  London,  Jun* 
1770. 


CHAP.    XII. — TRUMBULL.  139 

stant  appeals  to  the  Crown,  on  both  sides — the  Masons  and 
their  white  and  red  confederates  in  this  cause  generally  lead 
ing  the  way,  and  for  the  reason,  quite  apparent,  that  upon 
almost  every  trial  of  their  claims,  decisions  had  been  ren 
dered  against  them. 

An  appeal  of  this  sort,  made  by  the  Mason  party  against 
the  judgment  of  1743,  to  the  King's  Council,  and  freshly 
brought  before  the  Lord's  Commissioners  for  Plantations  in 
1766,  was  still  pending  when  Trumbull,  late  in  1769,  was 
advanced  to  the  gubernatorial  chair.  Upon  him,  therefore, 
principally,  as  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  Colony,  devolved 
the  duty  of  managing  the  case  in  its  behalf — of  collecting 
evidence  concerning  it — of  instructing  agents  both  at  home 
and  abroad — of  providing  funds  for  its  prosecution — of  sooth 
ing  discontented  opponents  within  the  Colony,  and  defeat 
ing  their  machinations,  in  connection  with  the  controversy, 
with  enemies  of  Connecticut  outside  of  its  limits — of  quiet 
ing  grantees  of  the  disputed  lands — and  of  conciliating  the 
Mohegans  themselves.  Upon  him  also  farther  devolved  the 
duty  of  defending  these  Indians  in  the  possession  of  such 
territory  as,  by  reservation,  was  clearly  their  own — and  of 
checking  their  quarrels  with  each  other,  and  their  feuds  also 
now  with  the  white  settlers  of  New  London,  now  of  Lyme, 
now  of  Norwich,  and  now  particularly  with  those  of  their  favor 
ite  Hunting-Grounds,  the  town  of  Colchester — whose  proprie 
tors,  the  Indians  alleged,  had  obtained  them  for  the  paltry  con 
sideration  of  five  or  six  shillings  only,  and  when  their  Sachem 
who  parted  with  them,  the  heedless  Oweneco,  was  drunk. 

Governor  Trumbull  was  remarkably  well  fitted  for  this 
task — both  for  the  argument,  and  for  the  conciliation  which 
it  required.  He  was  already  familiar  with  the  case,  and  with 
Indian  affairs  generally.  In  1766,  when  it  lay  by  appeal  be 
fore  the  Lord's  Commissioners  for  Plantations  in  England — 
with  Jabez  Huntington  for  a  colleague — he  had  then  been 
specially  employed  by  the  General  Assembly  to  "inquire  into 
it,  and  consider  what  was  best  to  be  done,"  either  by  the 
Colony,  or  by  those  who  possessed  the  disputed  lands — sixty- 
four  landholders  in  the  North  Parish  of  New  London,  one 
hundred  and  twelve  in  Colchester,  and  twenty-nine  in  Ne- 


140  CHAP.    XII. — TRUMBULL. 

hantic,  being  then  included  as  defendants,  in  the  appeal  of  the 
Mason  party  to  the  King.  And  he  then  gave  the  case  close 
attention — visited  the  Mohegan  Indians  in  person — examined 
their  claims — strove  to  soothe  their  discontents — collected 
testimony — and  reported  the  appointment  of  a  special  Agent, 
with  a  Committee  of  the  General  Assembly  to  assist  him, 
who  should  be  sent  to  England  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the 
regular  agent  of  the  Colony  there,  Kichard  Jackson,  "in 
preparing,  soliciting,  and  managing"  the  case.  And  Wm. 
Samuel  Johnson  was  accordingly  appointed. 

In  service  quite  similar,  seventeen  years  before,  in  1749, 
he  had  been  employed  by  the  Colony  with  the  Stonington 
Indians — to  determine  a  claim  to  controverted  lands.  And 
in  this  case,  perceiving  that  advantage  had  been  taken  of  the 
ignorance  and  poverty  of  the  Indians,  by  one  Isaac  Wheeler 
and  family,  to  do  them  wrong,  he  reported  that  the  former 
had  good  cause  for  complaint.  They  had  just  right,  he  af 
firmed,  to  use  and  improve,  and  keep  their  stock  upon  that 
reservation  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  acres  which  had  been 
assigned  to  them — and  a  guardian,  he  added,  ought  to  be  ap 
pointed  over  them  to  see  that  they  had  the  liberty  of  such 
improvements,  and  that  justice  should  be  done  them. 

So  again — in  May  of  that  same  year  in  which  he  was  ap 
pointed,  as  we  have  just  seen,  to  review  and  report  upon 
the  Mohegan  Case — he  was  also  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  the  Indians  of  Groton,  and  report  upon  griev 
ances  and  claims  which  they  also  had  presented  to  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly.  And  in  this  case  too  he  found  the  Indians, 
mainly,  in  the  right — and  reported  to  this  effect — that  they 
suffered  unjustly — that  their  lands  were  intruded  upon — that 
they  were  without  suitable  provision  for  schools  and  religious 
instruction — and  that  a  special  Committee,  with  money  in  their 
hands  from  the  Treasury,  ought  to  be  established  to  go  among 
them,  and  provide  for  their  relief,  and  for  their  christianization. 

So  again,  in  1769 — renewedly  upon  the  Mohegan  Case — 
Trumbull  was  appointed,  with  others,  to  visit  the  Indians  of 
this  tribe,  at  a  time  when  the  succession  to  their  sachemdom 
was  in  dispute.  He  was  to  acquaint  them  then  with  the  de 
cision  of  the  General  Assembly  in  favor  of  Isaiah  Uncas  for 


CHAP.    XII. — TRUMBULL.  141 

their  sagamore,  and  with  all  that  the  Colony  had  done  for  the 
first  Uncas  and  his  successors.  He  was  to  inform  them  of 
the  state  of  the  suit  then  prosecuting  in  England  by  John 
Mason,  and  with  the  releases  in  favor  of  the  Colony  which 
had  been  extended  by  the  first  Ben  Uncas  and  his  people. 
He  was  to  soothe  the  differences  which  agitated  the  tribe — 
procure  a  division  of  the  lands — and  "search  for,  procure, 
and  send"  to  England,  accompanied  with  such  suggestions  as 
himself  and  the  Committee  should  deem  proper,  all  papers  re 
lating  to  the  great  controversy  then  pending. 

How  he  executed  this  task  will  be  manifest  from  the 
following  letter,  which,  he  addressed  to  Wm.  Samuel 
Johnson,  the  special  agent  for  the  Colony,  in  London,  upon 
the  case. 

"  On  Monday  last,"  he  writes — "  Jabez  Hamlin,  and  William  Hillhouse 
Esqr .,  with  myself,  attended  at  Mohegan  by  direction  of  the  General 
Assembly,  to  inform  the  Indians  of  the  transactions  between  the  Gov 
ernor  and  Company  of  Connecticut,  and  the  principal  Sachems  of  the 
Mohegan  Indians ;  for  which  purpose  I  drew  up  the  inclosed  statement 
of  the  same,  with  the  transactions  with  Major  Mason,  and  with  others 
relative  to  Colchester,  Lyme,  and  the  land  lying  between  New  London 
and  Norwich — thereby  to  show  them  that  justice  and  kindness  done  by 
the  Colony  to  them,  from  the  first  coming  of  the  English  here  to  the 
present  time ;  to  mention  to  them  Uncas's  genealogical  account  of  him 
self,  by  which  it  appears  that  he  and  they  are  really  of  Pequot-blood,  the 
whole  land  conquered,  and  Uncas's  whole  right  conveyed  to  the  English 
Sep.  28th,  1640,  and  notwithstanding  that,  purchased  over  again  from 
Uncas  and  his  successors — a  sufficiency  of  planting  ground  being  re 
served  for  them — much  more  than  they  do,  or  even  can  at  present  im 
prove — so  that  a  considerable  quantity  is  leased  out  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Sachem  Family,  which,  if  they  were  able  to  improve  it  themselves,  they 
might  have. 

"  They  seemed  to  think  they  had  been  long  enough  under  Guardians, 
and  that  it  might  be  more  to  their  advantage  to  have  the  whole  divided 
among  them,  and  they  set  at  liberty  to  transact  for  themselves.  We  told 
them,  on  the  Government  way  of  transacting  with  them,  it  might  be  done 
on  application  to  the  Assembly ;  but  on  the  principles  they  were  most  of 
them  pursuing,  by  the  instrumentality  and  guardianship  of  Mason,  it 
could  never  be  done — for  that  by  the  Deed  of  Sequestration  and  Entail- 
ment  from  Major  Mason  of  9th  of  May  1671,  the  same  was  conveyed  to 
Uncas,  Oweneco,  and  Attawanhood,  and  their  heirs  and  successors  for 
ever  in  an  inalienable  form,  one-half  the  herbage  being  reserved  to  Ma- 


142  CHAP.    XII. — TRUMBULL. 

son,  and  if  that  took  place,  the  right  was  wholly  in  their  Sachem  and 
heirs. 

"  [We  told  them  also]  that  Isaiah  is  heir  in  the  line  from  Uncas  through 
his  son  Oweneco,  as  well  as  his  other  son  Major  Ben,  and  that  they  were 
contending  and  endeavoring  to  establish  that  which  would  operate  quite 
differently  from  their  inclinations  and  desires.  We  let  them  know  the 
Assembly  looked  on  Isaiah  as  the  now  right  heir — that  as  for  making  him 
Sachem,  or  as  they  called  it,  Government  Sachem  for  the  Mohegan  Indi 
ans,  there  was  no  such  intention — that  we  looked  on  them  as  subjects  of 
the  Crown  of  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  Colo 
ny — that  if  they  had  any  custom  of  their  own  which  they  chose  to  keep 
up  among  themselves,  the  Government  did  not  mean  to  hinder  them,  but 
that  at  the  same  time  the  Assembly  must  treat  Isaiah  as  the  legal  heir 
and  descendant  from  the  Sachems. 

"  We  advised  Isaiah  to  behave  in  a  decent  and  becoming  manner,  to 
avoid  all  evil  and  vicious  company,  promote  religion,  learning,  and  indus 
try,  avoid  the  common  failure  of  Indians  in  drinking  to  excess,  be  kind 
to,  and  provide  well  for  his  aged  grandmother,  his  mother-in-law,  and  the 
whole  family,  and  do  that  which  is  praiseworthy,  as  the  eyes  of  the  Eng 
lish,  as  well  as  of  his  own  people  the  Indians,  would  be  more  especially 
upon  him. 

"  We  spent  all  Tuesday,  and  the  greatest  part  of  Wednesday,  upon 
the  matter,  attended  by  Isaiah,  and  his  Council,  Zachary  Johnson,  Simon 
Choyehoy,  and  Noah  Uncas,  who  are  near  all  the  men  who  adhere  to  his 
interest.  There  is,  however,  a  more  considerable  number  of  squaws  and 
young  persons  that  are  his  adherents.  On  the  other  side  the  Indians  ap 
pointed  Samson  Occum,  Harvey  Quaquet,  and  Tuntoquegan,  a  Committee 
to  attend  us ;  who  appear  warmly  engaged  in  the  Mason  cause,  with 
their  prejudices  firmly  riveted.  Samson  said  our  proceedings  were  not 
well-timed — that  five  or  six  years  ago  he  was  indifferent,  and  would  have 
examined  the  state  of  the  case  on  the  part  of  the  Colony,  but  that  then 
it  was  not  thought  fit  to  bring  the  same  to  him.  Mason  had  brought  his 
papers,  and  left  them  with  him,  [he  said,]  and  he  had  examined  them, 
and  judged  the  cause  as  exhibited  by  him  to  be  right,  and  justice  to  lay 
on  that  side,  and  he  intended  to  promote  it.  It  was  therefore  now  out 
of  season  to  come  there  to  say  anything  upon  it. 

"  It  was  answered  that  he  was  not  known,  and  considered  as  a  person 
of  so  much  consequence,  as  that  the  Colony  must  look  up  to  him,  and 
deliver  him  their  papers  for  consideration,  and  that  if  he  was  minded  to 
know  the  whole  case,  and  judge  impartially  upon  it,  for  the  benefit  of 
himself  and  the  Indians,  it  was  his  duty  to  have  asked  the  Assembly  to 
give  him  a  knowledge  of  the  case.  However  we  came  to  inform  such  as 
were  willing  to  hear,  we  said,  but  that  it  did  not  answer  our  intentions 
to  be  heard  only  by  two  or  three,  who  were  zealously  engaged  in  the  in 
terest  of  Mason.  We  meant  to  have  all  hear  and  judge  for  themselves — 


CHAP.    XII. — TKUMBULL.  143 

that,  if  the  case  was  finally  determined  against  their  inclinations,  they 
should  have  no  reason  to  blame  the  Assembly  for  neglecting  a  thing  par 
ticularly  requested  by  Uncas,  which  was  that  his  successors  might  be 
informed,  and  have  these  things  mentioned  to  them — a  fit  time  for  doing 
which  was  now,  on  the  death  of  their  late  Sachem,  and  the  corning  for 
ward  of  a  young  heir.  The  influence  it  may  have  on  the  Indians,  who 
were  generally  present,  is  uncertain.  It  will  serve  to  enlighten  the  peo 
ple  present,  who  before  did  not  know  the  case.  I  believe  more  than  a 
thousand  people  attended  on  Tuesday,  many  out  of  curiosity  and  amuse 
ment — many  desirous  to  understand  the  cause — and  many  of  the  friends 
to  Mason  to  prevent  any  impressions  [the  interview]  might  have  on  the 
Indians.  Occum  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability.  I  think 
'tis  his  intention  to  raise  himself  to  be  King  and  High-Priest  among 
them. 

"  The  inclosed  will  bring  to  remembrance  things  fully  known  to  you. 
The  Genealogical  Draught  may  amuse.  The  territory  belonging  to  Un 
cas,  the  petty  Sachem  of  Mohegan,  lying  principally  in  the  town  of  Nor 
wich,  hath  not  been  mentioned.  The  Pequot  country  was  all  conquered. 
Uncas  was  a  Pequot.  His  territory  at  Mohegan  was  included  in  the  con 
quest.  He  by  his  deed  of  Sep.  28th,  1640,  gives  and  grants  all  his 
rights,  save  only  to  his  then  planted  ground.  Do  transactions  afterwards 
done,  tending  to  establish  the  English  claim,  absorb  and  destroy  such 
clear  and  absolute  rights  before  obtained  ? 

"  Fear  and  covetousness  in  some  laid  the  foundation  for,  and  insidious 
and  dark  designs  in  others  continue  to  support  and  keep  alive  this  troub 
lesome  and  tedious  litigation.  Oweneco,  in  1707,  did  revoke  and  disan 
nul  his  power  to  Capt.  John  Mason — says  he  was  deceived  by  him — that 
he  did  allow  no  one  but  himself  to  interpret — and  manifests  an  uneasi 
ness  with  Mason  for  contending  with  the  Colony — and  had  the  same  pub 
lished  at  Norwich  and  Stonington.  This  paper,  with  Oweneco's  Original 
Complaint,  is  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Richd  Palmes,  a  descendant  of  Major 
Palmes,  who  was  one  of  the  Commissioners  with  Gov.  Dudley.  He  en 
couraged  the  giving  the  same  into  the  hands  of  the  Government ;  but 
now  asks  £500  Lawful  Money  for  them — an  enormous  price — and  I  do 
not  see  any  great  service  they  can  be  of  at  this  time." 

This  letter  shows  that  Trumbull  was  fully  conversant  with 
the  Mohegan  ease,  and  had  been  employed  upon  it,  before 
he  came  into  office  as  Governor.  He  was,  therefore,  prepared 
to  prosecute  it  now  with  understanding  and  with  zeal.  His 
own  opinion  upon  its  merits,  long  formed,  was  one,  we  see, 
which — while  it  conceded  every  reasonable  and  humane  at 
tention  to  the  wants  and  wishes  of  the  Indians  themselves — 
yet — upon  all  the  grounds  that  had  been  long  taken  and 


144  CHAP.     XII. — TRUMBULL. 

maintained  by  the  Colony — vindicated  its  territorial  claim 
against  all  adversaries  in  the  case,  whether  white  men  or 
red. 

The  Appeal  of  1766,  from  one  cause  and  another — from 
indolence,  indifference,  neglect,  or  disinclination  on  the  part 
of  the  Council  in  England  that  was  to  try  it — or  from 
changes  and  ferments  in  the  British  Administration — or 
from  a  hope  that  the  parties  themselves  would  be  wearied 
out  with  the  contest,  and  abandon  it — spite  of  all  the  most 
assiduous  efforts  of  Jackson  and  Johnson  to  procure  a  hear 
ing,  had  been  postponed  from  time  to  time,  until — upon  that 
fresh  movement  in  1769  on  the  part  of  Trumbull  and  a 
Committee  of  the  General  Assembly,  to  which  we  have  just 
alluded — it  was  at  last,  in  January,  1770,  seriously  enter 
tained  by  the  Lords  in  Council — but  with  a  result,  upon  this 
trial,  by  no  means  favorable  to  Connecticut.  It  came  before 
the  Lords  upon  a  motion  to  dismiss  the  cause — upon  the 
ground  of  previous  judgments,  long  past  and  fairly  pro 
cured,  in  favor  of  the  Colony — of  long  acquiescence  in  the 
judgment  particularly  of  1743 — of  neglect  on  the  part  of 
the  Appellants  duly  to  prosecute — of  settlements  made  in 
good  faith  upon  the  disputed  lands,  which  it  would  be  most 
unjust  to  disturb — and  on  the  ground  also  of  much  adversary 
management  that  was  extraordinary,  abusive,  and  fraudulent. 

"  The  motion  for  dismission  of  the  Mohegan  case,"  wrote 
Johnson  to  Governor  Trumbull,  describing  the  result — "  was 
heard  a  few  days  ago,  and  decided  against  us.  The  Lords 
were  of  opinion  that  they  would  not  dismiss  it  on  motion, 
but  have  determined  to  hear  it  at  large  upon  its  merits,  as 
soon  as  possible.  "We  have  nothing  to  rely  upon  but  the 
justice  of  the  cause,  and  I  wish  it  may  have  fair  play.  If  it 
has,  I  am  persuaded  it  will  be  decided  in  our  favor." 

For  this  farther  hearing  of  the  case,  upon  its  merits,  Trum 
bull — neither  appalled  or  disheartened  by  the  untoward  re 
sult  just  mentioned — set  himself  and  the  Colony  diligently 
to  work.  He  at  once  commenced  a  more  active  correspond 
ence  about  it  than  ever  before,  with  both  the  Colonial  Agents 
in  England — stimulating  their  zeal  anew,  encouraging  their 
hopes,  and  sending  them  funds.  He  collected  fresh  evidence, 


CHAP.    XII. — TRUMBULL.  145 

and  sent  it  over.*  Upon  hearing  from  Jackson,  in  June, 
that  a  new  trial — postponed  already  once  in  April  preceding 
because  of  want  of  preparation  on  the  part  of  one  of  the 
Counsel  for  the  Appellants — was  again  postponed  on  account 
of  the  sickness  of  the  Attorney-General  of  England,  the 
leading  Counsel  for  the  Colony — he  at  once  communicated 
the  fact  to  the  General  Assembly,  upon  its  first  subsequent 
session  in  October,  and  renewedly  instigated  their  co-opera 
tion  in  procuring  additional  testimony  for  the  cause,  and  in 
pressing  the  trial  on  to  a  successful  close. 

"  The  last  petter]  from  Mr.  Agent  Jackson,"  he  proceeds,  addressing 
the  Legislature — "  informs  that,  unfortunately  for  him,  and  expensively 
for  the  Colony,  the  Appeal  of  the  Cause  of  the  Mohegan  Indians  against 
the  Colony  and  Terre-Tenants  on  the  Controverted  Lands,  was  opened 
on  the  part  of  the  Appellants.  The  Attorney- General  was  next  to  enter 
on  the  defence,  but  most  unhappily  before  the  day  appointed  for  it  ar 
rived,  was  taken  ill  with  the  gout — and  continued  to  grow  worse,  and  it 
being  concluded  neither  reasonable  nor  safe  to  proceed  without  him,  'tis 
most  probable  it  will  not  be  heard  till  after  the  long  Vacation,  which  will 
most  likely  bring  it  into  the  winter." 

And  the  Governor  goes  on  to  urge  an  "  early  considera 
tion  "  by  the  General  Assembly  of  "  several  things "  that 
appear  to  him  "material"  in  the  case — especially  the  prepa 
ration  and  transmission  to  London,  "without  delay,"  of  new 
letters  and  documents,  of  which,  he  says,  the  Colonial  Agents 
are  not  possessed — and  many  of  which,  he  adds — "  not  easily 
found" — in  his  own  "search  and  inquiry"  into  the  cause  he 
had  himself  secured — particularly  among  the  papers  left  by 
"the  late  Honorable  Governor  Wolcott."  And  in  this  con 
nection  he  takes  occasion  to  press  the  Assembly  to  provide 
that  not  only  these  documents,  but  that  "all  papers  and  files 
belonging  to  the  Colony,"  should  be  "  collected,  sorted,  and 
deposited,  in  a  proper  manner,  in  one  place  " — as  "  necessary 
for  the  Government,  and  for  use  on  all  future  occasions." 

*  "Should  we  be  driven  to  trial  on  the  merits  [of  the  Mohegan  Case,]  good 
use,  I  think,  may  be  made  of  the  Idea  of  Conquest  which  you  have  so  often  and 
BO  advantageously  mentioned. 

"I  observe  what  you  say  of  the  original  of  the  Mohegan  Cause,  and  shall  en 
deavor  to  make  some  good  use  of  that  hint."— Johnson  to  Trumbull. 
13 


146  CHAP.    XII. — TRUMBULL. 

Thus,  with  diligence  and  zeal,  did  Trumbull,  at  a  dark 
moment  in  the  progress  of  the  Mohegan  Controversy,  accu 
mulate  resources  of  defence  for  the  Counsel  in  England— four 
of  them  in  number,  two  for  the  Colony,  and  two  for  the 
Terre-Tenants — who,  besides  the  regular  agents  of  the  Col 
ony,  were  also  employed,  at  very  great  expense,  to  manage 
the  case.  Johnson's  letters  to  the  Governor  at  this  time  con 
stantly  acknowledge  the  receipt  from  his  hands  of  papers 
most  valuable  to  the  cause — down  even  to  a  day  or  two  only 
before  the  new  trial  came  on — and  when,  on  account  of  the 
lateness  of  their  arrival,  he  regretfully  expresses  a  doubt 
whether  he  shall  be  able  to  introduce  them  into  the  cause. 
The  chances  of  the  trial,  in  the  judgment  of  Johnson,  were 
against  the  Colony,  though  his  own  faith  in  the  justice  of  its 
title  was  ever  full  and  firm. 

Our  enemies  are  a  host,  he  frequently  wrote  to  Trumbull. 
They  are  "in  general,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  all  those 
who  are  enemies  to  the  liberties  of  America,  and  to  the  priv 
ileges  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut  in  particular — a  long,  a 
formidable,  and,"  he  adds,  "  a  d-t-s-ble  set."  The  strength 
of  our  adversaries,  he  continues,  "seems  to  be  in  their 
clamors  upon  the  ignorance,  the  poverty,  and  the  misery  of 
the  Indians,  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  power,  policy,  cun 
ning,  fraud,  and  impositions,  of  the  Colony  and  Landholders, 
on  the  other.  They  have  not  been  wanting  to  declaim 
loudly  on  these  topics,  and,  as  I  have  said,  to  add  to  them 
much  misrepresentation  and  abuse.*  Our  Counsel  are  pre 
pared,  however,  to  state  the  matter  in  a  very  different  light, 
and,  though  there  is  ground  enough  of  fear,  I  do  not  despair 
of  a  favorable  issue." 

That  "favorable  issue"  came.  The  long  night  of  sus 
pense,  which  for  now  seventy  years,  had  clouded  the  title  of 
Connecticut  to  near  eight  hundred  square  miles  of  territory 
within  its  own  colonial  limits,  was  at  last  dissolved.  Day 

*  Describing  to  Trumbull,  June  28th,  the  course  of  the  opposing  counsel  upon 
the  motion  for  a  dismissal  of  the  case,  Johnson  says  their  arguments  "were  long 
and  labored,  replete  with  the  most  illiberal  and  ill-founded  abuse  and  misrepre 
sentation  both  of  the  Colony  and  the  Landholders,  whom  they  represented  as  a 
set  of  the  greatest  cheats,  and  hypocrites,  and  deceivers,  that  the  world  ever 


CHAP.    XII. — TRUMBULL.  147 

broke  with  its  sunlight  upon  the  cause.  "  I  have  now  to  ac 
quaint  you,"  wrote  Johnson  to  Trumbull,  January  twelfth, 
1771 — "  that  the  hearing  of  the  Mohegan  cause  ended  yes 
terday."  It  was  joyful  news.  The  result  was  a  triumph  for 
the  Colony — and  a  triumph  particularly  for  that  Governor 
whose  zeal  in  the  cause  had  been  unremitting,  and  whose 
industry  indefatigable.'56'  "  To  his  knowledge  and  instruc 
tions,"  said  a  writer  of  the  day,  in  a  public  journalf — in 
just  compliment  to  his  services,  and  echoing  the  united  voice 
of  the  people  of  Connecticut — "  we  are  greatly  indebted  for 
the  successful  issue  of  the  long,  perplexing,  and  expensive 
Mason  or  Mohegan  Case." 

In  preparing  the  two  important  causes  upon  which  we 
have  now  dwelt — the  Susquehannah  and  the  Mohegan — 
Trumbull  consulted  very  closely,  upon  old  Colonial  history, 
the  Journal  of  Governor  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts,  as  well 
as  many  other  ancient  records — which  leads  us  to  speak  here 
farther  of  his  connection  not  only  with  this  invaluable  work 
by  the  Father  of  the  Old  Bay  Colony,  but  with  documentary 
history  generally. 

Here  he  was  emphatically  a  pioneer,  and  more  than  any 
man  of  his  day  contributed  to  the  preservation  of  valuable 
records.  The  first  two  books  of  Winthrop's  Journal — the 
only  ones  then  discovered,  and  which  he  had  borrowed  from 
the  elder  branch  of  the  Winthrop  family — he  proceeded  him 
self,  with  the  assistance  of  his  Secretary,  carefully  to  copy — 
and  subsequently — after  the  War — the  work  was  first  pub 
lished  to  the  world,  from  this  copy,  in  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
by  Elisha  Babcock — under  the  supervision  of  Noah  Web 
ster — in  one  octavo  volume  of  three  hundred  and  seventy 
pages.  In  his  Message  of  1770,  we  have  seen  him  calling  on 
the  General  Assembly  to  provide,  particularly,  for  the  safe 
keeping  of  the  public  documents.  In  1771,  he  was  specially 
authorized  by  the  General  Assembly  himself  to  collect  all 

**'!  had  very  particular  occasion  to  observe  everything  that  occurred  in  this 
case,"  said  Dr.  Johnson,  writing  William  Williams,  November  first,  1769 — and 
Trumbull  certainly  "  discovered  great  extent  of  knowledge  and  exact  attention. 
I  am  very  certain  the  Colony  and  the  Proprietors  of  the  land  are  much  indebted 
to  him  for  his  good  service." 

t  The  Connecticut  Courant. 


148  CHAP.    XII.  —  TRUMBULL. 

those  which  might  thereafter  in  any  way  affect  the  interests 
of  the  Colony,  and  "have  the  same  bound  together"  that 
they  might  be  preserved.*  This  task  he  proceeded  to  exe 
cute — and  then  it  was  that  he  began  that  collection,  which, 
with  the  addition  subsequently  of  most  important  Kevolu- 
tionary  Papers,  particularly  of  his  own  correspondence  with 
Congress,  and  General  Washington,  is  now  preserved — chro 
nologically  arranged,  well-bound,  and  furnished  with  con 
venient  indexes,  in  a  mass  of  twenty-one  volumes — in  the 
Library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  As  has 
been  justly  remarked,  these  volumes — known  as  the  "  Trum- 
bull  Papers'1'1 — "constitute  an  invaluable  treasure  for  history, 
and  show,  most  conclusively,  the  high  estimation  in  which 
the  old  Governor  of  Connecticut  was  held  for  ability,  patriot 
ism,  and  incorruptible  integrity." 

In  addition  to  what  has  now  been  stated,  and  by  way  of 
illustrating  his  interest  in  statistical  inquiry,  it  should  be 
mentioned  here,  that  in  1773,  he  undertook  himself,  and  ac 
complished  the  task  of  replying,  in  detail,  to  the  customary 
queries  of  the  British  Board  of  Trade  in  regard  to  the  re 
sources,  population,  institutions,  and  whole  public  economy  of 

*  Silas  Deane  was  one  among  the  citizens  of  Connecticut  who  warmly  encour 
aged  this  preservation  of  State  records.  In  August,  1774,  writing  to  Trumbull 
for  the  loan  of  his  extracts  from  Winthrop's  Diary,  and  Custom  House  statistics, 
for  use  in  Congress,  he  says :  "  Before  I  dismiss  this  subject,  on  which  you  must 
excuse  my  freedom,  give  me  leave  to  suggest  to  your  Honor  whether  it  may  not 
be  a  seasonable  step  to  lay  before  the  next  Assembly  the  propriety  and  even  ne 
cessity  of  preserving  accounts,  and  the  history  of  transactions  of  this  kind,  in 
some  public  office,  for  our  own  as  well  as  the  information  of  posterity.  The 
Office  Letters  to  and  from  the  Governor,  and  the  Journal  of  the  House,  are  of 
more  importance  in  my  view,  and  will  hereafter  be  more  relied  on  when  a  refer 
ence  is  made  to  the  sense  of  former  times  on  any  subject,  than  all  the  other  rec 
ords  put  together ;  yet  neither  of  these  are  preserved  in  any  office,  nor  indeed 
anywhere  else  that  I  can  find ;  at  least,  they  are  in  private  cabinets ;  but  much 
the  greater  part  have  been  long  since  used  for  wrappers ;  and  several  important 
letters  to  and  from  the  late  Governor  Saltonstall,  have  been  sent  me  by  the  fam 
ily  round  garden  seeds,  and  the  like ;  letters  that  would  not  only  do  honor  to 
him,  but  prove  of  service  to  the  Colony  were  they  preserved ;  and  surely  we,  as 
well  as  our  posterity,  have  a  right  to  these  letters  and  journals.  We  have,  as  I 
may  say,  a  property  in  them,  being  written  by  persons  in  our  employment,  and 
on  our  account." 

"At  your  request,"  wrote  Trumbull  in  reply — "I  have  enclosed  my  Extracts 
from  Gov.  Winthrop's  Manuscript  History.  The  sense  of  our  predecessors  ap 
pears  fully  from  many  things  I  send.  It  is  matter  of  regret  that  so  many  useful 
papers  are  lost." 


CHAP.    XII. — TRUMBULL.  149 

Connecticut — a  task  which  he  executed  with  great  accuracy, 
and  the  result  of  which,  in  six  hundred  printed  copies,  was  by 
order  of  the  General  Assembly  distributed  to  the  various 
towns  in  the  Colony.  In  after  years  again — in  1778  particu 
larly — he  rendered  cheerful  and  important  aid  to  Mr.  Haz 
ard  in  collecting  his  valuable  State  Papers  in  relation  to  the 
origin  and  progress  of  the  various  European  settlements  in 
North  America,  and  to  the  rise  of  the  Kevolutionary  War. 
Investigations  such  as  those  now  described  were  always  pe 
culiarly  pleasing  to  Trumbull — and  of  course  contributed 
much  towards  storing  his  mind  with  knowledge,  and  fashion 
ing  it  to  that  exactitude  for  which  it  was  ever  remarkable. 


13* 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
1770—1775. 

A  CRISIS  in  the  issues  "bet-ween  Great  Britain  and  the  Colonies.  Trum- 
"bull,  in  consequence,  proclaims  a  day  of  Fasting  and  Prayer,  and 
doubles  the  military  stores  of  the  Colony.  Correspondence  between 
Gen.  Gage  and  Trumbull  in  reference  to  one  Thomas  Green,  a  Boston 
tory,  who  had  "been  severely  handled  in  Connecticut.  Cases  of  other 
disaffected  persons,  Abijah  Willard,  Dr.  Beebe,  and  two  Ridgfield 
tories,  in  connection  -with  Trumbull.  Trumbull  and  the  first  Conti 
nental  Congress.  His  zeal  in  fostering  it.  His  opinion  of  its  measures 
He  diligently  prepares  his  own  people  for  the  emergency  of  war.  He 
issues  a  Proclamation  against  riotous  demonstrations.  The  famous 
Peters  riot,  as  officially  described  by  the  Governor.  Such  disturb 
ances  not  as  yet  common  in  Connecticut.  Episcopalians  not  under  the 
ban  of  public  opinion,  as  sometimes  charged.  Trumbull  a  tolera- 
tionist.  His  Christian  character  described  The  non-importation 
scheme,  and  his  activity  in  promoting  it.  His  son  John  in  revolution 
ary  and  educational  connection  with  the  parent.  The  father's  taste 
and  views  with  regard  to  the  art  of  painting.  Both  sire  and  son  are 
ready  for  the  "Revolutionary  Future. 

WITH  the  exception  of  Trumbull's  ordinary  Proclamations 
for  Fasts — which  were  in  general  well  composed,  and  in  a 
strain,  usually,  highly  devotional — we  find  nothing  farther 
to  note  particularly*  in  his  public  career  until  we  reach  the 
spring  of  1774,  at  which  period  his  connection  with  Revolu 
tionary  matters  again  begins — and  to  this  period,  therefore, 
we  now  turn  the  attention  of  our  Readers. 

By  this  time  the  issues  between  Great  Britain  and  her  Col 
onies  had  reached  a  crisis.  The  obnoxious  tea  had  been 
thrown  into  Boston  harbor.  British  vengeance,  in  conse 
quence,  had  concocted  the  Boston  Port  Bill — had  struck,  by 
legislative  Act,  at  the  Charter  and  Government  of  Massachu 
setts — had  provided  by  another  Act  for  the  trial,  in  a  foreign 
venue,  of  all  supporters  of  the  American  Revenue  System, 
whose  arraignment  might  happen  in  the  Colonies — and  had 
erected  a  dangerous  co-terminous  tyranny  in  the  Province  of 

*  Save,  perhaps,  a  Proclamation,  in  the  third  year  of  his  gubernatorial  duty, 
prohibiting,  on  account  of  great  scarcity,  the  exportation  from  the  Colony,  for 
twelve  months,  of  all  grains. 


1774—1775.  CHAP.    XIII.— TRUMBULL.  151 

Quebec.  These  fatal  contrivances  were  now  all  impending 
over  America — but  over  America,  fortunately,  prepared  in 
good  degree  for  the  danger.  For  by  this  time  Samuel  Adams, 
in  Massachusetts,  had  systemized  the  Eevolution,  through 
Committees  for  all  the  towns — and  the  Old  Dominion,  through 
its  Committee  for  Correspondence,  began  to  do  the  same  for 
the  continent..  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  Hamp 
shire,  followed  the  precedent — so  that  all  New  England  and 
Virginia  "  were  now  one  political  body,  with  an  organization 
inchoate,  yet  so  perfect,  that,  on  the  first  emergency,  they 
could  convene  a  Congress  " — and  "  every  other  Colony  was 
sure  to  follow  the  example." 

The  first  recorded  evidence  on  the  part  of  Connecticut, 
that  indicated  the  general  peril,  was  a  proclamation  by  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  in  May,  1774 — which — after  reciting  "the 
threatening  aspect  of  Divine  Providence  on  the  Liberties  of 
the  People,  and  the  dangers  they  were  menaced  with" — en 
joined  a  day  of  public  Fasting  and  Prayer. 

This  Proclamation  was  soon  followed  by  an  order  to  all 
the  towns  to  double  the  quantity  of  their  powder,  balls,  and 
flints — and  also  by  a  series  of  Resolutions,  on  the  part  of 
Connecticut — which,  after  rehearsing  the  measures  of  the 
British  Parliament  that  bore  on  America,  denounced  them  as 
usurpations  that  placed  life,  liberty,  and  property,  in  every 
English  Colony,  at  utter  hazard — and  proclaimed  it  as  the 
indispensable  duty,  and  unalterable  determination  of  the  Col 
onists  to  maintain  and  transmit  their  rights  entire  and  invio 
late  to  the  latest  generation.  These  Resolutions — of  which 
there  is  some  reason  to  believe  Trumbull  himself  was  the 
author,  but  which,  nevertheless,  met  with  his  hearty  sup 
port — form,  in  the  year  1774 — together  with  the  Proclama 
tion  to  which  we  have  just  referred,  and  the  Order  doubling 
colonial  defence — his  fitting  introduction  at  this  time  upon 
the  stage  of  Revolutionary  action.* 

We  next  hear  of  him,  particularly,  in  connection  with 
General  Gage — who,  in  May  1774,  sent  him  a  formal  notifi 
cation  of  his  own  appointment  to  the  gubernatorial  chair  of 

*  See  these  Kesolutions  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


152  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  1774—1775. 

Massachusetts,  and  expressed  his  readiness  to  co-operate  with 
the  Governor  of  Connecticut  "for  the  good  of  his  Majesty's 
service."  Upon  this  co-operation  Gage,  it  appears,  made  an 
immediate  requisition — by  urging  Trumbull  to  apprehend 
and  bring  to  trial  certain  persons  in  Windham  and  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  who,  it  seems,  had  pelted  and  driven  from  their 
towns — with  threats  of  "  exaltation  on  a  cart  "* — one  Francis 
Green  of  Boston,  a  somewhat  noted  merchant  of  that  city, 
but  a  highly  obnoxious  loyalist — "one  of  that  insidious 
crew,"  as  the  Journals  of  the  day  express  it,  "  who  fabricated 
and  signed  the  adulatory  address  to  strengthen  the  hands  of 
that  parricidal  tool  of  despotism,"  Thomas  Hutchinson. 
General  Gage  transmitted  long  affidavits — particularizing  the 
offence.  I  have  inquired  into  Mr.  Green's  complaint,  wrote 
Trumbull  in  reply — and  "  find  that  others  put  a  very  differ 
ent  face  on  the  transaction.  Full  provision  is  made  by  law 
for  such  offences,  and  Mr.  Green  may  there  obtain  the  satis 
faction  his  cause  may  merit."  And  this  was  all  the  consola 
tion  that  Gage  received  in  the  case  from  the  unsympathizing, 
and,  as  he  doubtless  thought,  disloyal  Governor  of  Con 
necticut. 

It  was  no  moment  just  then,  as  it  happened,  for  Trumbull 
to  interfere  in  a  transaction  like  that  described — for  at  this 
time  the  fatal  First  of  June  arrived — day  when  the  Boston 
Port  Bill  was  to  take  effect — and  the  bells  of  the  Governor's 
own  native  town — in  tones  strangely  unfitted  to  attune  either 
the  sense  of  loyalty  to  his  Majesty  the  King,  or  the  duty  of 
co-operation  with  one  of  his  minions — began  early  to  toll  a 
solemn  peal — and  so  continued  the  whole  day.  The  door  of 
the  Town  House  was  hung  with  black,  and  thereto  the  Port 
Bill  was  affixed.  The  shops  in  the  village  were  all  shut  and 
silent.  Their  windows  were  covered  with  black,  and  with 
other  ensignia  of  distress — and  gathering  from  every  quar 
ter — "upon  short  notice" — the  freeholders  of  Lebanon  list 
ened  to  the  reading  of  the  noted  Bill — and  in  spirited  Keso- 

*  A  horse  and  cart  with  high  scaffolding,  did  in  fact  make  their  appearance  at 
Norwich,  before  the  eyes  of  the  astounded  Mr.  Green.  On  his  return  to  Boston, 
he  offered  one  hundred  dollars  reward  for  the  apprehension  "  of  any  of  the  ruffi 
ans  who  had  forced  him  to  leave  Windham  and  Norwich." 


1774—1775.  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  153 

lutions,  denounced  it  as  an  outrageous  invasion  of  human 
liberty.  Trumbull's  eye  was  thus  on  proceedings  different 
far  from  those  which  would  tend  to  nurture  the  thought  of 
giving  satisfaction  either  to  Mr.  Green — or  to  any  other 
known  defender  of  tyranny. 

Another  such  an  one — to  whose  case  Trumbull's  attention 
was  called — soon  came,  it  seems,  into  Connecticut — like 
Green,  to  fulfil  some  important  private  business  of  his  own. 
It  was  one  Colonel  Abijah  Willard — a  Massachusetts  tory, 
and  a  member  of  General  Gage's  new  Council.  Two  of  his 
attorneys,  who  lived  at  Windham,  met  him  at  Union — and, 
looking  upon  him  as  a  traitor,  refused  any  longer  to  act  in 
his  service — and  the  people  of  that  region,  one  night,  rose — 
seized  and  confined  him  for  awhile — and  then  carried  him 
over  to  Brimfield  in  Massachusetts.  There  "the  Provincial 
People  " — four  hundred  in  number,  who  had  assembled  upon 
news  of  his  arrest — called  a  Council — decided  that  he  should 
be  imprisoned  in  Newgate,  at  Simsbury  in  Connecticut — and 
set  off  to  conduct  him  thither.  But  after  they  had  proceeded 
six  miles  on  their  way — upon  his  asking  forgiveness  of  "all 
honest,  worthy  gentlemen  "  for  the  offence  he  had  commit 
ted,  and  taking  an  oath  that  he  would  never  sit  in  Gage's 
Council,  and  would  maintain  the  Charter  rights  and  liberties 
of  Massachusetts,  they  consented  to  dismiss  him.  Trumbull's 
interposition  in  this  affair  was  solicited — but,  if  it  came  at 
all — as  does  not  appear  to  have  been  the  case — it  came  alto 
gether  too  late  to  save  the  captive  from  the  fate  which  he 
experienced. 

Nor  did  Dr.  Beebe,  an  obnoxious  tory  of  East  Haddam, 
Connecticut,  fare  any  better — not  indeed  so  well — for  certain 
inhabitants  of  this  town,  after  calling  upon  the  Doctor,  and 
being  refused  any  satisfaction  whatever  of  their  demands, 
proceeded  to  give  him  what  they  styled  "  a  new  fashionable 
dress  " — a  complete  coat  of  tar  and  feathers.  The  indignant 
Doctor,  naturally  enough,  thirsted  to  prosecute  his  assail 
ants — and  at  once,  therefore,  applied  to  Trumbull  for  his 
advice,  and  for  a  precept  in  the  case.  "  I  believe  if  you 
grant  one,"  wrote  General  Joseph  Spencer  to  the  Governor 
at  the  time — "  it  will  not  be  executed  to  any  advantage  with- 


154  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  1774—1775. 

out  force  from  abroad  to  govern  our  people ;  for  although 
the  rough  measures,  lately  taken  place  with  us,  are  contrary 
to  my  mind,  yet  I  am  not  able  to  prevent  it  at  present." 
The  particular  satisfaction,  therefore,  which  Beebe  desired, 
seems  not  to  have  been  obtained. 

Nor  again,  did  two  tory  inhabitants  of  Ridgefield,  Con 
necticut,  who  at  Wethersfield  denounced  the  doings  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  were  in  consequence  drummed 
out  of  the  town,  fare  any  better  than  the  British  adherents 
already  mentioned,  in  the  way  of  securing  Trumbull's  inter 
position,  or  satisfaction  from  the  State.  They  used  language, 
it  appears,  in  a  public  house  at  Wethersfield,  which  was  con 
sidered  by  "  a  party  of  gentlemen  "  who  heard  it,  as  "  a  di 
rect  breach  of  the  Association  of  the  said  Congress  " — and 
consequently,  "properly  escorted,"  were  "set  off,  at  nine 
o'clock,  the  way  from  which  they  came" — amidst  the  groans 
and  hisses  of  "a  respectable  concourse  of  people,"  who  fol 
lowed  them  out  of  town,  beating  a  dead  march.  That  "  all 
honest  and  true  men  to  their  country  might  know  and  avoid" 
these  offenders,  proper  persons  were  appointed  to  attend 
them  as  far  as  Farmington  on  their  return,  and  there  "ac 
quaint  the  inhabitants  with  their  behaviour,"  says  the  orig 
inal  account  of  the  transaction,  "  and  leave  them  to  their 
further  transportation,  as  is  usual,  and  as  by  law  is  provided 
in  cases  of  strolling  ideots,  lunatics,  &c" — "As  no  one  of 
their  principles,"  exclaimed  the  people  of  Wethersfield  upon 
this  occasion,  "  is  supposed  to  be  an  inhabitant  of  this  Town, 
it  shall  be  our  care  and  attention  that  no  such  shall  be  here 
after  tolerated  within  it ! " 

It  was  not  possible  for  the  Governor,  just  at  this  juncture 
of  ferment — when  public  sentiment  against  tories  ran  so 
high — to  stay  entirely  the  "rough  measures"  against  them 
that  were  adopted,  everywhere  almost  over  Connecticut — 
though  he  disapproved  of  violence  and  riot,  and  so  expressed 
himself— and  though,  moved  at  last  by  the  frequent  recur 
rence  of  scenes  like  those  we  have  described,  he  charged  the 
magistrates  and  civil  officers  of  the  Colony — through  a 
Proclamation  issued  for  the  purpose — "to  respectively  use 
their  authority,  and  influence,  to  preserve  peace  and  good 


1774— m5.  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  155 

order,  and  to  promote  a  reformation  of  every  evil,  that  the 
good  end  proposed  in  the  laws  might  be  attained."  It  is  no 
small  testimony  to  the  depth  and  enthusiasm  of  patriotic 
feeling  in  Connecticut  at  this  period,  that  it  overflowed,  not 
unfrequently,  with  severity,  upon  all  those  who  attempted  to 
withstand  its  course — and  defied  restraint,  even  when  its 
waywardness  seemed  to  require  it,  from  the  arm  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  State. 

While  thus  engaged  in  preserving  the  good  order  of  the 
Colony,  Trumbull  was  also  busy  in  another  important  direc 
tion — in  fostering  the  Continental  Congress.  With  the  prog 
ress  and  results  of  that  first  Convention — in  September, 
1774 — of  all  the  Colonies,  to  take  into  solemn  consideration 
American  rights  and  grievances — none,  save  some  of  its 
members,  and  a  few  leading  patriots,  perhaps,  in  Massachu 
setts  and  Virginia,  had  more  to  do  than  himself  He  cher 
ished  it  as  a  project  which  the  exigencies  of  the  country  ab 
solutely  demanded — as  one  that  no  fears  of  parliamentary  or 
ministerial  resentment  or  prohibition  ought  to  prevent,  or 
should  affect — as  one,  he  hoped  and  prayed  most  fervently, 
that  might  lead  to  a  reconciliation  of  difficulties,  and,  by  the 
force  of  a  wise,  earnest,  combined,  and  entire  American 
movement,  might  curb  the  grasping  temper  of  Great  Britain, 
and  stay  her  hand  of  violence. 

With  its  members  from  Connecticut — Dyer,  Sherman,  and 
Deane — he  was  personally  intimate — and  both  with  them, 
and  with  the  President  of  the  Congress,  and  with  many 
other  members  whom  he  knew,  kept  up  an  active  corres 
pondence  during  the  whole  time  that  the  National  Body  was 
in  session.  He  informed  them  of  the  state  of  public  feeling, 
particularly  in  Connecticut.  He  warned  them  against  any 
hesitation  or  delicacy  in  affirming  the  public  rights.  He 
suggested  sentiments  and  measures  for  the  general  defence. 
He  furnished  facts  and  documents  for  consideration.  He 
stimulated  fervent  appeals  to  the  British  Throne,  the  British 
People,  and  to  the  Colonies  at  home,  both  those  within  and 
those  without  the  American  combination — and,  in  general, 
counselled  a  course  of  manly  and  patriotic  resistance  to 
British  aggression. 


156  CHAP.     XIII. — TRUMBULL.  1774—1775. 

Many  a  fragment  among  his  own  Papers — many  references 
among  the  papers  of  others — show  that  such  was  Trumbull's 
course.  They  show  also  that  after  the  First  Congress  had 
achieved  its  purposes,  and  given  to  the  world  those  docu 
ments  which  have  immortalized  its  session,*  no  man  in  the 
country  received  them  with  more  gratification,  or  took  them 
more  profoundly  to  his  head  and  heart.  To  the  appeals 
therein  made — by  men  who  "  for  solidity  of  reasoning,  force 
of  sagacity,  wisdom  of  conclusion,  manly  spirit,  sublime  sen 
timents  " — who  "for  everything  respectable  and  honora 
ble" — are  pronounced  by  the  great  Earl  of  Chatham  himself 
as  "shining  unrivalled" — Trumbull  gave  every  circulation 
in  his  power.  He  commended  them  to  universal  attention. 
He  sustained  them  by  correspondence  and  by  conversation, 
and  in  this  way  aided  materially  to  infuse  their  patriotic 
spirit,  and  their  resistless  reasoning,  into  the  souls  of  his 
countrymen. 

How  far  he  believed  in  their  eventual  efficacy — or  rather, 
whether  like  many  other  leading  men  of  the  day — like 
Eichard  Henry  Lee,  and  even  George  Washington,  for  ex 
ample — he  had  confidence  that  they  would  operate  as  a  per 
fect  remedy — is  matter  of  some  uncertainty.  That  he  relied 
much  upon  them,  however,  is  obvious.  His  strong  hope,  if 
nothing  else,  begat  such  a  reliance.  Yet  from  many  little 
hints  with  which  we  are  furnished,  we  are  inclined  to  believe 
that  if  ever  in  the  case,  in  any  degree,  he  was  over-san 
guine — and  events  proved  that  all  who  surely  trusted  in 
reconciliation  were  so — he  early  abandoned  the  feeling. 
With  John  Adams  and  Patrick  Henry — men  who  never 
were  convinced  that  the  measures  of  the  Congress  would 
succeed — he  soon  began  to  think  "the  die  was  cast,  the  Ku- 
bicon  passed,"  and  that  the  contest  must  be  decided  by  force. 
With  the  foreboding  Quincy,  he  soon  "  looked  to  his  coun 
trymen  with  the  feelings  of  one  who  verily  believed  that 
they  must  yet  seal  their  faith  and  constancy  to  their  liberties 
with  blood." 

*  The  Declaration  of  Eights— the  Address  to  the  Throne— the  Address  to  the 
People  of  Great  Britain— that  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Colonies— and  that  to  the 
Inhabitants  of  Quebec. 


1774—  m5.  CHAP.    XIII. — TKUMBULL.  157 

Certain  it  is  that  at  this  very  time,  he  was  exceedingly 
busy  in  doubling  munitions  of  war  for  the  Colony,  and  in 
procuring — in  conjunction  with  his  son  Joseph — "early  as 
possible" — a  supply  of  ammunition.  Certain  it  is  that  at 
this  time  he  was  doing  all  in  his  power — by  discouraging 
every  disorder  in  the  Colony,  and  promoting  a  sober  frame 
of  mind — to  fit  the  people  with  that  moral  force  of  convic 
tion  which  would  enable  them  to  meet  the  public  exigency 
in  a  manner  the  most  resolute — was  striving  to  impart  to 
them  even  a  devotional  exaltation  of  purpose — such  almost 
as  characterized  the  old  soldiers  of  Cromwell  in  the  Common 
wealth  days  of  England — that  they  might  go  forth  to  bat 
tle — if  go  they  must — panoplied  by  the  God  of  Armies. 

"  Whereas,"  he  says,  under  the  influence  of  this  spirit  and 
purpose — in  a  Proclamation  issued  by  him  in  December 
1774,  for  suppressing  vice,  immorality,  and  all  riotous  dem 
onstrations — "whereas  the  threatening  aspect  of  Divine 
Providence  on  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  People,  and  the 
dangers  impending  over  us,  are  solemn  warnings  and  admo 
nitions  to  reform  all  the  many  sins  and  iniquities  found 
among  us,  which  are  highly  provoking  to  God,  and  reproach 
ful  to  a  people" — let  the  authority  of  magistrates,  therefore, 
he  proceeds  to  enjoin,  and  the  example  and  influence  of  all, 
be  directed  to  preserve  good  order  and  peace,  and  to  promote 
a  speedy  reformation  of  every  evil.  After  this  manner  did 
Trumbull  stimulate  his  people  to  conduct  that  should  be  ex 
emplary,  and  arm  them  with  the  victorious  sense  of  religious 
duty. 

Among  the  "riotous  demonstrations"  to  which,  in  the 
Proclamation  now  cited,  he  more  particularly  refers,  were 
those  which  at  this  time  occurred  in  connection  with  the  fa 
mous  case  of  Eev.  Mr.  Peters — a  loyalist  Episcopal  Clergy 
man  of  Hebron,  Connecticut — whose  house  and  person,  on 
account  of  his  obnoxious  political  conduct,  had  been  attacked, 
and  treated  somewhat  roughly.  Of  this  case  Trumbull,  by 
special  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly,  was  soon  desired 
to  prepare  a  statement,  in  order  to  obviate  any  misrepresent 
ations  concerning  it  that  Peters  might  make  in  England,  to 
the  prejudice  of  Connecticut.  This  statement,  in  the  hand- 


158  CHAP.    XIII. —  TKUMBULL.  1774—1775. 

writing  of  the  Governor,  we  have  found  among  his  Papers — 
and  we  here  subjoin  it,  both  on  account  of  the  source  from 
which  it  emanates,  and  of  its  intrinsic  interest.  It  is  dated 
Lebanon,  December  twenty-sixth,  1774,  and  though  without 
address  on  the  face  of  the  Paper,  was  doubtless  designed  for 
the  Agent  of  Connecticut  in  England. 

"  I  am  desired  by  our  General  Assembly,"  proceeds  the  Governor — "  to 
prepare  a  general  State  of  the  Transactions  relative  to  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Peters,  of  his  application  to  me,  and  what  passed  between  us  upon  that 
occasion ;  and  to  transmit  the  same  to  you,  to  be  used  as  you  shall  find 
expedient,  to  obviate  any  misrepresentations  that  the  said  Peters  may 
make  or  exhibit  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Colony,  and  to  acquaint  you  that 
the  intelligence  transmitted  to  you,  may  and  will  be  supported  by  affi 
davits  and  full  proof,  if  there  should  be  occasion  for  it. 

"In  pursuance  thereof  I  have  prepared  and  send  you  the  following 
general  state  of  the  transactions,  his  application  to  me,  and  what  passed 
between  us,  which  you  will  use  accordingly,  to  obviate  and  prevent  the 
mischievous  operation  of  any  misrepresentations  or  accusations  that  the 
said  Peters  may  make  or  exhibit  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Colony.  These 
facts,  if  there  is  occasion  for  it,  will  be  fully  supported  by  affidavits  and 
undoubted  proof. 

"  Capt.  John  Peters  of  Hebron,  brother  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  Peters  of 
the  same  town,  did  report  in  the  hearing  of  sundry  persons,  that  his 
brother,  the  said  Samuel,  had  wrote  at  sundry  times,  and  then  had  let 
ters  prepared  to  be  sent  home  to  England,  by  the  way  of  New  York,  big 
with  reflections  on  this  Colony,  and  an  account  of  the  measures  this  and 
the  neighboring  Colonies  were  taking  to  obtain  a  redress  for  their  griev 
ances,  occasioned  by  the  present  system  of  Colony  administration,  and 
some  late  acts  of  the  British  Parliament. 

"  This  report  spread  in  Hebron  and  the  neighboring  towns — which 
moved  near  three  hundred  persons,  who  met,  without  any  arms,  early  on 
the  15th  day  of  August  last,  and  went  to  Mr.  Peters'  house,  civilly  to  en 
quire  of  him  concerning  the  matter  reported  of  him.  They  made  choice 
of  a  number  of  their  company  to  wait  upon  him  at  his  door,  and  inform 
him  of  the  reason  of  their  coming,  and  to  enquire  of  him  on  that  sub 
ject,  the  residue  remaining  in  the  street.  Those  who  were  chosen  went 
to  his  door.  He  asked  them  to  walk  in.  When  they  entered,  they  in 
formed  him  of  their  appointment  and  business  with  him.  Mr.  Peters  ap 
peared  very  frank,  and  free  to  inform  them  concerning  the  rise  and  mat 
ter  of  said  report,  and  solemnly  declared  he  neither  had  nor  ever  would 
write  home  to  any  person  in  England  touching  the  present  disputes  and 
differences  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Colonies.  This  declaration 
and  his  engagement  was  at  that  time  satisfactory  to  all  present.  Not  the 


1774—1775.  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  159 

least  affront  or  injury  was  offered  or  done  to  his  person  or  property.  On 
parting  he  tendered  them  his  thanks  for  their  kind  treatment. 

"Mr.  Peters  continued  after  the  close  conference  to  use  his  endeavors 
to  instil  and  propagate  sentiments  subversive  of  the  civil  constitutional 
rights  of  this  Colony,  and  to  stir  up  contention  and  discord  among  the 
people.  On  the  sixth  of  September  last,  near  three  hundred  persons, 
without  arms,  met  near  his  house  to  treat  with  him  on  these  practices. 

"When  they  came  to  Mr.  Peters'  house,  they  found  it  full  of  persons 
said  to  be  armed.  One  Capt.  Marsh  came  out  and  said  Mr.  Peters  de 
sired  the  people  to  choose  a  committee  to  converse  with  him — which  was 
done,  and  about  ten  persons  chosen  for  that  end  went  into  his  house,  and 
informed  him  of  their  business,  and  enquired  if  the  people  with  him  were 
furnished  with  arms.  Mr.  Peters  declared  there  were  no  arms  in  his 
house  except  one  or  two  old  guns  out  of  repair. 

"A  conversation  ensued  between  him  and  the  Committee.  Mr.  Peters 
endeavored  to  show  there  was  no  duty  laid,  without  our  consent,  on  the 
article  of  tea,  because,  he  said,  no  man  was  obliged  to  buy,  and  when 
any  one  bought  it,  he  consented  to  pay  the  tax,  and  no  duty  could  be 
had,  if  no  man  purchased  it. 

u  After  the  Committee  had  conversed  with  him  some  time,  without  re 
ceiving  any  satisfaction,  they  desired  him  to  go  out  to  the  men  who  were 
in  the  street — perhaps  he  could  convince  them  that  he  was  in  the  right. 
On  his  request  they  gave  him  an  assurance  that  he  should  return  into  his 
house  safe,  without  abuse.  Upon  which  Mr.  Peters  went  out,  and  was 
advantageously  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  men  who  had  convened.  In 
a  short  time  a  gun  was  discharged  in  the  house — which  much  alarmed 
and  exasperated  the  men  around  present.  Eight  or  ten  were  immedi 
ately  sent  into  the  house,  to  find  the  reason,  and  whether  any  arms  or 
weapons  of  death  were  there.  They  found  several  guns  and  pistols, 
loaded  with  powder  and  ball,  some  swords,  and  about  two  dozen  heavy 
sticks  or  clubs — and  that  the  gun,  charged  with  two  balls,  was  said  by 
the  men  in  the  house  to  be  discharged  by  accident.  They  soon  cleared 
the  house  of  all  the  men  found  therein,  and  set  men  at  each  door  to  pre 
vent  danger  and  damage.  Upon  this  Mr.  Peters  finished  his  discourse-  - 
which  gave  no  satisfaction. 

"  The  Committee  were  desired  to  return  with  him  into  his  house,  they 
to  draw  an  acknowledgment  for  him  to  subscribe  and  make,  and  he  to 
draw  up  such  as  would  suit  himself. 

"  When  this  was  done,  on  the  like  assurance  as  above,  Mr.  Peters  and 
the  Committee  went  out  to  the  people.  He  read  what  he  had  written, 
which  was  unanimously  rejected;  then  that  drawn  by  the  Committee 
was  read,  and  approved.  Mr.  Peters  refused  to  sign  and  acknowledge  it. 
He  was  safely  returned  into  his  house.  Many  persuasions  were  then 
used  with  him  to  induce  him  to  make  the  acknowledgment  proposed,  till 
the  men  abroad  grew  impatient  and  weary  of  delay,  rushed  into  the 


160  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  1774—1775. 

house,  broke  some  squares  in  the  lower  part  of  one  window,  overturned 
a  table,  and  broke  a  bowl  and  glass  on  it.  They  laid  hold  of  Mr.  Peters, 
and  in  this  scuffle  his  gown  and  shirt  were  somewhat  rent,  and  they 
brought  him  out  at  the  door,  placed  him  on  a  saddle  horse,  and  went 
with  him  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  to  the  usual  place  of  parade  in 
Hebron,  After  some  further  conversation  on  the  subject,  Mr.  Peters  read 
what  was  drawn  for  his  acknowledgment,  with  an  audible  voice,  in  the 
hearing  of  the  company,  and  signed  it.  Three  cheers  were  then  given, 
and  all  dispersed. 

"  The  persons  chosen  to  confer  with  Mr.  Peters,  to  the  utmost  of  their 
power  calmed  and  moderated  the  minds  of  the  people  present,  who  were 
greatly  distressed  and  irritated  by  the  discharge  of  the  gun,  the  prepara 
tion  of  arms  and  clubs,  and  his  other  conduct  so  grievous  to  them. 

"  Mr.  Peters'  religious  sentiments,  his  being  a  member  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  a  clergyman,  were  not  the  reasons  of  these  transactions. 
Some  men  who  were  present  were  of  the  same  denomination,  and  dis 
satisfied  with  him  as  well  as  the  others.  Had  he  been  of  any  other  de 
nomination  in  religious  sentiments,  his  treatment  would  doubtless  have 
been  the  same." 

Disturbance  peculiar  as  that  of  which  Trumbull  thus  gives 
an  authentic  account,  was  as  yet  rare  in  Connecticut.  The 
time  had  not  come  for  Captain  Sears  to  parade  the  destined 
first  Episcopal  bishop  of  the  United  States,  escorted  by  a 
rough  and  fierce-looking  crowd,  through  the  streets  of  New- 
haven.*  Nor  yet,  for  "  wishing  well  to  the  mother  country," 
had  a  Committee  of  Inspection  "  put  on  the  limits  "  the  first 
Episcopal  clergyman  of  ancient  Woodbury.f  Nor  had  the 
compassionate  Trumbull  yet  occasion  to  extend  the  charity 
of  a  permit  to  relieve  Fairfield's  Episcopal  rector — the  Eev. 
John  Sayre — from  imprisonment  and  a  guard  at  New  Britain. 
Nor — though  a  few  instances  of  severity  towards  the  minis 
ters  of  the  Church  of  England,  striking  from  the  position 
and  character  of  the  suffering  parties,  occurred  in  Connecti 
cut,  after  the  case  of  Peters — was  Episcopacy  ever,  in  fact, 
exposed,  as  has  been  sometimes  wrongfully  asserted,  to  a 
general  trial  and  condemnation  at  the  bar  of  a  patriotic  pub 
lic  opinion.  The  testimony  of  Governor  Trumbull  himself 
on  this  point — that  the  sentiments  and  profession  of  Mr. 
Peters  as  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England  had  nothing 

*  Bishop  Seabury.        fRev.  John  R.  Marshall. 


1774—1775.  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  161 

to  do  with  his  treatment  on  the  occasion  described — that  men 
were  present  aiding  and  abetting  who  were  of  the  same  de 
nomination  with  the  preacher — and  that  his  treatment  would 
have  been  the  same  had  he  been  of  any  other  persuasion — is 
here  of  great  weight. 

Certainly,  so  far  as  the  Governor  himself  is  concerned,  his 
own  views  on  the  great  matter  of  religious  toleration,  were 
highly  liberal.  Though  an  exact  Congregationalist,  and  a 
singularly  devout  Puritan — and  though  his  convictions  in 
favor  of  his  own  particular  faith  were  most  profound,  and  his 
pious  observances  most  punctual  and  exact — he  was  ever 
charitable  towards  the  "  Mother-Church,"  and  in  no  respect 
did  he  interfere  to  resist  its  worship,  or  aid  in  its  opprobrium, 
by  countenancing  force.*  Though  he  could  not  bear  the 
idea — somewhat  prevalent  in  his  day — of  civil  obedience  and 
submission  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  as  resulting  from  an 
acknowledgment  of  his  spiritual  supremacy,  yet  his  instincts 
of  freedom,  civil  and  religious,  were  such — so  strong,  so  con 
sistent,  and  so  enlarged — that  he  gave  latitude  to  all  con 
sciences  in  the  matter  of  ecclesiastical  faith  and  practice,  save 
to  that  faith,  which,  as  in  the  case  of  Adamites  and  Roger- 
enes,  led  inevitably  to  the  disturbance  of  the  public  peace. 
Beneath  an  exterior,  which,  to  the  eye  of  some  observers,  at 
times  wore  an  air  of  devotional  sternness,  he  bore  a  heart  full 
of  liberality.  His  own,  more  than  that  of  most  Puritans  of 
his  day,  was  the  broad  and  beautiful  Christian  charity  of  that 
first  noble  patron  of  the  new  churches  in  America — the  elder 
Governor  John  Winthrop. 

During  the  month  in  which  he  reported  the  popular  dem 
onstrations  against  Peters,  he  was  engaged  in  another  duty 
which  deserves  mention  here,  and  which  closes,  for  the  year 
1774,  his  public  career.  He  was  engaged  in  enforcing  that 
celebrated  "Association"  which  was  organized  by  the  first 
Continental  Congress,  for  the  defence,  in  a  commercial  form, 
of  American  rights — and  which,  so  far  as  its  non-importation 

*  His  family  Bible — still  extant,  and  in  the  possession  of  Hon.  Joseph  Trum- 
Dull  of  Hartford — contains  in  full  the  "Book  of  Common  Prayer."  It  was 
printed  at  Oxford,  England,  in  1752,  and  was  purchased  by  Trumbull  the  year 
after  its  publication. 

14* 


162  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  1774—1775. 

feature  is  concerned,  was  to  take  effect  on  the  first  of  Decem 
ber  of  the  year  now  under  consideration. 

By  far  the  largest  portion  of  the  citizens  of  Connecticut,  it 
is  true,  were  prepared  for  this  measure — nay  entered  into  it 
heartily — and  made  its  enforcement  the  special  duty  of  their 
Committees  of  Inspection.  The  people  who  at  the  beginning 
of  the  previous  September — upon  a  bare  report  that  British 
ships  were  cannonading  Boston,  and  British  soldiers  slaugh 
tering  its  inhabitants — started  forth,  twenty  thousand  strong, 
for  the  doomed  city — simultaneously  as  if  some  gigantic 
warder  had  blown  a  "war-note,  long  and  loud,"  that  reached 
at  once  from  the  shores  of  Long  Island  to  the  Hills  of  Berk 
shire — a  people,  thus  alert  for  freedom,  were  not  those  to 
withstand  any  plan  for  self-defence  submitted  to  them  by  the 
patriot  counsellors  convened  at  Philadelphia.  But  yet  the 
plan  was  to  be  first  circulated  and  understood.  It  was  to  be 
made  palatable  to  some  few  who  in  Connecticut  as  elsewhere, 
from  motives  of  loyalty  to  the  King,  or  of  fear,  did  not 
warmly  espouse  the  American  cause.  A  thorough  organiza 
tion  was  required  for  its  enforcement,  and  some  towns  had 
not  yet  appointed  their  Committees  of  Inspection.  Appeal 
was  to  be  made  to  instincts  of  hope  and  patriotism  for  its 
rigid  observance. 

To  effect  these  purposes,  Trumbull  was  active — both  be 
cause  of  his  position  as  Chief  Magistrate,  and  because,  at  the 
outset,  he  had  warmly  concurred  with  the  American  Con 
gress  in  recommending  the  non-importation  scheme — not  so 
much  on  account  of  any  overweening  confidence,  however, 
in  its  efficacy,  as  in  consequence  of  his  conviction  that  every 
peaceable  measure  for  redress  of  grievances  should  be  tried, 
ere  resort  was  had  to  that  last  terrible  trial  which  stakes 
men's  lives. 

So  passed  'with  the  Governor  of  Connecticut,  the  last 
month  of  that  last  year,  which,  in  the  great  [Revolutionary 
Struggle  preceded  the  clash  of  arms. 

And  now,  ere  we  lift  the  black  curtain  of  War — for  we 
stand  close  upon  the  blood-stained  Green  of  Lexington — let 
us  turn,  in  Trumbull's  private  life,  to  contemplate  a  peaceful 
scene.  A  son  of  his  own — his  youngest — whose  experience 


1774—1775.  CHAP.    XIII. — TEUMBULL.  163 

within  the  period  now  under  consideration  in  many  points 
illustrates  the  sire— is  about,  in  his  company,  to  step  out,  a 
youthful  hero,  upon  the  stage  of  Eevolutionary  action.  Let 
us  glance  then  here  at  a  few  points  in  his  preliminary  career. 

We  left  him  joining  Harvard  College,  a  remarkable  profi 
cient,  in  the  middle  of  the  third  or  Junior  year.  It  was 
against  his  own  wish,  however,  at  the  time,  that  he  joined — 
not  that  he  loved  College  less,  but  because  he  loved  art 
more — that  art  of  which  he  describes  himself  as  catching  the 
contagion  from  the  pictures  in  oil  of  his  sister  Faith,  and 
which  he  practiced  first  in  the  sand  on  the  floor  of  his  moth 
er's  parlor.  He  wished  to  study  painting  under  the  instruc 
tion  of  Mr.  Copley,  who  then  lived  at  Boston,  and  was  of 
high  reputation  as  an  artist.  The  expense  of  his  support 
there,  he  told  his  father,  would  be  no  greater  than  at  College, 
and  would  be  attended  with  the  advantage  of  his  possessing 
a  profession  at  the  end  of  his  apprenticeship,  and  the  means 
not  only  of  supporting  himself,  but  perhaps  of  assisting  the 
family,  at  least  of  aiding  his  sisters.  "  The  argument,"  he 
says,  "  seemed  to  me  not  bad ;  but  my  father  had  not  the  same 
veneration  for  the  fine  arts  that  I  had,  and  hoped  to  see  me  a 
distinguished  member  of  one  of  the  learned  professions,  di 
vinity  in  preference.  I  was  overruled." 

So  to  College  John  went — and  from  thence — having  stud 
ied,  meanwhile,  Hogarth's  "Analysis  of  Beauty,"  and  Brook 
Taylor's  "  Prospective  made  easy,"  almost  as  much  as  the 
regular  academical  horn-books,  and  having  devoured  Cop 
ley's  pictures  and  the  engravings  in  the  College  Library, 
copying  many — he  returned  to  the  family  mansion. 

"  Not  long  after,"  he  says,  "  a  letter  came  by  the  post,  and  was  first 
put  into  the  hands  of  my  father.  He  brought  it  to  me,  and  said,  '  John, 
here  is  a  letter  which  I  cannot  read  ;  I  suppose  it  must  be  for  you ;  what 
language  is  it  ?  ' — '  Oh  yes,  Sir,  it  is  from  my  friend  Robichaud — it  is 
French,  Sir.' — 'What,  do  you  understand  French!  How  did  you  learn 
it?  I  did  not  know  that  it  was  taught  in  college.' — '  It  is  not,  Sir,  but  I 
learned  it  in  this  gentleman's  family.' — 'And  how  did  you  pay  the  ex 
pense?  You  never  asked  me  for  extra  allowance.'-—'  No,  Sir  ;  I  pinched 
my  other  expenses,  and  paid  this  out  of  my  pocket  money.'  My  father 
was  very  much  pleased,  and  soon  after  proposed  to  me  to  study  Spanish." 


164  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  1774—1775. 

The  son  suggests,  it  will  be  observed,  that  his  father  "had 
not  the  same  veneration"  with  himself  "for  the  fine  arts." 
This  is  true,  but  chiefly  under  one  aspect  only — that  of  their 
availability,  in  his  day,  as  a  means  of  support.  Under  other 
aspects — as  a  source  of  pleasure — often  of  instruction — as 
often  conveying  solid  meanings  to  the  understanding,  and 
rich  moral  lessons  to  the  heart — he  estimated  them  highly. 
He  was,  for  example,  one  among  the  very  first  to  subscribe 
for  those  early  first  prints  illustrating  the  Battle  of  Bunker 
Hill,  and  the  Death  of  Montgomery. — And  afterwards,  when 
his  son  had  gone  abroad  to  perfect  himself  in  his  art,  he 
wrote  him  words  of  earnest  encouragement — solicited  in  his 
favor  the  friendship  of  influential  men  in  England,  and  re 
joiced  over  his  ultimate  success.  But  at  this  early  period  in 
his  son's  career,  when  the  public  had,  comparatively  speak 
ing,  no  taste  for  the  arts,  and  there  was  no  market  at  home 
for  the  products  either  of  the  painter's  easel,  or  the  sculptor's 
chisel — when  Connecticut,  as  he  afterwards  remarked,  was 
"  not  Athens  " — he  did  not  think  it  good  policy  for  his  son  to 
cherish  a  pursuit,  which,  as  it  seemed  to  him,  did  not  bid  fair 
to  be  remunerative. 

"  I  find  he  has  a  natural  genius  and  disposition  for  lim 
ning,"  wrote  President  Kneeland  of  Harvard  College,  in  re 
gard  to  the  son,  who  was  then  at  Cambridge.  "As  a  knowl 
edge  of  that  art  will  probably  be  of  no  use  to  him,  I  submit 
to  your  consideration  whether  it  would  not  be  best  to  en 
deavor  to  give  him  a  turn  to  the  study  of  perspective,  a 
branch  of  mathematics,  the  knowledge  of  which  will  be  at 
least  a  genteel  accomplishment,  and  may  be  greatly  useful  in 
future  life." — "  I  am  sensible  of  his  natural  genius  and  inclin 
ation  for  limning,"  said  Trumbull  in  reply — '"an  art  which 
I  have  frequently  told  him  will  be  of  no  use  to  him.  I  have 
mentioned  to  him  the  study  of  the  mathematics,  and  among 
other  branches,  that  of  perspective,  hoping  to  bring  on  a  new 
habit  and  turn  ol  his  mind.  I  direct  him  to  diligence  in  his 
studies,  and  application  to  the  various  branches  of  learning 
taught  in  college.  Please  to  afford  him  your  advice  and 
assistance  on  every  needful  occasion." 

All  was  of  no  avail.    Genius — that  "  Light  Divine  " — was 


1774—1775.  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  165 

in  the  younger  Trumbull,  and  no  libation  of  cool  advice 
could  quench  it.  The  kingdom  of  this  Western  World, 
within  his  own  domain  of  art,  was  destined  uto  fall  in  his 
lap."  Keturning  home  from  College,  he  postponed,  but 
never  surrendered  his  purpose  of  training  himself  as  a  paint 
er.  He  postponed  it  because,  first,  his  warm  attachment  to 
his  "  excellent  friend,  Master  Tisdale,"  prompted  him  for 
awhile — when  the  latter  was  entirely  disabled  by  a  stroke  of 
paralysis — to  take  his  place  as  teacher — and  next  because 
the  swelling  difficulties  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Colo 
nies  warmed  his  imagination  with  the  thought  of  becoming 
a  soldier. 

As  the  angry  discussions  increased,  "  I  caught  the  growing  enthusi 
asm,"  he  writes.  "  The  characters  of  Brutus,  of  Paulus  Emilius,  of  the 
two  Scipios,  were  fresh  in  my  remembrance,  and  their  devoted  patriotism 
always  before  my  eye ;  besides,  my  father  was  now  governor  of  the  col 
ony,  and  a  patriot — of  course  surrounded  by  patriots,  to  whose  ardent 
conversation  I  listened  daily — it  would  have  been  strange  if  all  this  had 
failed  to  produce  its  natural  effect  I  sought  for  military  information  ; 
acquired  what  knowledge  I  could,  soon  formed  a  small  company  from 
among  the  young  men  of  the  school  and  the  village,  taught  them,  or 
more  properly  we  taught  each  other,  to  use  the  musket  and  to  march, 
and  military  exercises  and  studies  became  the  favorite  occupation  of  the 
day." 

Thus  side  by  side — the  spirit  of  the  younger  kindled  by 
sparks  caught  from  the  central  fire  of  patriotism  in  the 
bosom  of  the  elder — and  by  concentring  flames  from  the 
hearts  of  co-patriots  rendered  daily  more  and  more  glow 
ing — thus  father  and  son  ripened  for  the  battle-fields  of  the 
American  Revolution. 

NOTE. 

The  Eesolutions  to  which  reference  is  made  on  page  151,  are  as  follows — from 
the  eleventh  volume,  page  284-5,  of  the  Colony  Records  : — 

"By  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  English  Colony  of  Connecticut,  held 
on  the  second  Thursday  of  May,  1774. 

"  This  House,  taking  into  consideration  sundry  acts  of  the  British  Parliament, 
in  which  the  power  and  right  to  impose  duties  and  taxes  upon  his  Majesty's  sub 
jects  in  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America,  for  the  purpose  of  rais 
ing  a  revenue  only,  are  declared,  attempted  to  be  exercised,  and  in  various  ways 
enforced  and  carried  into  execution,  and  especially  a  very  late  act  in  which  pains 
and  penalties  are  inflicted  on  the  Capital  of  a  neighboring  province  ;  a  precedent 
alarming  to  every  British  colony  in  America  and  which,  being  admitted  and  es- 


166  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  1774—1775. 

tablished,  their  lives,  liberties  and  property  are  at  the  mercy  of  a  tribunal  where 
innocence  may  be  punished,  upon  the  accusation  and  evidence  of  wicked  men, 
without  defence,  and  without  knowing  its  accusers ;  a  precedent  calculated  to 
terrify  them  into  silence  and  submission,  whilst  they  are  stripped  of  their  inval 
uable  rights  and  liberties — do  think  it  expedient,  and  their  duty  at  this  time,  to 
renew  their  claim  to  the  rights,  privileges  and  immunities  of  free-born  English 
men,  to  which  they  are  justly  entitled,  by  the  laws  of  nature,  by  the  royal  grant 
and  charter  of  his  late  Majesty  King  Charles  the  Second,  and  by  long  and  unin 
terrupted  possession — and  thereupon — 

"Do  Declare  and  Resolve  as  follows,  to  wit: — In  the  first  place,  We  do  most 
expressly  declare,  recognize  and  acknowledge  his  Majesty  king  George  the  Third 
to  be  the  lawful  and  rightful  king  of  Great  Britain,  and  all  other  his  dominions 
and  countries  ;  and  that  it  is  the  indispensable  duty  of  the  people  of  this  coun 
try,  as  being  part  of  his  Majesty's  dominion,  always  to  bear  faithful  and  true  al 
legiance  to  his  Majesty,  and  him  to  defend  to  the  utmost  of  their  power  against 
all  attempts  upon  his  person,  crown  and  dignity. 

"  2d.  That  the  subjects  of  his  Majesty  in  this  colony  ever  have  had,  and  of 
right  ought  to  have  and  enjoy  all  the  liberties,  immunities,  and  privileges  of  free 
and  natural  born  subjects  within  any  of  the  dominions  of  our  said  king,  his 
heirs  and  successors,  to  all  intents,  constructions  and  purposes  whatsoever,  as 
fully  and  amply  as  if  they  and  every  one  of  them  were  born  within  the  realm  of 
England ;  that  they  have  a  property  in  their  own  estates,  and  are  to  be  taxed  by 
their  -own  consent  only,  given  in  person  or  by  their  representatives,  and  are  not 
to  be  disseized  of  their  liberties  or  free  customs,  sentenced  or  condemned,  but 
by  lawful  judgment  of  their  peers,  and  that  the  said  rights  and  immunities  are 
recognized  and  confirmed  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony  by  the  royal  grant  and 
charter  aforesaid,  and  are  their  undoubted  right  to  all  intents,  constructions  and 
purposes  whatsoever. 

"3d.  That  the  only  lawful  representatives  of  the  freemen  of  this  colony,  are 
the  persons  they  elect  to  serve  as  members  of  the  General  Assembly  thereof. 

"4th.  That  it  is  the  just  right  and  privilege  of  his  Majesty's  liege  subjects  of 
this  colony  to  be  governed  by  their  General  Assembly  in  the  article  of  taxing 
and  internal  policy,  agreeable  to  the  powers  and  privileges  recognized  and  con 
firmed  in  the  royal  charter  aforesaid,  which  they  have  enjoyed  for  more  than  a 
century  past,  and  have  neither  forfeited,  nor  surrendered,  but  the  same  have 
been  constantly  recognized  by  the  king  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain. 

"  5th.  That  the  erecting  new  and  annual  courts  of  admiralty,  and  vesting  them 
with  extraordinary  powers,  above  and  not  subject  to  the  common  law  courts  of 
this  colony,  to  judge  and  determine  in  suits  relating  to  the  duties  and  forfeitures 
contained  in  said  acts,  foreign  to  the  accustomed  and  established  jurisdiction  of 
the  former  courts  of  admiralty  in  America,  is,  in  the  opinion  of  this  House, 
highly  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  his  Majesty's  American  subjects,  contrary  to 
the  great  charter  of  English  liberty,  and  destructive  of  one  of  their  most  darling 
rights — that  of  trial  by  jury — which  is  justly  esteemed  one  chief  excellence  of  the 
British  constitution,  and  a  principal  landmark  of  English  liberty. 

"  6th.  That  the  apprehending  and  carrying  persons  beyond  the  sea  to  be  tried 
for  any  crime  alleged  to  be  committed  within  this  colony,  or  subjecting  them  to 
be  tried  by  commissioners,  or  any  court  constituted  by  act  of  Parliament  or  oth 
erwise  within  this  colony,  in  a  summary  manner  without  a  jury,  is  unconstitu 
tional  and  subversive  of  the  liberties  and  rights  of  the  free  subjects  of  this  colony. 

"  7th.  That  any  harbor  or  port  duly  opened  and  constituted,  cannot  be  shut  up 
and  discharged  but  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  the  province  or  colony  in 
which  such  port  or  harbor  is  situated,  without  subverting  the  rights  and  liberties 
and  destroying  the  property  of  his  Majesty's  subjects. 


17Y4— m6.  CHAP.    XIII. — TRUMBULL.  167 

"  8th.  That  the  late  net  of  Parliament  inflicting  pains  and  penalties  on  the 
town  of  Boston,  by  blocking  up  their  harbor,  is  a  precedent  justly  alarming  to 
the  British  colonies  in  America,  and  wholly  inconsistent  with,  and  subversive  of, 
their  constitutional  rights  and  privileges. 

"  9th.  That  whenever  his  Majesty's  service  shall  require  the  aid  of  the  inhab 
itants  of  this  colony,  the  same  fixed  principles  of  loyalty,  as  well  as  self-preserva 
tion,  which  have  hitherto  induced  us  fully  to  comply  with  his  Majesty's  requisi 
tions,  together  with  the  deep  sense  we  have  of  its  being  our  indispensable  duty, 
in  the  opinion  of  this  House,  will  ever  hold  us  under  the  strongest  obligations 
which  can  be  given  or  desired,  most  cheerfully  to  grant  his  Majesty,  from  time 
to  time,  our  further  proportion  of  men  and  money  for  the  defence,  protection,  se 
curity  and  other  services  of  the  British  American  dominions. 

"  10th.  That  we  look  upon  the  well-being  and  greatest  security  of  this  colony 
to  depend  (under  God)  on  our  connexion  with  Great  Britain,  which,  it  is  ardently 
hoped,  may  continue  to  the  latest  posterity.  And  that  it  is  the  humble  opinion 
of  this  House  that  the  constitution  of  this  colony  being  understood  and  practiced 
upon,  as  it  has  ever  since  it  existed  until  very  lately,  is  the  secret  bond  of  union, 
confidence  and  mutual  prosperity  of  our  mother-country  and  us,  and  the  best 
foundation  on  which  to  build  the  good  of  the  whole,  whether  considered  in  a 
civil,  military,  or  mercantile  light,  and  of  the  truth  of  this  opinion  we  are  the 
more  confident,  as  it  is  not  founded  on  speculation  only,  but  has  been  verified  in 
fact,  and  by  long  experience  found  to  produce,  according  to  our  extent  and  other 
circumstances,  as  many  loyal,  virtuous  and  well-governed  subjects  as  any  part 
of  his  Majesty's  dominions,  and  as  truly  zealous,  and  as  warmly  engaged  to  pro 
mote  the  best  good  and  real  glory  of  the  grand  whole  which  constitutes  the 
British  empire. 

"  llth.  That  it  is  an  indispensable  duty  which  we  owe  to  our  king,  our  coun 
try,  ourselves,  and  our  posterity,  by  all  lawful  ways  and  means  in  our  power,  to 
maintain,  defend,  and  preserve  these  our  rights  and  liberties,  and  to  transmit 
them  entire  and  inviolate  to  the  latest  generation — and  that  it  is  our  fixed  deter 
mination  and  unalterable  resolution  faithfully  to  discharge  this  our  duty. 

"  In  the  Lower  House — 

"  The  foregoing  Resolutions  being  read  distinctly  three  several  times  and 
considered,  were  voted  and  passed  with  great  unanimity. — And  it  is  further 
voted  and  requested  by  the  House,  that  the  same  be  entered  on  the  Eecords,  and 
remain  in  the  File  of  the  General  Assembly  of  this  Colony. 

"  Test,  WILLIAM  WILLIAMS,  Clerk  H.  R. 

"  In  the  Upper  House — 

"  The  consideration  of  the  request  of  the  Lower  House,  that  the  aforesaid 
Resolutions  should  be  entered  on  the  Records  of  the  Assembly,  &c.,  is  referred 
to  the  General  Assembly  to  be  holden  at  New-Haven,  on  the  second  Thursday 
of  October  next. 

"Test,  GEORGE  WYLLYS,  Secretary. 

44  General  Assembly,  on  the  second  Thursday  of  October,  A.  D.  1774. 

"  In  the  Upper  House — 

"  On  further  consideration,  &c.,  it  is  agreed  and  consented  to  that  the 
foregoing  Resolutions,  according  to  the  request  of  the  Lower  House,  be  entered 
on  the  Record,  and  remain  on  the  File  of  the  General  Assembly  of  this  colony. 
"Test,  GEORGE  WYLLYS,  Secretary." 


C  HAPTER    XIV. 
1775. 

STATE  of  public  affaira  in  the  -winter  and  spring  of  1775  The  Earl  of 
Dartmouth's  Circular  to  the  Colonies,  forbidding  a  second  American 
Congress.  Trumbull  long  on  terms  of  friendly  and  useful  correspond 
ence  -with  the  Earl.  He  strongly  advocates  the  forbidden  Congress. 
A  letter  from  his  pen  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  on  the  grievances  of 
Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  of  the  Colonies  in  general.  He  re 
peats  the  sentiments  of  this  letter  in  another  to  Thomas  Life,  Agent 
for  Connecticut  in  England.  At  Norwich  he  first  hears  of  the  Battle 
of  Lexington.  His  conduct  in  consequence.  Upon  receiving  a  circum 
stantial  account,  he  transmits  the  same  to  Congress,  and  communi 
cates  it  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut.  The  duty,  in  con 
sequence,  devolved  on  him.  By  order  of  the  Assembly,  he  addresses 
Gen.  Gage.  His  letter.  Gage's  reply.  The  Massachusetts  Provincial 
Congress  is  alarmed  at  this  correspondence,  and  remonstrates.  No 
ground  for  this  alarm.  It  is  soon,  through  Trumbull  and  others, 
dissipated 

THE  year  1775 — the  first  of  the  War — shows  Trumbull 
in  all  those  striking  lights  in  which  we  fain  would  view  him 
— as  workman,  patriot,  counsellor,  and  guide.  We  shall 
dwell  upon  it,  therefore,  with  particularity. 

The  winter  and  spring  of  this  year,  as  is  familiar,  brought 
no  relief  to  the  oppressed  American  Colonies,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  more  and  more  darkened  their  prospects.  In 
vain  did  the  great  Earl  of  Chatham  plead  for  the  removal  of 
the  troops  from  Boston,  and  for  the  trial  of  the  Ameri 
can  cause  uin  the  spirit,  and  by  the  laws  of  freedom  and  fair 
enquiry,  and  not  by  codes  of  blood" — in  vain  press  his 
favorite  bill  for  rescinding  all  the  obnoxious  measures  against 
the  Colonies,  and  for  restoring  them  to  their  ancient  liberties. 
In  vain  the  unexpected  Conciliatory  Bill  of  Lord  North — 
that  "infallible  touchstone,"  as  he  called  it,  "to  try  the  sin 
cerity  of  the  Americans."  In  vain  the  promising  plans  of 
reconciliation  presented  to  the  House  of  Commons  by  Mr. 
Burke  and*  Mr.  Hartley.  In  vain  the  long  and  secret  negoti 
ations  of  the  British  Ministry— through  Barclay,  and  Dr. 


1775.  CHAP.    XIV. — TRUMBULL.  169 

Fothergill,  and  Lord  Howe,  with  Dr.  Franklin — for  a  settle 
ment  of  differences.  In  vain  the  petitions  of  the  City  of 
London,  and  other  commercial  towns  in  England,  in  favor  of 
America — in  vain  all  the  humble  supplications  of  three  mil 
lions  of  American  people.  The  die  with  England  was  cast. 
Obduracy  ruled. 

Every  measure  for  reconciliation,  except  on  terms  of 
slavery,  was  thrust  aside.  A  joint  address  to  the  King  on 
American  affairs,  assured  his  Majesty  of  the  determination  of 
Parliament  never  to  relinquish  its  sovereign  authority  over 
the  Colonies — urged  him  to  take  the  most  effectual  measures 
for  enforcing  it — promised  him  ample  support,  at  the  hazard 
of  life  and  property — pronounced  Massachusetts  in  a  state  of 
rebellion — declared  the  Americans  generally,  incapable  of 
military  discipline  or  exertion — and  engaged,  with  but  a 
trifling  armament,  to  bring  them  back  at  once  to  their  allegi 
ance  and  their  duty. 

Accordingly,  King  and  Parliament  went  on  increasing 
their  forces  by  sea  and  land — and  prohibited — first  refractory 
New  England — and  then  all  the  Colonies — from  the  use  of 
the  ocean  fisheries,  and  bound  their  trade,  within  narrowest 
limits,  down  to  themselves — expecting  in  this  way  to  starve 
them  into  obedience  and  submission.  And  one  of  his  Maj 
esty's  principal  Secretaries  of  State  fulminated  a  Circular  to 
the  Governors  of  all  the  Colonies,  commanding  them  each,  in 
the  King's  name,  to  stop  the  choice  of  Deputies  to  a  second 
American  Congress,  and  "  exhort  all  persons  to  desist  from 
such  unwarrantable  proceedings." 

How  now  did  Trumbull  receive  this  notification  ?  This 
question  brings  us  directly  on  his  track. 

He  received  it,  as  might  be  expected — civilly — for  the  Earl 
of  Dartmouth,  Secretary  for  America,  and  himself,  upon  all 
matters  save  those  which  involved  the  fundamental  interests 
of  the  Colonies,  were  friends.  Like  Joseph  Eeed,  President 
of  Pennsylvania — and  with  similar  good  judgment,  good 
temper,  and  fidelity  of  statement — Trumbull,  in  a  confiden 
tial  intercourse  that  was  long  continued,  wrote  the  Secretary 
frequently,  pleading  for  his  country,  and  warning  against  the 
consequences  of  the  ministerial  policy.  He  disclosed  to  him 

15 


170  CHAP.    XIV. — TRUMBULL. 


1175. 


the  actual  condition  and  spirit  of  the  Colonies.  He  coun 
selled  the  removal  of  commercial  restrictions.  He  guarded 
against  false  intelligence  and  hasty  conclusions — and  urged 
the  justice  and  expediency  of  conciliatory  measures.*  And 
on  the  point  to  which  particular  reference  has  now  been 
made — the  right  of  the  Colonies  to  choose  Delegates  who 
should  assemble  and  deliberate  on  public  grievances,  and 
concert  measures  for  their  relief— Trumbull  never  entertained 
a  doubt.  It  was  proper,  in  his  opinion — it  was  just — it  was 
necessary.  And  so,  "  highly  displease  the  King  " — as  Dart 
mouth  wrote  him  such  an  assemblage  would — or  not — Trum 
bull  promoted  it — sanctioned  the  choice  of  Delegates  from 
Connecticut — and  when  the  second  National  Congress  met, 
gave  to  its  proceedings,  as  to  those  of  the  first,  all  the  weight 
of  his  good  name  and  influence. 

It  became  his  duty  soon — when  the  General  Assembly  of 
his  own  Colony  met  in  March — to  address  the  Earl  of  Dart 
mouth  in  behalf  of  Connecticut — to  lay  before  him  its  con 
dition,  and  that  also  of  Massachusetts,  and  to  ask  his  serious 
attention  to  the  distresses  of  all  the  Colonies.  How  he 
accomplished  this  task,  the  Eeader  shall  see  for  himself. 

"Newhaven,  March,  1775.  My  Lord:  I  duly  received  your  Lordship's 
letter  of  the  10th  of  December  last,  enclosing  his  Most  Gracious  Majesty's 
Speech  to  his  Parliament,  and  the  Addresses  in  answer  thereto,  which  I 
have  taken  the  earliest  opportunity  to  lay  before  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Colony ;  and  am  now  to  return  you  their  thanks  for  this  commu 
nication. 

"  It  is,  my  Lord,  with  the  deepest  concern  and  anxiety,  that  we  con 
template  the  unhappy  dissensions  which  have  taken  place  between  the 
Colonies  and  Great  Britain,  which  must  be  attended  with  the  most  fatal 
consequences  to  both,  unless  speedily  terminated.  We  consider  the 
interests  of  the  two  countries  as  inseparable,  and  are  shocked  at  the  idea 
of  any  disunion  between  them.  We  wish  for  nothing  so  much  as  a 
speedy  and  happy  settlement  upon  constitutional  grounds,  and  cannot 
apprehend  why  it  might  not  be  effected,  if  proper  steps  were  taken.  It 
is  certainly  an  object  of  that  importance  as  to  merit  the  attention  of  every 

*  Eeed,  through  his  father  in  law  De  Berdt  of  London,  carried  on  his  own  confi 
dential  correspondence  with  Dartmouth.  "  This  country  will  be  deluged  with 
blood,  before  it  will  submit  to  taxation  by  any  other  power  than  its  own  legisla 
ture" — was  the  last  solemn  warning  with  which,  two  months  only  before  the 
Battle  of  Lexington,  he  closed  his  correspondence  with  the  noble  Earl. 


1775.  CHAP.     XIV. — TRUMBULL.  171 

wise  and  good  man,  and  the  accomplishment  of  it  would  add  lustre  to  the 
first  character  on  earth. 

"The  origin  and  progress  of  these  unhappy  disputes,  we  need  not 
point  out  to  you ;  they  are  perfectly  known  to  your  Lordship.  From 
apprehensions  on  one  side,  and  jealousies,  fears,  and  distresses  on  the 
other,  fomented  and  increased  by  the  representations  of  artful  and  design 
ing  men,  unfriendly  to  the  liberties  of  America,  they  have  risen  to  the 
alarming  height  at  which  we  now  see  them,  threatening  the  most  essen 
tial  prejudice,  if  not  entire  ruin,  to  the  whole  Empire.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  do  assure  your  Lordship  that  we  do  not  wish  to  weaken  or  impair  the 
authority  of  the  British  Parliament  in  any  matter  essential  to  the  welfare 
and  happiness  of  the  whole  Empire.  On  the  other,  it  will  be  admitted 
that  it  is  our  duty,  and  that  we  should  be  even  highly  culpable,  if  we 
should  not  claim  and  maintain  the  constitutional  rights  and  liberties  de 
nied  to  us  as  men  and  Englishmen ;  as  the  descendants  of  Britons,  and 
members  of  an  Empire  whose  fundamental  principle  is  the  liberty  and 
security  of  the  subject.  British  supremacy  and  American  liberty  are  not 
incompatible  with  each  other.  They  have  been  seen  to  exist  and  to 
flourish  together  for  more  than  a  century.  Or,  if  anything  further  be 
necessary  to  ascertain  the  one  or  limit  the  other,  why  may  it  not  be  amr- 
cably  adjusted,  every  occasion  and  ground  for  future  controversy  be  re 
moved,  and  all  that  has  unfortunately  passed,  be  buried  in  perpetual 
oblivion. 

"  The  good  people  of  this  Colony,  my  Lord,  are  unfeignedly  loyal,  and 
firmly  attached  to  his  Majesty's  person,  family,  and  Government.  They 
are  willing  and  ready,  freely  as  they  have  formerly  most  cheerfully  done 
upon  every  requisition  made  to  them,  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  his 
Majesty's  Government,  and  to  devote  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  his  ser 
vice;  and,  in  the  last  war,  did  actually  expend  in  his  Majesty's  service 
more  than  Four  Hundred  Thousand  Pounds  Sterling  beyond  what  they 
received  any  compensation  for.  But  the  unlimited  powers  lately  claimed 
by  the  British  Parliament  drove  them  to  the  borders  of  despair.  These 
powers,  carried  into  execution,  will  deprive  them  of  all  property,  and  are 
incompatible  with  every  idea  of  civil  liberty.  They  must  hold  all  that 
they  possess  at  the  will  of  others,  and  will  have  no  property  which  they 
can,  voluntarily  and  as  freemen,  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  Throne  as  a  mark 
of  their  affection  and  of  their  devotion  to  his  Majesty's  service. 

"  Why,  my  Lord,  should  his  Majesty's  subjects  in  Great  Britain  alone 
enjoy  the  high  honor  and  satisfaction  of  presenting  their  free  gifts  to 
their  Sovereign  ?  Or,  if  this  be  a  distinction  in  which  they  will  permit 
none  to  participate  with  them,  yet,  in  point  of  honor,  it  should  be  found 
ed  on  the  gift  of  their  own  property,  and  not  of  that  of  their  fellow  sub 
jects  in  the  more  distant  parts  of  the  Empire. 

"  It  is  with  particular  concern  and  anxiety  that  we  see  the  unhappy 
situation  of  our  fellow  subjects  in  the  Town  of  Boston,  in  the  Province 


172  CHAP.    XIV. — TRUMBULL,  m5. 

of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  where  we  behold  many  thousands  of  his  Maj 
esty's  virtuous  and  loyal  subjects  reduced  to  the  utmost  distress  by  the 
operation  of  the  Port  Act,  and  the  whole  Province  thrown  into  a  state  of 
anarchy  and  confusion,  by  the  Act  for  changing  the  Constitution  of  the 
Province,  and  depriving  them  of  some  of  their  Charter- Rights.  We  are 
at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  the  destruction  of  the  East  India  Company's 
Tea  could  be  a  just  or  reasonable  ground  for  punishing  so  severely  thou 
sands  of  innocent  people  who  had  no  hand  in  that  transaction,  and  that 
even  without  giving  them  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  in  their  own 
defence. 

*'  Give  us  leave  to  recommend  to  your  Lordship's  most  serious  and 
candid  attention  the  unhappy  case  of  that  distressed  people,  and  in  effect 
of  all  the  Colonies,  whose  fate  seems  to  be  involved  in  theirs,  and  who 
are  therefore  most  anxiously  distressed  for  them.  Permit  us  to  hope, 
that,  by  your  Lordship's  kind  and  benevolent  interposition,  some 
wise  and  happy  plan  will  be  devised  which  may  relieve  us  from  our  pres 
ent  anxieties,  and  restore  that  harmony  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
Colonies,  which  we  all  most  ardently  wish  for,  and  which  alone  can  ren 
der  us  truly  happy. 

"I  am,  my  Lord,  in  behalf  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  Con 
necticut,  my  Lord,  your  Lordship's  most  obedient  and  most  humble 
servant" 

In  a  letter  dated  March  twenty-fourth,  1775,  to  Thomas 
Life,  Esquire — an  influential  agent  for  Connecticut  in  Eng 
land — Trumbull  again  earnestly,  and  with  comment  that  is 
sharper,  repeats  the  sentiments  expressed  in  his  admirable 
letter  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  now  given.  For  the  sake 
of  harmony,  that  the  Colonies  might  put  forth  their  united 
strength  against  oppression — he  instructs  Life  to  stay  all  pro 
ceedings  in  the  Susquehannah  Controversy — although  Con 
necticut  had  therein  the  deepest  interest.  He  pleads  to  have 
his  country  placed  on  the  basis  that  preceded  the  Peace  of 
Paris.  He  recapitulates  her  present  wrongs — hopes  for  their 
"happy  termination" — and  wishes  to  be  kept  accurately  in 
formed  of  all  proceedings  abroad  that  materially  affected  the 
interests  of  Connecticut. 

"  If  the  port  of  Boston,"  he  concludes,  "  may  be  blocked  up,  many 
thousands  of  his  Majesty's  virtuous  and  loyal  subjects  reduced  to  the  ut 
most  distress,  the  many  that  are  innocent  punished  with  the  few  who 
may  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  trespass,  the  Constitution  of  the  whole  Prov 
ince  be  changed,  some  of  their  charter  rights  be  taken  from  them  without 


1775.  CHAP.    XIV. — TRUMBULL.  173 

any  opportunity  to  be  heard  in  their  own  defence — if  Boston  may  be 
made  a  garrison  in  the  heart  of  our  country,  and  the  Province  of  Que 
bec  be  put  into  a  situation,  under  the  influence  of  their  Roman  Catholic 
principles  and  prejudices,  to  become  a  check  on  all  the  Colonies — no  one 
can  wonder  their  fears,  distresses,  and  jealousies  should  be  excited  there 
by.  They  look  upon  their  own  fate  as  involved  in  the  unhappy  case  of 
their  distressed  fellow  subjects  in  Boston,  their  safety  to  be  in  the  bless 
ing  of  heaven,  the  favor  of  the  king,  and  in  their  own  union  in  religion 
and  virtue ;  and  hope  in  the  pursuit  and  practice  thereof  to  obtain  re 
lief  from  their  distresses,  redress  of  their  grievances,  and  to  live  quiet 
and  peaceable  lives,  in  all  godliness  and  honesty.  I  heartily  join  with 
you  in  wishing  that  all  matters  may  be  happily  terminated  and  settled  to 
the  satisfaction  of  all  parties. 

"  During  the  continuance  of  this  hazardous  contest,  which  God  grant 
may  not  be  long,  you  are  desired  to  give  your  attention  to  everything 
that  passes  relative  thereto,  and  give  me  early  intelligence  of  what  you 
think  material  for  our  government." 

In  such  manner,  through  correspondence  in  the  most  influ 
ential  quarters — was  Trumbull  busy  in  attempting  to  prevent 
an  armed  collision  between  Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies, 
when  Lexington,  April  Nineteenth — from  Maine  to  Georgia — • 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  great  River  of  the  West — rung  her 
terrible  alarm. 

He  was  at  Norwich  when  the  news  of  that  first  deadly  fire 
upon  the  Green  of  this  Massachusetts  village,  arrived.  The 
General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  had  but  a  few  days  before 
adjourned.  Trumbull  at  once,  therefore,  applied  to  his  Coun 
cil — to  decide  whether  it  should  not  be  immediately  reassem 
bled,  to  take  measures  suited  to  the  emergency.  It  was  de 
termined,  however — upon  consideration  that  the  news  was 
as  yet  imperfect — not  to  convene  the  Assembly  at  once,  but 
to  wait  for  farther  and  reliable  intelligence.  To  secure  this, 
Trumbull  promptly  directed  some  of  the  Connecticut  Com 
mittee  of  Correspondence  to  address  its  brother  Committee 
at  Boston.  An  answer  was  returned  confirming  all  the  ac 
counts  previously  received — and  at  the  same  time  there  came 
also  to  Trumbull  a  letter  from  General  Gage  himself — dated 
the  very  day  of  the  bloodshed — April  Nineteenth — and  ac 
companied  with  a  circumstantial  account  of  the  transactions 
upon  this  occasion — all  of  which  the  Governor  subsequently 

communicated  to  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia. 
15* 


174  CHAP.    XIV. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

Thousands  and  thousands  of  men — as  in  the  alarm  of  the 
preceding  September — upon  the  first  reception  of  the  news, 
had  started  from  every  part  of  Connecticut  for  the  scene  of 
action.  Many  and  many  a  furrow,  besides  that  of  General 
Putnam's  at  Pomfret,  was  suddenly,  by  brave  militia  men, 
forsaken  for  the  battle  field.  And  now  careful  provision  was 
to  be  made  for  these  volunteers.  They  were  to  be  organized 
anew  for  farther  and  special  service.  They  were  to  be  offi 
cered.  They  were  to  be  equipped.  They  were  to  be  furn 
ished  with  ammunition  and  stores.  Blood  had  run  in  Mas 
sachusetts.  Connecticut  itself  was  therefore  now  in  imminent 
peril.  All  the  Colonies  were  in  peril.  The  crisis  had  come. 
It  was  to  be  met. 

And  met  it  was  by  Trumbull — manfully — as  we  shall  see. 
He  communicated  his  intelligence,  all  of  it,  to  the  General 
Assembly,  soon  as  in  April  it  again  convened — and  incited 
its  action.  One  quarter  of  the  militia  of  the  Colony,  conse 
quently — to  be  distributed  into  companies  of  one  hundred 
men  each,  and  formed  into  six  regiments — was  to  be  pre 
pared  for  immediate  service.  The  Governor  was  to  sign  and 
deliver  orders  to  the  respective  officers  to  push  forward  the 
enlistments.  He  was  to  direct  the  four  regiments  command 
ed  by  Spencer,  Putnam,  Hinman,  and  Parsons,  or  such  part 
of  them  as  he  should  judge  necessary,  "  forthwith  to  be  in 
readiness  to  march  to  Boston,  or  to  some  place  contiguous." 
But  farther — and  particularly — he  was  to  address  General 
Gage,  upon  his  late  fearful  proceedings,  a  letter — in  behalf 
of  the  Colony — of  grief,  remonstrance,  and  reproof.  How 
he  accomplished  this  last  duty,  the  letter  itself  will  show. 
It  is  dated  Hartford,  April  twenty -eighth,  1775,  and  proceeds 
as  follows : — 

"  Sir.  The  alarming  situation  of  public  affairs  in  this  country,  and 
the  late  unfortunate  transactions  in  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
have  induced  the  General  Assembly  of  this  Colony,  now  sitting  in  this 
place,  to  appoint  a  committee  of  their  body  to  wait  upon  your  Excel 
lency,  and  to  desire  me,  in  their  name,  to  write  to  you  relative  to  those 
very  interesting  matters. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  this  Colony  are  intimately  connected  with  the 
people  of  your  province,  and  esteem  themselves  bound,  by  the  strongest 


1775.  CHAP.    XIV. — TRUMBULL.  175 

ties  of  friendship  as  well  as  of  common  interest,  to  regard  with  interest 
whatever  concerns  them.  You  will  not  therefore  be  surprised  that  your 
first  arrival  at  Boston  with  a  body  of  his  Majesty's  troops,  for  the  de 
clared  purpose  of  carrying  into  execution  certain  acts  of  Parliament, 
which  in  their  apprehension  were  unconstitutional  and  oppressive, 
should  have  given  the  good  people  of  this  Colony  a  very  just  and  general 
alarm.  Your  subsequent  proceedings,  in  fortifying  the  town  of  Boston, 
and  other  military  preparations,  greatly  increased  these  apprehensions 
for  the  safety  of  their  friends  and  brethren ;  they  could  not  be  uncon 
cerned  spectators  of  their  sufferings,  in  that  which  is  esteemed  the  com 
mon  cause  of  this  country :  but  the  late  hostile  and  secret  inroads  of 
some  of  the  troops  under  your  command,  into  the  heart  of  the  country, 
and  the  violences  they  have  committed,  have  driven  them  almost  into  a 
state  of  desperation.  They  feel  now,  not  only  for  their  friends,  but  for 
themselves,  and  for  their  dearest  interests  and  connexions.  We  wish  not 
to  exaggerate,  we  are  not  sure  of  every  part  of  our  information,  but  by 
the  best  intelligence  that  we  have  yet  been  able  to  obtain,  the  late  trans 
action  was  a  most  unprovoked  attack  upon  the  lives  and  property  of  his 
Majesty's  subjects,  and  it  is  represented  to  us  that  such  outrages  have 
been  committed  as  would  disgrace  even  barbarians,  and  much  more 
Britons,  so  highly  famed  for  humanity  as  well  as  bravery., 

"  It  is  feared,  therefore,  that  we  are  devoted  to  destruction,  and  that 
you  have  it  in  command  and  intention  to  ravage  and  desolate  the  coun 
try.  If  this  is  not  the  case,  permit  us  to  ask,  why  have  these  outrages 
been  committed  ?  Why  is  the  town  of  Boston  now  shut  up  ?  To  what 
end  are  all  the  hostile  preparations  that  are  daily  making  ?  And  why  do 
we  continually  hear  of  fresh  destinations  of  troops  for  this  country  ? 
The  people  of  this  Colony,  you  may  rely  upon  it,  abhor  the  idea  of  tak 
ing  arms  against  the  troops  of  their  sovereign,  and  dread  nothing  so 
much  as  the  horrors  of  civil  war.  But,  at  the  same  time,  we  beg  leave 
to  assure  your  Excellency,  that  as  they  apprehend  themselves  justified 
by  the  principles  of  self-defence,  so  they  are  most  firmly  resolved  to  de 
fend  their  rights  and  privileges  to  the  last  extremity ;  nor  will  they  be 
restrained  from  giving  aid  to  their  brethren,  if  any  unjustifiable  attack 
is  made  upon  them.  Be  so  good,  therefore,  as  to  explain  yourself  upon 
this  most  important  subject,  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  your  duty  to  our 
common  sovereign.  Is  there  no  way  to  prevent  this  unhappy  dispute 
from  coming  to  extremities  ?  Is  there  no  alternative  but  absolute  sub 
mission,  or  the  desolations  of  war?  By  that  humanity  which  constitutes 
so  amiable  a  part  of  your  character,  for  the  honor  of  our  sovereign,  and 
by  the  glory  of  the  British  Empire,  we  entreat  you  to  prevent  it,  if  it  be 
possible.  Surely  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  temperate  wisdom  of  the  Em 
pire  might  even  yet  find  expedients  to  restore  peace,  that  so  all  parts  of 
the  empire  may  enjoy  their  particular  rights,  honors,  and  immunities. 
Certainly  this  is  an  event  most  devoutly  to  be  wished  for.  And  will  it 


176  CHAP.    XIV. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

not  be  consistent  with  your  duty  to  suspend  the  operations  of  war  on 
your  part,  and  enable  us  on  ours  to  quiet  the  minds  of  the  people,  at 
least  till  the  result  of  some  further  deliberations  may  be  known?  The 
importance  of  the  occasion  will,  we  doubt  not,  sufficiently  apologize  for 
the  earnestness  with  which  we  address  you,  and  any  seeming  impropri 
ety  which  may  attend  it,  as  well  as  induce  you  to  give  us  the  most  ex 
plicit,  and  favorable  answer  in  your  power. 

"  I  am,  with  great  esteem  and  respect, 

"  in  behalf  of  the  General  Assembly, 

"  Sir,  your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

Dr.  Johnson  and  Oliver  Wolcott  were  the  committee  ap 
pointed  on  the  part  of  the  General  Assembly  to  bear  this 
Letter  to  Massachusetts — and  thither  they  repaired.  So  far 
as  Gage  is  concerned,  his  reply  was  what  might  have  been 
expected.  He  justified  his  own  conduct — repelled  the  charge 
of  any  outrages  committed  by  his  troops  on  the  Nineteenth 
of  April — and  commended  them  as  having  acted  "with  great 
tenderness,  both  to  the  young  and  old."  He  had  found  no 
instance  of  their  cruelty  and  barbarity,  he  said,  and  for  him 
self  disavowed  any  intention  of  ravaging  and  desolating  the 
country. 

But  strangely — so  far  as  the  Massachusetts  Provincial  Con 
gress  and  Committee  of  Safety  are  concerned — upon  being 
made  acquainted  with  this  correspondence,  they  became 
alarmed.  They  looked  upon  it  in  the  light  of  a  mediation — 
uncalled  for,  and  inopportune.  In  their  view  it  "squinted" 
too  much  towards  reconciliation  with  the  Mother-Country. 
And  so  the  Congress  of  Massachusetts  formally  remonstrated 
against  any  separate  negotiations,  and  voted  Gage,  renewedly, 
a  public  enemy — an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  tyrants,  they 
said,  whom  there  was  no  further  obligation  to  obey — and, 
addressing  the  Deputation  from  Connecticut,  drew  a  picture 
of  consequences — fatal,  as  they  apprehended — that  might 
follow — "upon  any  one  Colony's  undertaking  to  negotiate 
separately  either  with  Parliament,  Ministry,  or  their  agent 
here." 

A  grave  delusion  all  this  I  One  would  think  that  Trum- 
bull's  letter  itself — so  full  of  pointed  remonstrance  against 
the  proceedings  of  Gage — so  expressive  of  the  sympathy  of 


1775. 


CHAP.    XIV. — TRUMBULL.  177 


Connecticut  for  her  suffering  brethren  of  the  old  Bay  Colony, 
and  of  her  determination  to  support  them  in  their  career  of 
opposition — and  withal,  on  the  point  of  reconciliation,  saying 
nothing  more  than  what,  at  this  period,  was  the  hope,  and, 
everywhere,  the  publicly  expressed  desire  of  united  Amer 
ica — one  would  think  that  such  a  communication  might  have 
saved  itself  from  the  possibility  of  misconstruction!  So  it 
did,  after  a  very  short  time,  and  after  a  few  re-assurances 
from  Connecticut. 

"No  ill-consequences,  it  is  hoped" — wrote  Trumbull  immediately  to 
Dr.  Joseph  Warren,  will  attend  the  embassy  to  Gage.  "  Connecticut 
will  be  cautious  of  trusting  promises  which  it  may  be  in  the  power  of  any 
to  evade.  Our  General  Assembly  will  pursue  with  firmness,  delibera 
tion,  and  unanimity,  the  measures  which  may  appear  best  for  our  com 
mon  defence  and  safety." 

u  We  hope  good  consequences  will  attend  the  embassy,"  wrote  also  the 
House  of  Assembly  to  the  Massachusetts  Committee  of  Safety.  "  It  is 
yet  possible  things  may  not  of  necessity  proceed  to  further  extremity — 
and  although  there  is  a  great  probability  that  they  will,  yet  we  conceive 
that  you,  and  we,  might  get  more  advantage  by  gaining  time,  and  col 
lecting  all  our  forces,  and  those  of  other  colonies,  on  a  regular  plan  and 
establishment."* 

Such  representations  as  these  soon  dissipated  any  unfavor 
able  impressions  in  Massachusetts.  The  correspondence  on 
the  subject  was  all  communicated  by  Governor  Trumbull  to 
the  National  Congress — was  read  before  that  Body — and 
elicited  from  it  not  a  word  of  disapprobation.  Trumbull's 
Letter  is  in  fact  a  memorial  of  noble  interposition.  Massa 
chusetts,  from  her  peculiar  situation — unlike  other  Colonies, 
"galled  from  without  and  vexed  within" — had  some  reason, 
perhaps,  for  her  peculiar  sensitiveness.  At  other  stages  of 
the  Revolutionary  Struggle,  there  were  those — as  the  patriot 

* "  The  idea,"  wrote  also  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Junior,  at  this  time,  to  his 
brother  Joseph,  who  was  then  at  Cambridge — "the  idea"  in  this  procedure  "held 
out  with  us,  and  what  governed  almost  every  one,  was  that  we  should  make  some 
categorical  demand  upon  Gage  as  to  his  intentions  and  designs,  and  at  the  same 
time  be  arming  ourselves  to  treat  sword  in  hand.  You  may  depend  upon  this, 
that  no  preparation  has  been  in  the  least  relaxed.  There  is  a  noble  firmness  with 
us,  and  no  thought  of  deserting  the  cause,  and  we  shall  from  this  event  be 
strengthened  to  encounter  any  evasive  or  delusive  propositions  from  Gage  by  our 
ambassadors." 


178  CHAP.     XIV. — TRUMBULL. 

John  Dickinson,  for  example,  who  remonstrated  with 
Quincy  on  the  point — to  whom  this  Province  seemed  at 
times  to  "break  the  line"  of  colonial  opposition,  by 
"advancing  too  hastily."  —  "Though  not  to  be  justified, 
may  not  her  fault  be  considered  venial,"  wrote  Quincy  in 
reply. 


C  HAPTE  R    XV. 
1775. 

TRUMBULI/S  activity,  at  Lebanon,  in  furnishing  troops  and  supplies  for 
the  army  at  Boston,  immediately  after  the  Battle  of  Lexington  His 
War  Office,  and  Dwelling-House,  and  their  associations.  On  request 
from  the  New  York  Revolutionary  Committee,  he  strives  to  intercept 
despatches  from  England  for  Gen.  Gage.  He  receives  from  Massachu 
setts  an  urgent  demand  for  more  troops — with  which  he  complies. 
His  connections  with  the  expedition  to  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point, 
and  with  military  affairs  generally  at  the  North,  at  this  period. 

AFTER  the  manner  now  described,  as  regards  official  cor 
respondence  with  important  parties,  did  the  opening  scenes 
of  the  American  Revolution  engage  at  once  the  services  of 
Governor  Trumbull.  We  proceed  to  view  these  services  now 
under  other  aspects. 

A  remarkable  feature  of  his  zeal  at  this  juncture  is  shown 
in  the  fact,  that,  when  the  Lexington  news  first  arrived,  his 
own  store  at  Lebanon  became  the  point  from  which  all  the 
soldiers  in  his  own  vicinity  who  marched  for  the  relief 
of  Boston,  were  supplied — and  Trumbull  was  personally 
present,  and  a  laborer  in  all  the  work  of  preparation.*  There 
he  was,  himself,  his  sons,  and  his  son-in-law  Williams — in 
the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  neighbors  and  friends — aiding  with 
his  own  hands  to  collect  the  needed  stores,  of  all  kinds — in 
the  midst  of  barrels  and  boxes,  horses,  oxen,  and  carts,  him 
self  weighing,  measuring,  packing,  and  starting  off  teams — 
dealing  out  powder  and  balls — and  everywhere  instilling,  by 
his  own  example  as  well  as  by  words,  a  generous  activity 
among  all  who  were  present.  Pleasing  fact!  The  Chief 
Magistrate  of  Connecticut,  it  is  plain,  could  work  as  well  as 
write  and  talk — could  condescend  for  his  country — could 
yield  dignity  to  humble,  but  patriotic  manual  toil. 

And  here  is  a  view  of  the  store  in  which  he  worked  upon 

*  A  Lebanon  Town  account  of  services  and  supplies  upon  this  occasion — made 
out  subsequently,  as  in  all  the  towns  of  Connecticut,  for  settlement  at  the  Colo 
nial  Treasury — awards  Trumbull,  for  his  own  personal  labor  at  this  time,  the  sum 
of  two  pounds  and  sixteen  shillings. 


180  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

this  occasion — and  of  his  dwelling-house  also,  just  adjacent 
on  the  right — the  former  memorable  not  alone  as  his  mercan 
tile  depot,  but  as  containing  the  office  also  in  which  he  trans 
acted  the  great  bulk  of  his  public  business  during  the  Kevo- 
lution — familiarly  known  as  his  "WAK  OFFICE."  They  are 
each  worth  contemplating  for  a  moment,  ere  we  proceed  with 
the  great  facts  of  his  biography,  associated  as  they  are  so 
closely  with  himself,  and  with  his  public  labors. 


The  Dwelling  House  and  War  Office  of  G-ov.  Trum"bull. 

Within  that  house — which  is  still  standing,  a  little  removed 
from  its  ancient  site — he  not  only  lived  himself,  but  enter 
tained  many  of  the  most  conspicuous  characters  of  the  Kevo- 
lution — among  others,  General  Washington,  General  Knox, 
General  Sullivan,  General  Putnam,  Doctor  Franklin,  Samuel 
Adams,  John  Adams,  John  Jay,  Jefferson,  Count  Eocham- 
beau,  Admiral  Tiernay,  La  Fayette,  the  Duke  de  Lauzun, 
and  Marquis  de  Chastellux— all  of  whom  are  believed  to 
have  lodged  within  its  walls.  Within  the  same  walls  also, 
his  son,  the  eminent  painter — Colonel  John  Trumbull — was 
born,  and,  we  believe,  the  rest  of  his  distinguished  children. 


1775.  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  181 

Around  that  house  also  patrolled — night  after  night — guards 
that  were  set,  in  times  of  startling  danger,  expressly  to  pro 
tect  his  person  from  seizure,  and  his  house  from  plunder — a 
precaution,  which,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  see, 
was  not  without  its  utility. 

Within  that  "War  Office"  also,  with  its  old-fashioned 
"hipped"  roof,  and  central  chimney  stack,  he  met  his  Coun 
cil  of  Safety  during  almost  the  entire  period  of  the  War. 
Here  he  received  Commissaries  and  sub-Commissaries,  many 
in  number,  to  devise  and  talk  over  the  means  of  supply  for 
our  armies.  From  hence  started,  from  time  to  time  during 
the  War,  besides  those  teams  to  which  we  have  just  alluded, 
numerous  other  long  trains  of  wagons,  loaded  with  provisions 
for  our  forces  at  the  East,  the  West,  the  North,  and  the 
South — and  around  this  spot — from  the  fields  and  farm  yards 
of  agricultural  Lebanon  and  its  vicinity — was  begun  the  col 
lection  of  many  a  herd  of  fat  cattle,  that  were  driven  even 
to  the  far  North  around  Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain, 
and  to  the  distant  banks  of  the  Delaware  and  the  Schuyl- 
kill,  as  well  as  to  neighboring  Massachusetts,  and  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson. 

Here  was  the  point  of  arrival  and  departure  for  number 
less  messengers  and  expresses  that  shot,  in  every  direfction,  to 
and  from  the  scenes  of  Revolutionary  strife.  Narragansett 
ponies,  of  extraordinary  fleetness,  and  astonishing  endur 
ance — worthy  such  governmental  post-riders  as  the  tireless 
Jesse  Brown,  the  " alert  Samuel  Hunt"  and  the  "flying  Fes- 
senden"*  as  the  latter  was  called — stood  hitched,  we  have 
heard,  at  the  posts  and  palings  around,  or  by  the  Governor's 
house,  or  at  the  dwelling  of  his  son-in-law  Williams — ready, 
on  any  emergency  of  danger,  to  fly  with  advices,  in  any  de 
sired  direction,  on  the  wings  of  the  wind.  The  marks  of  the 
spurs  of  the  horsemen  thus  employed,  were,  but  a  few  years 
back,  visible,  within  the  building — all  along  upon  the  sides 
of  the  counters  upon  which  they  sat,  waiting  to  receive  the 
Governor's  orders,  f 

*  Among  other  faithful  post-riders  were  Jonathan  Strong,  Samuel  Johnson, 
Joshua  Hempstead,  Charles  Kellogg,  and  Theodore  Skinner.  Jesse  Brown  es 
tablished  the  second  line  of  stages  in  Connecticut. 

t  A  section  of  the  counter  thus  marked,  from  the  old  War  Office,  is  in  the  pos- 


182  CHAP.    XV. — TKUMBULL.  1775. 

Within  this  building  too  came  many  and  many  an  officer 
of  the  land  troops  of  Connecticut,  to  consult  with  the  Gov 
ernor  about  the  organization,  the  support,  the  distribution, 
and  the  destination  of  forces — and  around  it  mustered  many 
and  many  a  little  band  of  soldiers,  waiting  to  be  scanned  by 
the  eye  of  the  Captain  General  of  the  State,  and  receive  his 
encouragement  and  advice  ere  they  marched  for  the  battle 
field.  Five  hundred  men  from  the  town  of  Lebanon  alone — • 
in  remarkable  demonstration  of  its  patriotic  character — were 
in  the  Army  of  the  Kevolution  at  one  and  the  same  time* — • 
and  around  this  spot  it  was  chiefly,  that  they  gathered  for 
their  march. 

Thither  repaired  too,  from  time  to  time,  many  a  naval  offi 
cer  of  the  State — the  gallant  Harding,  the  adventurous 
Smedley,  the  brave  Niles,  Coit,  Stan  ton,  Tinker,  McLane, 
and  numerous  others  who  bore  the  flag  of  Connecticut  upon 
the  deep — here  to  receive  their  commissions,  and  sailing  or 
ders — or  here  to  report  the  movements  on  the  water  of  the 
enemy  they  had  watched,  or  the  prizes  it  had  been  their  good 
fortune  to  take. 

Hither  came  also — in  order  to  secure  the  Governor's  over 
sight  and  direction — many  an  engineer,  with  his  plan  for  a 
work  of  defence — many  a  naval  architect,  with  his  model  for 
a  barge,  a  galley,  or  a  ship  of  war — at  times  a  mechanician, 

session  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society.    It  is  also  marked  by  measures  for 
a  yard. 

*  Among  these,  particularly  distinguished,  were  Col.  James  Clark,  who  com 
manded  a  company  on  Bunker  Hill,  and  who  was  present  at  the  laying  of  the 
corner  stone  of  the  Monument,  just  fifty  years  subsequent  to  the  battle,  and 
Ca.pt.  Andrew  Fitch,  who  also  served  as  a  lieutenant  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  con 
tinued  in  service  to  the  close  of  the  war.  The  former  was  buried  with  military 
honors,  and  the  following  striking  inscription  is  upon  his  tomb : — 
"  To  the  memory  of 

Col.  James  Clark 
who  died  on  the  29th  of  Dec.  1826 

aged  96  years  and  5  mos. 

He  was  a  Soldier  of  the  Kevolution,  and  dared 

to  lead  where  any  dared  to  follow.    The 

Battles  of  Bunker's  Hill,  Harlem  Heights 

and  White  Plains,  witnessed  his  personal 

bravery,  &  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  his 

Country. 

He  here  in  death  rests  from  his  labors, 
For  "there  [is]  no  discharge  in  that  war." 


1775.  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  183 

with  his  screw  for  lifting  vessels  from  the  water — at  times  an 
inventor,  with  his  torpedo,  or  other  ingenious  device  for 
blowing  up  hostile  vessels — and  agents  and  contractors  with 
out  number — with  specimens  of  their  lead,  their  sulphur, 
their  saltpetre,  their  guns,  their  gunlocks,  or  other  articles 
upon  which  the  State  had  given  a  bounty — to  submit  them 
to  the  Governor's  personal  inspection,  and  procure,  if  possi 
ble,  his  approbation,  and  claim  the  promised  reward. 

Upon  the  sill  of  this  old  War  Office  too  has  pressed  the 
foot  of  many  a  soldier  from  the  Duke  de  Lauzun's  famous 
Legion  of  Hussars,  as  a  portion  of  it,  for  a  whole  winter,  lay 
quartered  in  Lebanon,  ere  it  took  up  its  march  to  join  Wash 
ington  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  Indeed  the  old  build 
ing  is  crowded  with  associations  of  the  deepest  interest,  and 
may  well  for  a  moment  arrest  the  eye  of  the  Reader,  ere  he 
moves  with  us  on  in  the  path  of  proceedings  which  here, 
chiefly,  took  their  rise.  It  had  not,  in  the  times  of  which  we 
speak,  the  portico  now  seen  in  the  plate — this  is  a  modern  ad 
dition.  But  within,  it  was  divided,  as  seen  but  a  few  years 
ago,  into  two  apartments — one  of  which,  that  on  the  north, 
was  strictly  the  office-room  of  the  Governor,  where  he  ma 
tured  his  counsels — and  the  other  of  which,  that  on  the 
south,  was  his  store  room,  and  the  apartment  also  in  which 
his  messengers  and  expresses  were  usually  received. 

From  the  views  now  given,  we  turn  to  resume  the  main 
thread  of  Trumbull's  life. 

We  left  him  busy  at  his  store  providing  supplies  for  the 
army  just  after  the  Battle  of  Lexington.  While  thus  en 
gaged,  he  received  notice  from  the  Revolutionary  Committee 
of  New  York  that  despatches  for  General  Gage  had  just  ar 
rived  in  a  packet  from  England,  and  was  urged  to  take  im 
mediate  measures  for  their  interception.  All  the  roads  lead 
ing  to  Boston,  they  said,  ought  to  be  guarded.  An  express 
should  be  sent  with  the  intelligence  on  as  far  as  Providence 
and  Newport.  Every  caution  ought  to  be  taken  in  the  mat 
ter,  they  wrote,  which  "  prudence  can  dictate,  or  your  own 
zeal  prompt  you  to  think  of— for  it  may  save  the  lives  of 
thousands,  by  enabling  the  friends  of  this  bleeding  land  to 
defeat  the  designs  of  its  implacable  and  merciless  enemies." 


184  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

Trumbull  at  once  carried  the  request  of  the  New  York  Com 
mittee  into  effect,  though  he  was  not  fortunate  enough,  as  it 
resulted,  to  secure  the  despatches  to  which  so  much  import 
ance  was  attached. 

A  few  days  subsequent  to  this  affair,  he  received  by  ex 
press  another  important  despatch — but  this  time  from  Mas 
sachusetts — from  the  Committee  of  Safety  at  Cambridge — 
entreating  him  to  send  them  on  immediately  three  or  four 
thousand  men,  to  enable  them  to  fortify  a  pass  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  common  interest — which,  they  said,  Gen 
eral  Gage,  unless  "prevented"  then,  would  secure  for  himself, 
soon  as  his  reenforcements  should  arrive.  To  this  request 
also  Trumbull  gave  prompt  attention,45'  and  troops  were  soon 
ordered  to  the  East. 

But  the  measure  that  about  this  time  especially  absorbed 
his  zeal,  was  that  first  aggressive  act  of  the  American  Eevo- 
lution — the  Expedition  against  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point. 
With  this  project,  which  resulted,  May  Tenth,  in  the  capture 
of  the  fortresses — those  keys  of  Canada — at  both  these  plac 
es,  and  in  the  command  consequently  of  Lake  George  and 
Lake  Champlain — he  was  intimately  connected.  Of  this 
connection  we  shall  speak  here — and  for  the  sake  of  conti 
nuity,  shall  describe  generally  his  relations  with  military  af 
fairs  at  the  North  during  the  whole  of  the  year  now  under 
consideration — returning  afterwards  to  his  labors  and  respons 
ibilities,  during  the  same  year,  in  other  spheres  of  the  "War. 

Deane,  Wooster,  Parsons,  Wyllys,  Root,  and  a  few  others, 
who  first  projected  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown 
Point,  and  borrowed  funds  from  the  Treasury  of  Connecticut 
for  the  purpose,  consulted,  in  the  first  instance,  closely  with 
Governor  Trumbull,  and  received  his  secret  cooperation — se 
cret,  because  there  was  danger  of  discovery,  and  so  of  dis- 

*  "  We  have  the  fullest  confidence,"  wrote  the  Massachusetts  Congress  at  this 
time,  June  25th,  "that  your  Honor's  zeal  and  ardour  for  the  salvation  of  our 
country,  and  the  preservation  of  our  inestimable  rights,  will  render  every  impor 
tunity  unnecessary  to  induce  you  to  take  all  the  necessary  steps  to  effect  the  pro 
posed  augmentation,  for  which  we  are  most  solicitous." 

"  This  morning,"  answered  Trumbull,  June  27th — "received  your  pressing  in 
stance  for  an  immediate  augmentation  of  Troops  from  our  Colony.  In  conse 
quence  expresses  are  gone  forth  to  call  our  Assembly  to  meet  at  Hartford  on  Sat 
urday  next." 


1776.  CHAP.    XV. — TKUMBULL.  185 

appointment,  if  there  had  been  any  promulgation  of  the 
plan,  or  any  delay  in  waiting  for  the  sanction  of  Congress. 
He  cheerfully  assented  to  the  loan  for  the  enterprise  from  the 
State  Treasury,  on  the  individual  credit  of  its  projectors — and 
as  cheerfully,  subsequently,  approved  the  Act  of  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  which  cancelled  their  pecuniary  obligations. 
Carried  so  successfully  as  it  was  into  effect,  it  inspired  new 
and  strong  confidence,  quite  universally,  in  the  power  of 
American  Arms — and  to  Trumbull — even  though  his  taste, 
perhaps,  might  have  been  somewhat  offended  by  Ethan  Al 
len's  rather  wild  demand  of  surrender  "in  the  name  of  the 
Great  Jehovah  and  the  Continental  Congress" — it  proved  a 
source  of  high  and  peculiar  gratification. 

"As  this  advantage,"  he  says — writing  the  Massachusetts  Congress, 
fifteen  days  after  the  event,  and  communicating  the  intermediate  action 
of  Connecticut  thereupon — "  was  gained  by  the  united  enterprise  and 
counsels  of  a  number  of  private  gentlemen  in  your  Province,  New  Hamp 
shire,  New  York,  and  this  Colony,  prompted  only  by  a  zeal  for  their 
country,  without  public  authority,  (to  our  knowledge,}  and  is  of  great  and 
general  importance  to  the  United  Colonies,  it  was  thought  best  to  take 
the  advice  of  the  Continental  Congress  upon  the  manner  of  treating  it  in 
future,  both  by  the  General  Assembly  of  this  Colony,  and  the  Committee 
of  New  York,  as  well  as  by  you.  Despatches  were  accordingly  sent  to 
Philadelphia,  and  the  intention  of  the  Continental  Congress  thereupon 
hath  been  this  day  received  by  express,  with  a  letter  from  the  Commit- 
the  of  New  York,  copies  of  which  enclosed  are  herewith  sent  you.  By 
them  you  will  see  that  the  present  custody  of  that  fortress  is  committed 
to  the  Province  of  New  York,  with  the  assistance  of  the  New  England 
Colonies,  if  needed. 

"  The  necessity  of  secrecy,  and  maintaining  the  posts  on  the  lakes, 
becomes  daily  more  evident  from  the  iterated  intelligence  we  receive  of 
the  plan  framed  by  our  enemies  to  distress  us  by  inroads  of  Canadians 
and  savages,  from  the  Province  of  Quebec,  upon  the  adjacent  settlements. 
The  enclosed  copy  of  a  letter  from  our  Delegates  attending  at  New  York 
to  concert  measures  with  the  Provincial  Congress  in  that  City,  throws 
an  additional  light  on  this  subject,  and  is  thought  worthy  to  be  communi 
cated  to  you ;  and  whilst  the  designs  of  our  enemies  against  us  fill  us 
with  concern,  we  cannot  omit  to  observe  the  smiles  of  Providence  upon 
us  in  revealing  their  wicked  plans,  and  hitherto  prospering  the  attempts 
of  the  Colonies  to  prostrate  them.  With  a  humble  reliance  on  the  con 
tinuance  of  divine  favor  and  protection  in  a  cause  of  the  justice  of  which 
a  doubt  cannot  be  entertained,  the  General  Assembly  of  this  Colony  are 
16* 


186  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

ready  to  cooperate  with  the  other  Colonies  in  every  exertion  for  their 
common  defence,  and  to  contribute  their  proportion  of  men  and  other 
necessaries  for  maintaining  the  posts  on  the  frontiers,  or  defending 
or  repelling  invasions  in  any  other  quarter,  agreable  to  the  advice  of  the 
Continental  Congress." 

New  York — to  which  State,  as  Trumbull  in  this  letter 
states,  the  custody  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point — prop 
erly  as  falling  within  their  territory — was  committed — at 
once  ordered  the  cannon  and  stores  to  be  removed  from 
thence  to  the  south  end  of  Lake  George — but  not  being  able 
herself,  at  that  time,  to  protect  the  new  acquisitions,  her  Pro 
vincial  Congress  wrote  to  Trumbull,  expressing  special  grat 
ification  in  the  fact  that  he  would  undertake  their  protec 
tion — as  an  immediate  attack  upon  them,  for  their  recapture, 
was  threatened  from  Quebec.*  Our  National  Congress,  then 
in  session  at  Philadelphia,  made  a  similar  request.  By  a  spe 
cial  resolution — transmitted  to  Trumbull  by  President  Han 
cock — this  Body  asked  him  immediately  to  send  a  strong 
reenforcement  to  the  captured  fortresses,  and  to  appoint  a  per 
son  in  whom  he  could  confide  to  command  the  forces.  Yet 
before  this  direction  was  received — such  was  Trumbull 's  anx 
iety  for  the  security  of  these  posts — such  his  apprehension 
of  threatened  attack  upon  them,  and  of  an  incursion  upon 
the  Colonies  from  Canada — that  he  had  ordered  Colonel  Hin- 
man,  with  four  hundred  men — soon  by  order  of  the  General 
Assembly  augmented  to  a  force  of  one  thousand — to  march 
thither  for  their  defence.  He  had  borrowed  five  hundred 
pounds  of  powder  from  tlie  town  stocks  of  Connecticut  for 
this  officer's  use — had  applied  money  from  the  Treasury  of 
the  Colony  to  pay  for  its  transportation,  and  for  the  immedi 
ate  support  also  of  the  fortresses  at  the  North — and  had  sent 
Samuel  Mott,  a  skilful  engineer,  to  put  these  fortresses  in  re- 

*  "I  have  certain  intelligence,"  wrote  Arnold  at  this  time — "that  on  the  19th 
there  were  four  hundred  regulars  at  St.  Johns,  making  all  possible  preparation  to 
cross  the  lake,  and  expecting  to  be  joined  by  a  body  of  Indians,  with  a  design  of 
retaking  Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga." 

"We  shall  be  happy  to  hear  that  you  have  placed  a  part  of  your  forces  in  these 
posts,  with  intent  to  defend  them,  until  they  shall  be  relieved  by  troops  from  this 
Colony" — wrote  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York  to  Trumbull,  May  25th, 
1775. 


1775.  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  187 

pair.  Of  all  this  lie  gave  due  information  to  Congress,  to 
Massachusetts  and  New  York,  and  specially  urged  the  latter 
province  forthwith  to  forward  provisions,  and  send  on  tents 
for  the  troops — as  had  been  directed  by  Congress.* 

u«We  beg  leave  to  present  our  unfeigned  thanks,"  wrote  to  Trumbull 
the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  recognizing  these  his  serv 
ices — "  for  your  most  friendly  and  seasonable  reenforcement,  from  the 
burden  of  which  we  shall,  without  loss  of  time,  endeavor,  in  pursuance 
of  further  directions  from  the  Continental  Congress,  to  relieve  our  breth 
ren  of  Connecticut ;  and  should  your  stock  of  ammunition  permit  the 
increase  of  that  supply  which  you  have  generously  destined  for  that 
service,  we  shall  exert  ourselves  in  replacing  it  as  soon  as  we  shall  have 
it  in  our  power." 

"We  are  far,"  renewedly  wrote  the  New- York  Congress  to  Trumbull, 
speaking  again  of  the  arrangements  made  by  him  for  defending  the  for 
tresses  territorially  their  own — "  we  are  far  from  considering  them  as  an 
invasion  of  this  colony,  or  an  intermeddling  with  the  service  entrusted 
to  it,  as  you  may  collect  from  our  former  letter  on  this  subject;  but 
rather  esteem  them  as  a  most  friendly  interposition  for  the  safety  of  our 
frontiers,  and  as  the  wise  improvement  of  your  early  intelligence,  and 
your  state  of  readiness  to  provide  against  immediate  danger." 

So  passed  the  month  of  May  with  the  Governor,  in  con 
nection  with  affairs  at  the  North. 

Early  in  June,  he  was  earnestly  solicited  by  New- York  to 
send  powder  on  to  this  quarter,  the  supply  of  that  State 
being  so  insufficient  that  they  could  not  contribute  the 
least — as  her  Provincial  Congress  wrote  Trumbull  at  the 
time.  "Be  assured,  Sir,"  they  add,  "that  we  are  most  grate- 

*  "  It  is  matter  of  doubt  with  us,"  he  says  in  his  letter  to  Massachusetts  at  this 
time,  speaking  of  the  force  under  Hinman — "whether  the  abpve  mentioned  de 
tachment  of  troops,  ordered  by  this  Colony,  will  be  sufficient  for  the  import 
ant  purpose  for  which  they  are  destined;  but  we  recollect  that  Col.  Arnold  is 
now  on  the  spot,  with  a  commission  (as  we  understand)  to  raise  a  regiment  in  the 
pay  of  your  Province.  We  are  not  informed  how  far  he  has  proceeded  in  that 
design.  If  he  meets  with  success,  we  flatter  ourselves  that  his  .Regiment,  joined 
with  the  troops  we  have  sent,  will  be  able  to  maintain  their  ground,  arid  keep 
possession  of  those  important  posts. 

"  We  take  the  liberty  to  recommend  to  your  consideration  the  furnishing  such 
additional  supply  of  powder,  from  you,  as  you  shall  think  necessary  to  be  sent 
forward  for  the  supply  of  those  northern  posts.  I  am  very  sorry  to  have  it  to 
say,  that  we  are  credibly  informed  there  are  not  5001bs.  of  powder  in  the  City  of 
New  York ;  but  at  the  same  time  are  advised  that  means  are  taking  to  supply 
them  with  that  very  important  article." 


188  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

fully  sensible  of  the  cheerfulness  with  which  the  Government 
of  Connecticut  has  exerted  itself  to  support  the  important 
posts  of  Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga,  until  our  abilities 
may  enable  us  to  execute  that  trust  which  the  Continental 
Congress,  on  the  subject,  has  thought  proper  to  repose  in  us." 
Later  in  June,  Schuyler — then  in  command  at  the  Nortii — 
appealed  to  him  for  money  and  ammunition.  Colonel  Mott 
wrote  him  from  Fort  George,  asking  him  to  commission  Cap 
tain  Niles,  of  Norwich,  a  bold  and  able  sea  captain,  to  take 
command  of  one  of  the  vessels  on  the  lake.  With  all  these 
requests  Trumbull  promptly  complied — and  in  a  letter  to 
Arnold,  June  nineteenth,  urged  the  invasion  of  Canada — not 
as  an  undertaking  by  New-England  specially — for  the  Brit 
ish  army  at  Boston,  and  the  prospect  of  the  arrival  of  another 
at  New- York,  he  thought,  forbade  this  course — but  as  an  un 
dertaking  which  the  Continental  Congress  ought  to  move — 
and  he  communicated  his  thoughts,  and  the  despatches  which 
he  was  constantly  receiving  from  the  North,  to  Massachusetts, 
for  counsel  and  co-operation. 

And  to  Massachusetts  also,  particularly,  he  communicated 
an  interview  held  this  month  with  a  Deputation  from  the 
Oneida  Indians — an  interview  which  afterwards  was  re 
newed — and  which,  through  the  happy  management  of  the 
Governor — especially  by  his  securing  the  influence  in  the 
matter  of  President  Wheelock  of  Dartmouth  College,  and 
of  the  Indian  School  there — was  rendered  fruitful  of  good 
results  to  the  American  Cause,  by  withdrawing  the  tribe 
from  the  malign  influence  of  Sir  Guy  Johnson,  and  other 
noted  adherents  of  Great  Britain.* 

*  The  correspondence  between  Trumbull  and  Dr.  "Wheelock,  at  this  time,  was 
very  active.  "Wheelock  had  kept  his  first  Indian  School  at  Lebanon,  Ct.,  and 
was  on  intimate  terms  with  the  Governor.  "  Several  of  the  Indian  children,"  he 
wrote  him  early  in  the  spring  of  this  year,  from  Dartmouth — "from  some  of  the 
most  respectable  tribes,  are  now  at  the  Seminary,  and  may  be  considered  host 
ages  ;  Mr.  Dean  [who  had  been  sent  among  the  Indians  at  the  "West  by  Dr. 
Wheelock,  to  preserve  peace  in  the  frontier  settlements,  and  influence  them  to 
join  the  Colonies]  will  probably  bring  more ;  this  connection  is  our  surest  bul 
wark  against  invasion."—"  The  abilities  and  influence  of  Mr.  Dean,"  replied 
Trumbull,  "  to  attach  the  Six  Nations  to  the  interests  of  these  Colonies,  is  an 
instance  of  Divine  favor.  If  the  Indian  scholars  are  called  from  you  in  a  manner 
that  shows  a  design  of  hostilities,  please  to  give  the  earliest  intelligence  of  it.  You 
may  depend  on  my  care  to  do  nothing  that  may  tend  to  injure  you  or  your  cause." 


1775.  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  189 

June  twenty-seventh,  he  received  a  Speech  and  belt  from 
the  chiefs  and  warriors  of  these  Oneida  Indians,  and  by  order 
of  the  General  Assembly,  made  them  "  a  kind  and  friendly 
answer."*  He  also  procured  for  their  Deputation  a  belt  of 
wampum — and  besides,  much  to  the  gratification  of  the  In 
dians,  sent  them  on  in  a  wagon,  at  the  expense  of  the  State, 
to  view  the  Camp  near  Boston.  Of  all  these  proceedings  he 
gave  full  information  to  the  Authorities  of  New-England, 
and  sent  them  the  Speech  of  the  Indians.  "May  the  Su 
preme  Director  of  all  events,"  was  his  pious  and  patriotic 
wish  in  his  letter  to  Massachusetts  upon  this  occasion — "give 
wisdom,  stability,  and  union  to  all  our  counsels,  inspire  our 
soldiers  with  courage,  cover  their  heads  in  the  day  of  battle 
and  danger;  and  convince  our  enemies  of  their  mistaken 
measures,  and  that  all  attempts  to  deprive  us  of  our  rights 
are  injurious  and  vain ! " 

In  July,  the  Governor  sent  Schuyler  fifteen  thousand 
pounds  in  money,  and  forty  and  a  half  barrels  of  powder — 
all  he  could  spare — and  again  appealed  to  Congress  and  New- 
York  in  regard  to  requisitions  and  supplies.  "You  may 
rely,"  he  told  New- York — while  urging  them  to  send  on 
tents  to  Ticonderoga — that,  if  the  expense  of  supporting  the 
Northern  Army  "is  not  seasonably  defrayed  by  the  Conti 
nental  Congress,  this  Colony  will  not  fail  of  doing  so,  altho' 
it  has,  without  grudging,  advanced  near  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  pounds."f  Despatches  at  this  time  reached 
him  frequently  from  the  North,  and  he  was,  almost  con 
stantly,  employed  in  answering  them.  Ethan  Allen  gave 

*  "  The  Oneida  Indians  met  our  Speech  at  German  Flats,  and  expressed  great 
satisfaction  in  it — promised  an  Answer  in  ten  or  twelve  days." — Trumbull  to  kis 
son  Joseph,  Sep.  ±th,  1775. 

t  "  We  were  a  little  surprised,"  he  wrote  the  Delegates  in  Congress  from  Con 
necticut  at  this  time — Dyer,  Sherman,  and  Deane — July  seventh — "  that  so  large 
a  requisition  of  money,  especially,  was  made  upon  us  in  favor  of  Gen.  Schuyler, 
when  it  is  known  how  much  we  have  cheerfully  exhausted  ourselves;  and  we 
cannot  but  suspect  but  that  the  money  might  have  been  raised  with  equal  ease  in 
a  short  time,  either  in  Philadelphia  or  New- York.  However,  that  nothing  in  our 
power  might  be  omitted  to  promote  the  service,  the  Assembly  have  agreed  to 
advance  him  £15,000  pounds  ;  knowing  the  inability  of  other  States  with  respect 
to  the  other  article,  [powder,]  we  should  have  very  gladly  complied  with  the  full 
requisition,  but  it  was  impossible.  We  have  done  all  that  we  could,  and  are  only 
sorry  that  we  could  do  no  more." 


190  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  1T75. 

him  particular  notice,  that,  unless  an  army  was  marched  into 
Canada — a  plan  peculiarly  acceptable  to  the  Governor — the 
Indians  and  Canadians,  who  in  general  were  disposed  to  be 
neuter,  or  to  assist  the  United  Colonies,  would  be  compelled 
to  join  against  us.*  "Now,  Sir,  it  is  time  to  carry  Canada" 
wrote  to  him  Major  John  Brown.  "  It  may  be  done  with 
great  ease  and  little  cost,  and  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the 
Canadians  would  join  us.  There  is  great  defection  among 
them." — "  Is  it  not  high  time,"  responded  Trumbull,  address 
ing  both  Schuylerand  Congress — uto  proceed  into,  and  even 
hasten  forward  to  secure  the  government  of  Quebec,  and 
thereby  the  whole  Indian  strength  and  interest  in  our  favor? 
Is  there  anything  to  expect  from  the  present  Administration 
that  is  favorable  or  kind  ?  If  needful,  may  not  Col.  Water- 
bury  with  his  regiment  be  spared  to  the  northward  ?  We 
are  near  the  grand  scene  of  action ;  are  anxious  for  the  safety 
of  our  friends,  the  security  of  our  rights,  and  to  convince 
our  enemies  that  we  are  in  earnest,  and  that  the  object  in 
view  is  American  Liberty.  The  barrier  of  Virtue  is  to  be 
defended  and  maintained  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  life." — "Be 
assured,  Sir,"  replied  Schuyler,  "that  every  recommendation 
of  yours  will  claim  my  particular  attention." — "  The  critical 
hour  seems  to  hasten,"  exclaimed  Trumbull  to  his  son,  writ 
ing  him  also  at  this  time  about  affairs  at  the  North — "  May 
our  eyes  be  on  the  Lord  of  Hosts !  The  Lord  reigns ! " 

But  the  promise  of  the  moment  began  to  turn  dark.  Prep 
arations  are  making  by  General  Carleton  to  invade  the  Colo 
nies,  wrote  Samuel  Mott  from  the  North  to  the  Governor  of 
Connecticut,  on  the  third  of  August.  General  Schuyler 

*"  Your  letter  of  the  eighth  ultimo,"  writes  Allen,  among  other  things,  in 
reply  to  Trumbull — "gave  me  to  understand  that  my  painful  services  in  behalf 
of  my  country  were  noted  by  your  Honor.  My  letters  having  received  your 
patronage,  were  received  by  the  Honorable  Congress  with  that  additional  lustre 
they  needed.  *  *  Your  Honor's  inviolable  attachment,  and  unshaken  relig 
ious  perseverance  in  support  of  the  liberties  of  America,  manifested  from  the  era 
of  the  detestable  Stamp  Act,  have  not  only  entitled,  but  gained  you  the  love  and 
esteem  of  every  friend  to  his  country,  of  whatever  rank,  or  denomination.  That 
your  Honor  may  long  live,  and  sway  your  respectable  Colony  in  the  way  of  vir 
tue  and  liberty,  and  after  this  transitory  life  receive  the  unspeakable  reward  of 
social  virtue,  is  the  sincere  desire  of  him  who  is,  with  the  greatest  respect,  your 
Honor's  devoted,  most  obedient,  and  humble  servant, 

Ethan  Allen." 


1775.  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  191 

"drives  on  things  fast  as  he  can,  considering  the  hindrance 
he  has ;  but  what  can  be  done  in  the  war  with  but  few  men, 
and  less  provision  and  ammunition — and  not  a  tent  to  en 
camp  the  men  in." — The  troops  "sicken  alarmingly  fast," 
wrote  Schuyler  to  Trumbull  the  same  day — "and  without 
tents,  they  must  suffer  incredibly."*  Intelligence  of  the 
same  sort  reached  him  from  Ethan  Allen,  and  Colonel 
Hinman. 

Here  then  was  fresh  business  for  his  hands.  To  the  New- 
York  Congress,  therefore,  he  wrote,  pressing  them  again  to 
send  on  tents  for  Hinman's  regiment.  To  Mr.  Renssellaer,  a 
purveyor  of  New- York,  he  at  once  gave  a  permit  to  pur 
chase,  for  the  Northern  army,  four  hundred  barrels  of  pork — 
in  Connecticut — and  this  although  there  was  then  a  great 
scarcity  of  the  article  in  this  Colony.  That  arms  might  be 
in  good  condition,  he  sent  to  Schuyler  for  all  the  old  gun- 
barrels,  and  gun-locks,  at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point — 
that  they  might  be  transported  to  him,  to  be  repaired  for  use. 
"Our  enemies,"  he  at  the  same  time  wrote  Schuyler — re-as 
suring  him  for  the  Northern  advance — "are  the  ministerial 
troops  in  Canada,  while  the  Canadians  are  our  friends,  and 
will  join  us  at  a  time  when  they  are  able,  and  not  forced  to 
the  contrary  by  our  enemies.  The  Indians  will  join  the 
Canadians,  and  it  will  save  both  blood  and  treasure  to  make 
our  approach  while  our  enemies  are  few  and  everything 
looks  promising.  There  are  at  least  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
men  who  may  possibly  be  spared,  who  are  yet  in  this  Col 
ony,  to  assist  in  the  enterprise.  Surely  it  is  not  the  intention 
of  the  Continental  Congress  to  prevent  your  going  forward." 

At  the  beginning  of  September  he  was  informed,  in  confi 
dence,  by  General  Washington,  that  the  latter  was  about  to 
detach  ten  or  twelve  hundred  men  on  an  expedition  into 
Canada  by  way  of  the  Kennebec  River — that  the  detachment 
would  march  in  two  days — and  that  new  troops,  whom 
Trumbull  was  requested  particularly  to  supply,  would  be 
wanted  to  take  the  places  of  the  troops  about  to  leave. 

*  Fifteen  thousand  pounds  in  money  are  wanted,  he  added,  and  "all  the  am 
munition  you  can  spare,  for  it  cannot  be  had  in  New-York,  even  in  the  smallest 
quantity." 


192  CHAP.    XV. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

"With  this  call  Trumbull  immediately  complied — and  per 
haps  the  more  cheerfully,  inasmuch  as  his  own  feelings,  about 
this  time,  were  very  much  gratified  by  the  appointment  of 
his  son  Jonathan  to  the  post  of  Paymaster  General  for  the 
Northern  Army.  "  I  take  the  liberty  to  recommend  him," 
he  upon  this  occasion  wrote  to  General  Schuyler — "to  your 
kind  assistance  and  countenance.  I  trust  he  will  discharge 
his  duties  so  as  to  meet  your  approbation,  and  merit  your 
recommendation  to  the  Honorable,  General  Congress  of  the 
United  Colonies  in  America,  that  he  may  meet  a  fit  reward 
for  his  fatigue,  risk,  expense,  and  service." 

Hearing  about  this  time  that  some  jealousies  had  arisen 
between  the  New  York  and  Connecticut  troops — and  receiv 
ing  letters  which  complained  of  General  Schuyler,  and  even 
of  the  generalship,  to  some  extent,  of  Montgomery — Trum 
bull  interposed,  and  with  good  success,  to  restore  harmony. 
He  replied,  in  soothing  strains,  to  the  remonstrants.  "It  is 
unhappy,"  he  wrote  to  Congress,  and  to  Washington — "that 
jealousies  should  be  excited,  or  disputes  of  any  sort  be  liti 
gated  between  any  of  the  Colonies,  to  disunite  them  at  a  time 
when  our  liberty,  our  property,  and  our  all  is  at  stake.  *  * 
If  our  enemies  prevail,  which  can  happen  only  by  our  dis 
union,  our  jealousies  will  appear  then  altogether  groundless, 
and  all  our  disputed  claims  of  no  value  to  either  side." 

But  the  information  which  now  most  disquieted  the  Gov 
ernor,  was  that  which  related  to  sickness  among  the  troops  at 
the  North.  It  was  indeed  distressing.  Their  treatment,  he 
heard  from  Dr.  Young,  was  "not  what  it  should  be,"  and  his 
particular  instructions  on  this  matter  were  sought.  "  Let  the 
sick  be  placed  where  they  will  find  good  water,"  he  re 
sponded — "let  them  be  supplied  with  good  milk.  More 
tents  will  soon  reach  them  from  New  York.  I  will  send 
them  on  more  beeves.  I  doubt  not  it  will  recover  many  of 
them,  to  find  they  are  going  into  action ! "  Special  relief 
having  been  voted  by  Connecticut,  both  for  the  soldiers  sick 
at  Ticonderoga  and  vicinity,  and  for  those  who  were  on  the 
road  home — to  be  paid  for  by  this  State,  if  not  met  from  the 
purse  of  the  United  Colonies — Trumbull  looked  to  its  appli 
cation.  He  had  every  direction  enforced.  It  was  but  the 


1775.  CHAP.    XV. — TKUMBULL.  193 

beginning  of  humane  attention  on  his  part  towards  suffering 
soldiers  of  the  Kevolutionary  Army — as  we  shall  have  occa 
sion  hereafter  fully  to  observe. 

Hearing  from  Schuyler  in  November  that  affairs  then 
looked  promising  at  the  North,  he  wrote  him  a  characteristic 
letter. 

"  It  is  matter  for  an  abundant  rejoicing,"  he  says — "  that  the  Govern 
ment  is  in  the  hands  of  Him  who  is  possessed  of  all  perfection,  and  doth 
all  things  right ;  and  while  his  judgments  are  abroad  in  this  land,  may 
his  people  be  instructed  and  learn  righteousness.  While  the  United 
Colonies  do  sincerely  lament  the  unhappy  necessity  of  taking  up  arms, 
they  at  the  same  time  may  rejoice  with  thanksgiving  for  the  success  of 
those  arms ;  which,  if  they  do,  is  an  argument  to  support  our  hope  of 
future  prosperity.  I  do  therefore  reecho  my  hearty  congratulations  on 
your  kind  favor  of  the  7th  instant — and  am  in  hope  of  securing  and  de 
fending  the  province  of  Quebec  in  their  own  and  our  interest,  and  there 
by  to  circumvent  the  mischievous  design  of  rendering  that,  and  the  sav 
ages  under  its  influence,  a  scourge  and  ruin  to  the  present  rightful  pos 
sessors  of  these  Colonies." 

November  seventeenth,  he  received,  by  special  express,  the 
news  that  "  on  Friday,  the  third  instant,  the  strong  fortress 
of  St.  John  was  surrendered  to  the  American  arms."  It  was 
followed  soon  by  a  letter  from  Schuyler,  informing  him  of  the 
taking  of  Montreal.  Glorious  news  was  this  indeed  to  him 
who  had  so  earnestly  toiled  for  the  invasion  of  Canada! 
"The  events  announced,"  he  wrote  to  Congress  then — "are 
arguments  of  praise  to  the  Supreme  Director  of  all  events !  " 

17 


CHAPTER   XVI. 
1775. 

TRUMBULI,  supplies  the  Camp  at  Boston  -with,  fresh,  troops  and  stores. 
Some  of  the  powder  he  sent  told  at  Banker  Hill.  His  daughter  Faith 
an  eye-witness  of  this  battle.  Its  fatal  effect  upon  her.  TrumbuH'a 
conduct  upon  her  death.  He  sends  forces,  under  G-en.  Wooster,  and 
supplies,  to  New  York.  His  difficulty  at  this  time  in  procuring  supplies 
He  proclaims  an  embargo.  He  recommends  Congress  to  appoint  a 
National  Fast — which  is  done.  He  objects  to  their  renewed  Petition 
to  the  King,  but  on  other  points  harmonizes  with  their  action.  Con 
gress  highly  commends  his  course.  He  congratulates  Washington 
upon  his  appointment  as  Commander  in  chief.  Washington's  reply.  A 
difficulty  among  Connecticut  officers  on  Putnam's  promotion  to  the 
post  of  Brigadier  General.  Spencer  resigns.  Trumbull's  prudent 
management  of  the  case.  His  letter  to  Congress  on  the  subject.  His 
letter  to  Spencer.  Its  soothing  effect.  Spencer  returns  again  to  the 
Army. 

WE  turn  to  contemplate  Trumbull  now,  during  the  year 
1775,  in  other  departments  of  the  War. 

The  Battle  of  Lexington,  as  we  have  shown,  roused  him  to 
great  activity  in  providing  for  the  relief  of  Boston.  This 
relief  he  continued  to  afford.  To  the  troops  from  Connecti 
cut  already  in  camp  under  Putnam  and  Spencer,  he  soon 
added  most  of  the  regiment  under  Parsons — which  he  ordered 
on  from  New  London,  and  supplied  with  ammunition  from 
the  Colony  stores — besides  sending  to  Cambridge  "  with  the 
greatest  possible  secrecy  and  despatch,"  sixty  barrels  of 
powder — all  that  could  possibly  then  be  spared  from  Con 
necticut — together  with  a  small  quantity  obtained  from 
New  Jersey.  He  sent  cloth  also  to  Putnam  for  forty 
tents. 

Some  of  that  powder  told  in  June  at  Bunker  Hill — in  that 
deadly  fire  of  small  arms  which  twice  totally  broke  the  Brit 
ish  lines,  and  precipitated  them  back  to  their  landing  place, 
with  more  than  one  thousand  of  their  dead  left  on  the  field 
of  strife — a  majestic  and  tremendous  scene,  with  its  blaze  of 
more  than  five  hundred  houses  in  Charlestown,  added  to  the 


1775.  CHAP.    XVI. — TRUMBULL.  195 

continual  blaze  and  roar  of  artillery — a  scene  whose  havoc, 
in  full  view  from  the  heights  of  Boston  and  its  neighborhood, 
was  witnessed  by  thousands  of  intensely  agitated  spectators — 
and  among  the  rest,  particularly,  by  the  eldest  daughter  of 
Governor  Trumbull  himself.  To  her,  as  we  have  heretofore 
intimated,  the  spectacle  proved  fatal. 

"About  noon  of  that  day" — the  day  of  the  battle — writes  Colonel 
John  Trumbull — "  I  had  a  momentary  interview  with  my  favorite  sister, 
the  wife  of  Colonel,  afterwards  Gen.  Huntington,  whose  regiment  was  on 
its  march  to  join  the  army.  The  novelty  of  military  scenes  excited  great 
curiosity  throughout  the  country,  and  my  sister  was  one  of  a  party  of 
young  friends  who  were  attracted  to  visit  the  Army  before  Boston.  She 
was  a  woman  of  deep  and  affectionate  sensibility,  and  the  moment  of  her 
visit  was  most  unfortunate.  She  found  herself  surrounded,  not  by  "  the 
pomp  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war,"  but  in  the  midst  of  all  its  hor 
rible  realities.  She  saw  too  clearly  the  life  of  danger  and  hardship  upon 
which  her  husband  and  her  favorite  brother  had  entered,  and  it  overcame 
her  strong,  but  too  sensitive  mind.  She  became  deranged,  and  died  the 
following  November  at  Dedham.* 

A  sad  event  indeed — sad  to  all  her  friends — but  especially 
so  to  her  husband,  her  brother,  and  to  her  doating  father — 
to  all  of  whom  it  gave  the  most  poignant  grief — for  she  was 
a  lady  whose  "  benevolence,  obligingness,  and  affection,"  in 
their  estimation — as  was  expressed  by  her  husband  subse 
quently,  in  a  letter  to  his  brother-in-law  Joseph — were 
" without  a  parallel." — "You  have  seen,"  he  adds,  "the 
thousand  agreeable  and  tender  scenes  in  which  I  have  passed 
with  the  dear  partner  of  my  soul,  your  lovely  sister.  The 
law  of  kindness  was  ever  on  her  tongue  and  heart — but  she 
is  gone — and  gone,  I  trust,  to  scenes  of  uninterrupted  bliss. 
My  tears  must  and  will  flow."* 

*The  following  is  Gov.  Trumbull's  entry,  in  his  own  Family  Bible,  of  his 
daughter  Faith's  death  :— 

"Faith  d.  at  Ded.  Friday  Morning,  2tth  Nov.  1775." 

*"I  thank  the  God  of  all  mercies,"  he  continues,  "that  I  have  hope  in  my 
mourning.  Your  darling  sister  I  all  along  pleased  myself  would  be  restored.  If 
it  could  have  been  convenient  for  my  dear  sonf  to  have  taken  a  last  parting  look 
at  his  dear  mother,  I  should  have  been  glad — his  presence  might  have  soothed 
me — but  it  could  not  well  be." 

t  Col.  Jabez  Huntington — only  child  left  on  the  decease  of  the  mother,  and  at 
this  time  at  Lebanon  with  his  Grandfather.  He  died  at  Norwich,  Ct.,  not  many 
years  ago — in  high  estimation  for  his  worth. 


196  CHAP.    XVI. — TRUMBULL. 

But  though  the  joy  which  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  uni 
versally  inspired  in  the  American  heart,  was  in  the  bosom  of 
Governor  Trumbull  somewhat  clouded  by  the  melancholy 
association  of  that  contest  with  the  loss  of  a  beloved  daugh 
ter,  yet,  in  the  great  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged,  this  loss 
did  not  lead  him  in  the  least  "to  temporize  with  his  affection." 
He  seems  to  have  anticipated  the  bereavement.  Early  in 
October  he  had  written  for  his  daughter's  husband  to  leave 
the  army,  if  possible,  and  visit  her  at  Norwich,  where  she 
then  was.  "  She  is  very  low  in  her  spirits,  and  unwell,"  he 
said.  "  I  am  really  much  concerned  for  her."  But,  though 
sorely  afflicted,  he  wiped  "the  honorable  dew"  from  off  his 
cheeks.  He  gave  Christian  allayment  to  his  grief — and  kept 
steadily  on  in  the  discharge  of  his  public  duties — in  which 
sphere  we  turn  again  to  view  him. 

We  have  seen  him  raising  forces  and  supplies  for  the  East. 
We  find  him  at  the  same  time,  doing  the  same  thing  for  an 
opposite  quarter — for  New- York — where,  owing  to  the  in 
trigues  of  Governor  Tryon,  disaffection  to  the  American 
cause  began  openly  to  appear — where  the  avowal  of  a  deter 
mination  to  join  the  King's  standard  was  made,  it  was  re 
ported,  with  impunity — and  where  four  British  regiments — 
to  take  advantage  of  the  disaffection,  secure  the  city,  and 
possess  themselves  of  the  Hudson  river — were  daily  ex 
pected.  Trumbull,  therefore,  in  June,  sent  thither  a  body 
of  seventeen  hundred  troops  under  General  Wooster,  that 
had  already  been  raised  for  the  defence  of  Connecticut,  and 
stationed  at  Greenwich,  Stamford,  and  elsewhere  along  the 
coast  of  Long  Island  Sound. 

The  Provincial  Congress  of  New -York  had  applied  to  him 
for  this  force.  Wooster  had  informed  him  of  his  readiness 
to  march,  and  solicited  orders.  But  a  New- York  Commit 
tee — though  gratefhl  for  his  "kindness,"  they  said,  "in  send 
ing  troops  for  their  assistance  " — yet  requested  him  to  direct 
their  encampment  on  the  frontiers  of  Connecticut.  Trumbull, 
however,  did  not  heed  a  caution  which  he  deemed  somewhat 
timorous,  but  sent  the  divisions  on  to  Harlem,  where  they 
served  a  most  valuable  end  in  overawing  the  enemies  of  the 
American  cause,  and  in  strengthening  the  hands  of  its  friends. 


1775.  CHAP.     XVI. — TRUMBULL.  197 

A  part  of  them — four  hundred  and  fifty  men,  with  Wooster 
in  person — passed  over  to  Long  Island — and  there,  while 
aiding  to  guard  exposed  points  from  the  cruisers  of  the  en 
emy,  and  to  assist  defenceless  inhabitants  in  removing  their 
cattle  and  crops  to  places  of  security,  were  carefully  supplied 
by  Trumbull  himself,  to  the  extent  of  his  means,  with  the 
vital  article  of  powder.* 

This  supply,  as  well  as  that  of  provisions,  clothing,  and 
refreshments,  both  for  the  entire  force  of  Wooster  and  for 
the  Connecticut  Line  near  Boston — as  well  for  present  as  in 
anticipation  of  future  military  operations — gave  Governor 
Trumbull  much  anxiety. 

Provisions  of  every  kind,  on  account  of  the  demands  that 
had  already  been  made  for  the  army,  were  just  at  this  time 
very  scarce — and  by  order  of  the  General  Assembly,  there 
fore,  he  proclaimed  an  embargo  on  wheat,  rye,  Indian  corn, 
pork,  beef,  live  cattle,  peas,  beans,  butter,  cheese,  bread,  flour, 
and  every  kind  of  meal,  except  necessary  stores  for  vessels 
bound  to  sea.  This  embargo,  the  Governor  was  to  see  en 
forced — and  one  of  its  features,  particularly,  which  shows 
the  confidence  reposed  in  his  judgment,  added  much  to  his 
labor.  By  act  of  Assembly,  the  power  and  privilege  was 
reserved  to  himself  of  giving  permits  for  exportation,  such 
as  he  should  judge  necessary  and  expedient,  in  case  of  the 
public  service — a  power  and  discretion,  which,  as  we  might 
cite  numerous  examples  to  prove,  he  exercised  with  com 
mendable  prudence,  care,  and  benevolence. 

Meantime,   while  Trumbull  was  thus  busy  with  public 

*"Same  day,  at  eleven  o'clock, "he  wrote  Washington,  August  eleventh — 
"  I  received  a  letter  from  Brigadier  General  Wooster,  dated  the  9th,  at  the  Oyster 
Ponds,  on  Long  Island.  He  had  with  him  four  hundred  and  fifty  men,  besides 
militia,  designing  to  preserve  the  stock  at  that  place.  The  people  on  the  Island 
had  left  it.  He  applied  to  me  for  three  hundred  pounds  of  powder,  before  I  had 
made  my  answer  and  order  for  the  powder — which  I  gave,  notwithstanding  our 
exhausted  condition.  On  receipt  of  yours,  I  inserted  an  extract  from  it,  for  hia 
observation. 

"I  am  informed  a  quantity  of  powder  for  the  camp  is  to  be  at  Hartford  this 
evening,  and  more  to  follow  soon.  We  have  more  lately  arrived,  which  is  daily 
expected.  I  request  your  direction,  that  of  the  next  quantity  that  comes  to 
Hartford,  there  may  be  lodged  there  so  much  as  you  shall  judge  expedient.  Of 
what  is  expected  to  arrive  in  the  meantime,  I  shall  have  no  occasion  to  use  your 
allowance." 


198  CHAP.     XVI. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

duties,  the  National  Congress  was  in  session,  and  "Washing 
ton  was  appointed  Commander-in-chief  of  the  American 
Army.  To  Congress,  therefore,  he  transmitted  full  informa 
tion  of  the  transactions  in  Connecticut,  and,  as  he  had  done 
at  their  former  session,  gave  much  useful  counsel,  and  stimu 
lated  patriotic  action.  Among  other  things  he  recommended 
to  this  Body  the  appointment  of  a  Fast — "throughout  all 
the  distressed  American  Colonies" — and  his  recommendation 
was  adopted.  "  On  that  solemn  day,"  he  wrote,  therefore,  to 
President  Hancock — "in  which  you  have  called  the  Inhab 
itants  of  all  the  English  Colonies  on  this  Continent,  to  hu 
miliation,  fasting  and  prayer,  may  the  Almighty  and  most 
merciful  Governor  of  the  World  hear  the  voice  of  his  People, 
and  His  ears  be  attentive  to  the  voice  of  their  supplications — 
redeem  them  from  all  their  iniquities; — grant  an  answer  of 
Peace ;  and  convince  our  enemies  of  their  mistaken  meas 
ures,  and  of  their  injurious  and  vain  attempts  to  deprive  us 
and  unborn  millions  of  that  inestimable  Heavenly  Gift  of 
Freedom  and  Liberty ! " 

To  all  the  proceedings  of  the  National  Congress  Trumbull 
gave  his  unqualified  assent,  save  to  their  renewed  Petition  to 
the  King.  This  seemed  to  his  independent  heart  too  humble 
in  its  tone.  "Were  all  the  political  heads  joined  in  framing 
it  ?  " — he  inquired  of  Eliphalet  Dyer,  one  of  the  Delegates 
then  in  Congress.  "Doth  it  not  express  supererogatory  love 
for  the  dignity  and  welfare  of  the  Mother  Country  ?  Does  it 
not  show  a  love  to  our  brethren  more  than  to  ourselves,  and 
that  the  more  we  are  beaten,  the  better  we  shall  be  ?  It  may 
be  received  very  graciously,  but  cannot  constitutionally 
reach  the  royal  ear."  This  was  the  only  instance,  however, 
of  disagreement  between  Trumbul]  and  the  Congress  of  his 
countrymen  at  Philadelphia.  Upon  other  points  their  senti 
ments  were  in  closest  harmony — and  of  Trumbull's  manage 
ment  of  the  War,  here  at  its  outbreak,  so  far  as  his  own  serv 
ices  were  concerned,  Congress  entertained  the  most  exalted 
opinion — and  took  pains  to  express  it. 

"We  are  happy"  wrote  him  from  Philadelphia,  June 
twenty-sixth,  the  Delegates  from  Connecticut — "we  are 
happy  to  find  that  every  measure  within  your  power  for  the 


1775.  CHAP.    XVI.— TRUMBULL.  199 

public  good  has  been  uniformly  pursued  by  you,  and  that 
the  advice  from  the  Congress  has  been  rather  as  approving 
than  as  directing  your  conduct.  You  will  by  this  express 
receive  a  letter  from  the  President,  informing  you  of  the  ap 
pointment  of  General  Washington  and  other  General  Offi 
cers,  and  by  unanimous  order  of  the  Congress  expressing  the 
high  sense  they  have  of  your  important  services  to  the  United  Col 
onies  at  this  important  crisis  I" 

"  I  have  to  express,"  wrote  Trumbull  to  President  Han 
cock,  in  response  to  his  nattering  communication — u  the  great 
pleasure  and  satisfaction  it  gives  me  to  find  that  my  endeav 
ors  to  serve  the  common  cause  of  our  bleeding  country  in 
this  day  of  unnatural  Darkness,  meets  the  approbation  of  the 
Honorable  General  Congress  of  these  United  Colonies.  I 
am  sensible  that  care  and  zeal  for  the  defence  of  American 
Liberty,  attract  the  attention  and  regard  of  the  Honorable 
Members  of  that  august  Body,  whose  wisdom  and  prudence, 
patience,  time  and  labours,  are  exercised  and  employed  for 
its  security.  I  do  most  sincerely  thank  them  for  their  kind 
wishes.  Who  of  us  wish  to  live  in  a  land  where  Virtue  may 
not  dwell? — The  prosperity  and  happiness  of  our  country 
justly  deserve  the  utmost  exertion  of  all  my  abilities." 

The  appointment  of  Washington,  in  June,  to  the  chief 
command,  was  received  by  Trumbull  with  unalloyed  satisfac 
tion.  "  It  will  answer  great  and  salutary  purposes,  such  is  his 
character  " — he  said.  And  he  immediately  wrote  him  a  con 
gratulatory  letter — which,  filled  with  the  prevailing  spirit  of 
the  day,  and  tinged  with  the  writer's  religious  cast  of  mind, 
warmly  wishes  him  every  success,  and  invokes  Providence 
on  his  side. 

"Suffer  me,"  he  proceeds,  "to  join  in  congratulating  you  on  your  ap 
pointment  to  be  General  and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  troops  raised, 
or  to  be  raised,  for  the  defence  of  American  Liberty.  Men  who  have 
tasted  freedom,  and  who  have  felt  their  personal  rights,  are  not  easily 
taught  to  bear  with  encroachments  on  either,  or  brought  to  submit 
to  oppression.  Virtue  ought  always  to  be  made  the  object  of  govern 
ment  ;  justice  is  firm  and  permanent."  *  * 

"  The  Honorable  Congress  have  proclaimed  a  Fast  to  be  observed  by 
the  inhabitants  of  all  the  English  Colonies  on  this  continent,  to  stand  be- 


200  CHAP.    XVI. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

fore  the  Lord  in  one  day,  with  public  humiliation,  fasting,  and  prayer,  to 
deplore  our  many  sins,  to  offer  up  our  joint  supplications  to  God,  for 
forgiveness,  and  for  his  merciful  interposition  for  us  in  this  day  of  un 
natural  darkness  and  distress. 

u  They  have,  with  one  united  voice,  appointed  you  to  the  high  station 
you  possess.  The  supreme  Director  of  all  events  has  caused  a  wonder 
ful  union  of  hearts  and  counsels  to  subsist  amongst  us. 

"  Now  therefore,  be  strong  and  very  courageous.  May  the  God  of  the 
armies  of  Israel  shower  down  the  blessings  of  his  divine  providence  on 
you,  give  you  wisdom  and  fortitude,  cover  your  head  in  the  day  of  bat 
tle  and  danger,  add  success,  convince  our  enemies  of  their  mistaken 
measures,  and  that  all  their  attempts  to  deprive  these  colonies  of  their 
inestimable  constitutional  rights  and  liberties  are  injurious  and  vain." 

"  Allow  me,  Sir,"  wrote  Washington  in  reply,  "  to  return  you  my  sin 
cere  thanks  for  the  kind  wishes  and  favorable  sentiments  expressed  in 
yours  of  the  thirteenth  instant.  As  the  cause  of  our  common  country 
calls  us  both  to  an  active  and  dangerous  duty,  I  trust  that  Divine  Provi 
dence,  which  wisely  orders  the  affairs  of  men,  will  enable  us  to  discharge 
it  with  fidelity  and  success.  The  uncorrupted  choice  of  a  brave  and  free 
people  has  raised  you  to  deserved  eminence.  That  the  blessings  of 
health,  and  the  still  greater  blessing  of  long  continuing  to  govern  such  a 
people,  may  be  yours,  is  the  sincere  wish,  Sir,  of  yours,  &c." 

Thus  beautifully  did  the  two  patriots — Trumbull  and 
Washington — at  the  very  outset  of  our  War  for  Independ 
ence,  commence  an  intercourse,  which,  as  the  emergencies  of 
the  struggle  brought  them  more  and  more  together,  cement 
ed  soon  into  the  closest  friendship  and  correspondence. 
Upon  Trumbull — "  one  of  the  firmest  patriots  and  best  men 
that  his  country  has  produced,"  says  Sparks — "General 
Washington  relied  as  one  of  his  main  pillars  of  support." 
A  remark  signally  true !  Upon  no  one,  we  think  it  can  most 
safely  be  affirmed,  was  the  Father  of  his  Country  destined  to 
lean  so  much,  for  aid  and  counsel,  as  on  the  Governor  of 
Connecticut.  The  voices  of  both,  as  if  they  "  had  been  in 
corporate,"  were  to  sound  ever  on  one  glorious  key  of  patri 
otism.  Emphatically,  their  "  double  bosoms  "  were  "  to  seem 
to  wear  one  heart." 

At  the  same  time  with  congratulation  to  Washington  upon 
his  appointment  to  the  chief  command,  Trumbull  had  an  op 
posite  duty — one  of  condolence  and  conciliation — to  perform 
towards  other  distinguished  officers  in  the  American  Army. 


1775. 


CHAP.    XVI. — TKUMBULL.  201 


Under  the  new  establishment  by  Congress,  General  Spencer 
and  General  Wooster  of  Connecticut  had  been  both  super 
seded  in  rank  by  the  promotion  of  Israel  Putnam — their 
inferior  in  grade  in  the  Colonial  service — to  the  post  of  Briga 
dier-General. 

This  procedure  touched  military  pride  in  its  most  sensi 
tive  point,  and  led  Spencer,  among  others,  to  quit  the  army 
in  disgust.  A  warm  remonstrance  in  his  favor,  from  about 
forty-five  officers,  followed  his  resignation — in  which  they 
deprecated,  "  as  injurious  to  the  morals,  good  order,  and  dis 
cipline  of  the  troops,"  that  alteration  in  rank  by  which  the 
first  in  command  of  the  Connecticut  forces  at  Koxbury — who 
was  "respected  by  his  officers,  and  loved  by  his  soldiers" — 
was  "  degraded,"  they  said,  from  his  position.  And  they 
called  on  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  to  interfere 
for  their  own  and  for  the  satisfaction  of  their  affronted  Gen 
eral.  The  Assembly  at  once  instructed  Trumbull  to  urge 
Spencer  to  return  to  the  Army,  and  to  acquaint  Congress 
with  the  circumstances.  He  was  to  express  to  this  Body  the 
high  esteem  in  which  they  held  both  Spencer  and  Wooster — 
to  state  their  dissatisfaction  at  the  injustice  in  appointments 
done  to  those  officers,  but  to  testify  at  the  same  time  to  "the 
singular  merit"  of  General  Putnam — and  to  request  Con 
gress,  if  practicable,  "to  devise  some  method  of  obviating 
the  probable  inconveniences  that  might  ensue." 

This  delicate  duty  Trumbull  discharged  with  fidelity. 

"  I  am  desired  by  the  Assembly,"  he  wrote  the  Delegates  in  Congress 
from  Connecticut,  July  seventh — "to  acquaint  you  that  Genls  Wooster 
and  Spencer  are  held  in  great  estimation  by  them,  and  bv  the  officers 
and  troops  under  their  command.  And  from  the  intelligence  lately  re 
ceived  from  the  army,  they  are  under  some  apprehensions  that  great 
inconvenience  will  be  the  consequence  of  the  alteration  made  by  the  Con 
gress,  in  the  rank  and  station  of  those  generals.  At  the  same  time  they 
have  the  highest  sense  of  Gen.  Putnam's  singular  merit  and  services, 
and  request,  if  it  be  practicable,  that  some  method  may  be  devised  to 
obviate  the  difficulties  that  are  apprehended."  We  wish  the  order 
already  adopted  with  our  generals,  he  further  said — "had  been  pre 
ferred,  and  fear  Generals  Wooster  and  Spencer  will  think  they  have  rea 
son  to  complain.  Indeed  we  should  rather  have  expected  that  a  matter 
of  so  much  delicacy  would  have  been  first  submitted  to  the  approbation 


202  CHAP.    XVI. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

of  the  Assembly,  before  it  was  finally  fixed.     However,  we  will  do  the 
best  we  can  to  prevent  its  being  any  prejudice  to  the  service." 

While  thus  using  his  influence  with  Congress  in  favor  of 
Spencer,  and  to  satisfy  his  troops,  Trumbull  also  dealt  di 
rectly  and  earnestly  with  the  General  himself.  He  wrote  to 
him.  He  had  a  long  conference  with  him  at  his  own  house 
at  Lebanon.  "By  the  love  of  his  native  land,"  he  conjured 
him — as  the  General  Assembly  requested — "  to  call  to  mind 
the  signal  affection  of  his  country  towards  him,  so  often  test 
ified,"  and  "not  precipitately  to  resign  his  command." 
Such  a  course,  he  assured  him,  would  distress  troops  that 
were  "  attached  to  him  by  the  warmest  affection  and  duty," 
and  would  "give  great  dissatisfaction  and  anxiety  to  his 
country,  which  had  placed,  and  continued  to  place  high  con 
fidence  in  his  wisdom,  prudence,  integrity,  and  military  skill." 

This  soothing  treatment  had  its  effect.  General  Spencer — 
bearing  with  him  grateful  letters  from  Trumbull  to  Wash 
ington — was  pursuaded  to  return  to  the  army — a  course — 
considering  that  he  was  now  to  serve  under  an  officer  whom 
he  had  himself  formerly  commanded — which  was  highly 
creditable  to  his  patriotism,  and  which  at  the  same  time  re 
flected  honor  on  the  man  who  so  pleasantly  had  conciliated 
his  pride,  vindicated  his  reputation,  and  ensured  the  continu 
ance  of  his  valuable  services  to  his  native  land. 


CHAPTE  R    XVII. 
1775. 

A  COUNCIL  of  Safety  organized  to  aid  Governor  Trumbull.  The  sessions 
of  this  Council,  and  Trumbull's  efficiency  as  its  Head  He  continues 
active  in  furnishing  troops  and  supplies.  He  is  appointed  by  Congress 
to  confer  -with  Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Harrison,  and  Mr.  Lynch,  about  the 
army.  A  difference  between  himself  and  Gen.  Washington  in  regard 
to  certain  new  levies.  Correspondence  concerning  it  It  is  happily 
reconciled. 

FROM  the  time  of  Washington's  appointment  to  the  chief 
command,  on  the  close  of  the  year  1775 — the  main  American 
Army  lay  encamped  around  Boston — hemming  the  British 
troops  within  the  city  by  land,  and  strengthening  itself,  after 
the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  for  further  collision  with  the  foe — 
and  Trumbull,  as  before,  continued  to  contribute  all  in  his 
power  towards  furnishing  it  with  troops  and  supplies.  He 
had  now — to  unite  with  him  in  his  arduous  task — a  Council 
of  Safety,  as  it  was  termed — which,  at  the  May  session  of  the 
General  Assembly,  had  been  appointed  to  aid  the  Governor, 
when  the  Legislature  was  not  sitting,  in  directing  the  marches 
and  stations  of  troops,  and  in  supplying  them  "  with  every 
matter  and  thing  that  should  be  needful."  The  Governor 
was  empowered  to  convene  this  Council  on  all  important 
occasions — and  five  of  them  might  form  a  quorum  to  do 
business  in  all  cases  where  great  dispatch  was  required.* 

Governeur  Morris — writing  of  his  own  duties  as  Head  of 
Committees  in  the  Continental  Congress — remarks,  that  "  the 
Chairman  received  and  answered  all  letters  and  other  appli 
cations,  took  every  step  which  he  deemed  essential,  prepared 
reports,  gave  orders,  and  the  like,  and  merely  took  the  mem 
bers  of  a  Committee  into  a  chamber,  and  for  the  form's  sake 
made  the  needful  communications,  and  received  their  appro- 

*  Its  first  members  were  Matthew  Griswold,  William  Pitkin,  Roger  Sherman, 
Abraham  Davenport,  William  Williams,  Titus  Hosmer,  Benjamin  Payne,  Gen. 
James  Wadsworth,  Benjamin  Huntington,  William  Hillhouse,  Thaddeus  Burr, 
Nathaniel  Wales  Jr.,  Daniel  Sherman,  and  Andrew  Adams — fourteen  in  all. 


204  CHAP.     XVII. — TKUMBULL. 

bation,  which  was  given  of  course.  Necessity,"  he  adds, 
"  preserving  the  democratical  forms,  assumed  the  monarchical 
substance  of  business."  This  description  applies,  in  good 
degree,  to  Trumbull's  post  as  Chairman  of  the  Connecticut 
Council  of  Safety.  He  convened  them  often  during  the 
War — in  fact,  for  their  Body,  a  prodigious  number  of  times — 
nine  hundred  and  thirteen  days  in  all — upon  each  one  of  which 
days  he  was  himself  personally  present !  He  consulted  with 
them  carefully.  They  were  men,  undoubtedly,  of  weight 
and  wisdom.  But  he  was  emphatically  their  leading  spirit. 
He  was  the  organ  of  their  resolves — upon  him  the  great  bulk 
of  duty  devolved. 

So  we  find  him,  during  the  period  now  under  considera 
tion,  executing  in  person  the  business  of  furnishing  troops, 
and  of  procuring  and  forwarding  supplies — now  flour,  par 
ticularly  from  Norwich* — now,  from  various  quarters,  beef 
and  pork — now  blankets — now  arms — but  especially,  at  all 
times,  whenever  and  wherever  he  could  procure  it,  powder — 
the  manufacture  of  which  vital  commodity  he  stimulated 
through  committees  appointed  to  collect  saltpetre,  in  every 
part  of  the  State.  "The  necessities  of  the  army  are  so  great " 
for  this  article,  wrote  Washington  to  him  almost  constantly 
at  this  time — "that  all  that  can  be  spared  should  be  for 
warded  with  the  utmost  expedition." — "Soon  as  your  ex 
pected  supply  of  powder  arrives,"  wrote  his  son  in  law  Colo 
nel  Huntington  from  Cambridge,  August  fourteenth — "I 

*"  There  are,"  he  wrote  Washington,  July  seventeenth — "thirteen  hundred 
and  ninety-nine  barrels  of  flour  come  to  the  care  of  Colonel  Jedediah  Hunting- 
ton,  of  Norwich,  for  the  use  of  the  army,  which  I  have  ordered  forward. 
The  busy  season  with  the  farmers  renders  its  speedy  transportation  difficult. 
Please  to  advise  of  the  need  of  hurry,  and  where  it  shall  be  ordered  to  be 
delivered. 

"  Our  Assembly  supplied  Major-General  Schuyler  with  fifteen  thousand  pounds 
in  cash,  and  forty  barrels  of  another  necessary  article.  The  brig  Nancy,  Thomas 
Davis,  master,  which  arrived  at  Stonington  with  molasses,  is  removed  to  Nor 
wich.  She  hath  on  board  eighteen  or  nineteen  thousand  gallons.  The  Commit 
tee  of  Inspection  and  Correspondence,  I  trust,  will  take  proper  care  respecting 
both  vessel  and  cargo. 

"  The  road  by  my  door  being  the  nearest  for  post-riding  from  Cambridge  to 
Philadelphia,  I  shall  be  obliged,  whenever  your  Excellency  has  occasion  to  send 
to  that  city,  if  the  rider  may  be  directed  this  way,  and  call  on  me,  for  the  con 
venience  of  any  despatches  I  may  have  occasion  to  forward  by  him.  Fessenden 
has  passed  this  way  more  than  once." 


1775.  CHAP.    XVII. — TRUMBULL.  205 

imagine  General  Putnam  will  kick  up  a  dust.  He  has  got 
one  floating  battery  launched,  and  another  on  the  stocks." 
The  powder  was  sent — at  one  time  six  large  wagon  loads — 
and  at  the  same  time  two  more  for  New  York,  on  account 
of  an  expected  attack  in  that  direction.*  "  Our  medicine 
chests  will  soon  be  exhausted,"  wrote  Huntington  at  the  same 
time.  The  medicine  chests  were  replenished.  And  before 
September,  Trumbull  had  so  completely  drained  his  own 
State  of  the  materials  for  war,  that  he  was  obliged  to  write 
Washington,  and  inform  him  that  he  could  not  then  afford 
any  more. 

As  regards  troops,  in  July  he  sent  to  the  Camp  at  Cam 
bridge  two  companies  of  Wooster's  regiment  that  had  been 
stationed  at  New  London — ordered  the  Colonels  of  the 
seventh  and  eighth  regiments  of  the  Colony  to  march  their 
respective  forces  to  the  same  point — and  was  closely  occupied 
also  in  giving  commissions,  and  taking  measures  for  raising 
a  further  body  of  fourteen  hundred  men  that  had  been 
ordered  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  was  to  be  formed  into 
two  regiments  of  ten  companies  each,  and  be  equipped  for 
the  special  defence  of  the  Colony. f 

*  "  The  capital  object  of  powder,"  wrote  Richard  Henry  Lee  from  Philadelphia 
to  Washington,  August  first,  "we  [Congress]  have  attended  to  as  far  as  we  could 
by  sending  you  the  other  day  six  tons,  and  to-morrow  we  shall  propose  sending 
six  or  eight  tons  more,  which,  with  the  supplies  you  may  get  from  Connecticut, 
and  such  further  ones  from  here  as  future  expected  importations  may  furnish, 
will,  I  hope,  enable  you  to  do  all  that  this  powerful  article  can  in  good  hands 
accomplish." 

t"On  the  1st  instant,"  he  wrote  Gen.  Washington  from  Lebanon,  July  seven 
teenth — "I  met  the  Honorable  Assembly  of  this  Colony,  to  deliberate  on  the 
urgent  and  pressing  reasons  sent  us  from  the  Massachusetts  for  an  immediate 
augmentation  of  troops  from  this  Colony.  Our  Assembly  agreed  to  augment 
with  two  regiments  of  seven  hundred  men  each,  who  are  now  raising  to  join  the 
Continental  Army.  It  was  wished  that  we  could  have  the  advice  and  direction 
of  the  Congress,  or  your  Excellency,  before  we  took  this  step,  but  thought  the 
present  critical  situation  of  our  affairs  would  not  admit  the  delay  of  obtaining  it. 
Since  your  arrival  at  Camp  before  Boston,  views  and  considerations  of  their  situ 
ation  and  circumstances  I  shall  gladly  be  advised  of,  and  shall  attend  your  re 
quest  for  the  hastening  and  marching  the  men."  \ 

%  Two  days  after  the  letter  from  which  we  have  just  quoted  was  written,  a 
"  direction  of  the  Congress,"  which  Trumbull  was  anticipating,  passed  that  Body. 
But  it  was  needless  as  regards  his  action,  as  the  following  passage  from  a  letter 
by  him  to  Washington,  dated  July  thirty-first,  shows. 

"  By  the  resolve  of  Congress  of  the  19th  instant,"  he  says,  "  it  is  recommended 
18 


206  CHAP.    XVII. — TRUMBULL. 


1775. 


In  September,  lie  sent  to  Washington  another  body  of  new 
levies  that  had  been  stationed  to  defend  the  sea-coast  of  the 
Colony — and  in  December  was  again  engaged  in  raising  and 
forming  into  regiments,  still  another  body  of  troops — to  con 
sist  of  one-fourth  part  of  the  militia  of  the  Colony,  together 
with  such  able-bodied  persons,  not  included  in  any  militia 
roll,  as  should  be  inclined  to  enlist — and  to  be  in  readiness, 
all  "as  Minute-Men"11 — for  the  defence  of  Connecticut,  and  of 
the  United  Colonies.  For  the  support  of  the  troops  now 
mentioned,  Trumbull  was  also  engaged  in  providing  money — 
especially  for  those  in  the  service  of  the  Continent — whose 
accounts — to  the  amount  in  one  instance  of  fifty,  and  in  an 
other  of  sixty  thousand  pounds — he  transmitted,  thoroughly 
prepared,  to  Congress  for  settlement — and  at  the  same  time  he 
sent  on  to  this  Body  two  Frenchmen — Ferret  and  De  Flic- 
cure — who  were  proposing  to  aid  the  American  cause  by 
furnishing  military  stores. 

Thus  active  was  the  Governor  of  Connecticut,  the  present 
year,  for  the  Army  around  Boston.  And  he  received  from 
Congress  signal  proof  of  their  confidence  in  his  knowledge 
and  experience  by  his  own  appointment,  in  October,  together 
with  a  few  others,  to  confer  with  a  special  committee  raised 

to  the  New  England  Colonies  to  complete  the  deficiencies  in  the  regiments  be 
longing  to  them  respectively. 

"  I  have  not  been  informed  of  any  deficiencies  in  the  number  of  troops  sent 
from  Connecticut.  It  is  recommended  also  to  this  Colony  to  complete  and  send 
forward  to  the  Camp  before  Boston,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  fourteen  hun 
dred  men  lately  voted  by  our  assembly.  The  25th  instant  I  sent  orders  to  the 
Colonels  of  the  last  named  regiments  to  march  forthwith  to  the  Camp  be 
fore  Boston,  by  subdivisions,  if  all  were  not  in  readiness.  I  expect  many  of  the 
companies  will  begin  their  march  this  day,  and  that  the  whole  will  move  forward 
very  soon." 

July  seventh,  in  a  letter  to  the  Delegates  in  Congress  from  Connecticut,  Trum 
bull  says — "As  the  expense  we  are  daily  incurring  is  so  very  great,  we  should  be 
extremely  glad  to  find  that  the  Continental  currency  is  in  such  forwardness  as  to 
be  applied  to  the  purpose  of  equipping  and  furnishing  these  troops  ;  should  this 
be  the  case,  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  apply  for  the  money,  and  forward  it  to  me 
with  all  despatch.  We  estimate  the  present  expense  at  £40,000.  It  will  be  so 
much  more  convenient  and  less  expensive  for  our  troops  stationed  at  New  York, 
by  order  of  Congress,  to  be  supplied  with  provisions  &c.,  by  New  York,  than 
from  us,  that  we  hope  the  Congress  will  direct  the  Convention  of  that  province 
to  furnish  them  during  their  residence  there,  in  the  same  manner  as  this  colony  has 
agreed  to  do — less  than  we  have  engaged  them,  I  need  not  tell  you,  will  by  no 
means  give  them  satisfaction." 


1775.  CHAP.    XVII. — TRUMBULL.  207 

by  Congress — Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Harrison,  and  Mr.  Lynch — 
"  touching  the  most  effectual  method  of  continuing,  support 
ing,  and  regulating  a  Continental  Army."* 

Among  the  troops  sent  by  Trumbull  to  the  East,  we  have 
stated,  were  some  new  levies  that  had  been  stationed  to  defend 
the  sea-coast  of  Connecticut.  His  retention  of  these  troops 
for  awhile,  for  this  purpose,  brought  him  into  a  correspond 
ence  with  General  Washington  which  was  somewhat  tart — 
and  which — as  the  only  instance  of  a  difference  between 
these  remarkable  men — deserves  particular  mention. 

On  the  fifth  of  September  Trumbull  wrote  to  Washington 
assigning  the  particular  reasons  for  the  detention  of  these 
troops.  He  informed  him  that  the  coasts  of  Connecticut  were 
kept  in  continual  alarm — that  they  were  infested  by  ministe 
rial  troops  and  transports — that  three  ships  of  war,  with 
thirteen  other  vessels,  had  been  seen  off  Fisher's  Island  and 
in  the  Sound  but  the  day  before — that  New  London  and 
Stonington  were  each  in  great  fear  of  an  attack — and  that  for 
the  defence  of  these  two  places — as  well  as  for  that  of  some 
other  points  of  the  coast — as  "absolutely  necessary  for  their 
security  at  present" — he  had  stationed  the  new  levies  from 
Stonington  on  to  Connecticut  Kiver,  and  four  additional  com 
panies  west  of  that  river.  He  hoped,  he  wrote,  that  this  use 
of  the  new  levies,  until  the  danger  was  over,  would  neither 
injure  or  hinder  any  of  the  operations  around  Boston. 

To  the  contents  of  this  letter  Washington  paid  no  atten 
tion,  but  by  sending  on,  September  eighth,  a  peremptory 
requisition  for  the  levies,  and  informing  Trumbull  that  by  a 
resolution  of  Congress,  troops  on  the  Continental  Establish 
ment  were  not  to  be  employed  for  the  defence  of  the  coasts, 

*  Hancock,  the  President  of  Congress,  nnder  date  of  Sept.  30,  1775,  thus  writes 
to  him  on  this  subject:  "As  there  are  sundry  matters  contained  in  your  letters 
which  are  of  great  importance,  and  on  which  the  Congress,  before  they  come  to  a 
final  determination,  are  desirous  to  have  the  advantage  of  your  experience  and 
knowledge,  they  have  appointed  three  of  their  numbers,  Mr.  Lynch,  Dr.  Frank 
lin,  and  Mr.  Harrison,  to  wait  on  you,  &c." 

Trumbull  in  his  response,  dated  Oct.  9th,  1775,  and  addressed  to  General 
Washington,  speaks  of  the  Assembly  of  Connecticut  as  detaining  him,  and  says — 
"  Had  the  meeting  been  earlier,  it  would  have  afforded  me  satisfaction  to  have 
attended,  given  me  the  pleasure  of  waiting  on  you  and  the  other  gentlemen, 
"besides  gratifying  my  curiosity  to  see  the  works  the  army  has  made." 


208  CHAP.    XVII. — TEUMBULL.  1775. 

or  of  any  particular  Province — the  militia  being  deemed 
competent  for  that  service.  "Sir,"  he  wrote  from  Cam 
bridge — "upon  the  receipt  of  this  you  will  please  to  give 
directions  that  all  the  new  levies  march  immediately  to  this 
camp." 

Trumbull  was  touched  by  the  General's  neglect  to  notice 
the  exigency  which  had  instigated  his  own  course  with  the 
troops,  and  with  the  somewhat  unusual  tone  of  positiveness  in 
his  letter. 

"I  have  received,"  he  therefore  wrote  to  Washington,  September 
fifteenth — "  your  Excellency's  letter  of  the  8l  h  instant  by  the  express, 
who  was  detained  by  sickness,  and  did  not  deliver  it  till  the  12th,  in  the 
evening.  *  *  Your  peremptory  requisition  is  fully  complied  with  ;  all 
our  new  levies  will  be  at  your  camp  with  all  convenient  expedition. 

"  At  the  time  they  were  by  your  direction  to  remain  in  the  Colony,  on 
some  reason  to  suspect  a  remove  from  Boston  to  New  York,  that  they 
might  be  able  to  give  them  more  speedy  opposition,  I  ordered  Colonel 
Webb  of  our  seventh  regiment,  his  men  being  raised  in  the  western  part 
of  the  Colony,  to  take  his  station,  with  three  or  four  companies,  at  Green 
wich,  the  nearest  town  of  this  Colony  to  New  York ;  his  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  and  Company  at  New  Haven ;  the  residue  of  his  and  Colonel 
Huntington's,  who  were  forward  in  their  march,  one  company  in  Norwich, 
and  the  rest  to  New  London.  Last  week  I  sent  orders  to  Colonel  Webb 
to  march  the  companies  with  him  to  Newhaven,  to  be  on  his  way  so 
much  nearer  to  your  camp. 

"I  am  surprised  that  mine  of  the  5th  instant  was  not  received,  or  not 
judged  worthy  of  notice,  as  no  mention  is  made  of  it. 

"  Stonington,"  he  proceeds  in  farther  justification  of  his  conduct,  "  has 
been  attacked  and  severely  cannonaded,  and  by  Divine  Providence 
marvellously  protected. 

"New  London  and  Norwich  are  still  so  menaced  by  the  ministerial 
ships  and  troops,  that  the  militia  cannot  be  thought  sufficient  for  their 
security,  and  it  is  necessary  to  throw  up  some  intrenchments.  We  are 
obliged  actually  to  raise  more  men  for  their  security,  and  for  the  towns  of 
Newhaven  and  Lyme.  I  hoped  some  of  the  new  levies  might  have  been 
left  here  till  these  dangers  here  were  over,  without  any  injury  to  your 
operations.  I  own  that  it  must  be  left  to  your  judgment.  Yet  it  would 
have  given  me  pleasure  to  have  been  acquainted  that  you  did  consider  it. 

"  I  thank  Divine  Providence  and  you  for  this  early  warning  to  great 
care  and  watchfulness,  that  so  the  union  of  the  Colonies  may  be  settled 
on  a  permanent  and  happy  basis. 

"  I  have  before  me  your  more  acceptable  letter  of  the  9l  h  instant. 
The  necessities  of  the  Colony  to  supply  our  two  armed  vessels,  to  furnish 


1775. 


CHAP.    XVII.— TRUMBULL.  209 


the  men  necessarily  raised  for  the  defence  of  our  seaports  and  coasts,  and 
to  raise  the  lead  ore,  which  appears  very  promising,  prevent  our  being  able 
to  spare  more  than  half  a  ton,  which  is  ordered  forward  with  expedition. 
Before  the  necessity  of  raising  more  men  appeared,  we  intended  to  send 
a  ton. 

"  You  may  depend  on  our  utmost  exertions  for  the  defence  and  security 
of  the  constitutional  rights  and  liberties  of  the  Colonies,  and  of  our  own 
in  particular.  None  has  shown  greater  forwardness,  and  thereby  rendered 
itself  more  the  object  of  ministerial  vengeance." 

In  reply  to  this  letter,  General  Washington,  September 
twenty-first,  expressed  regret  at  any  misconstruction  of  his 
purposes.  He  assured  the  Governor  that  nothing  on  his  part 
"was  intended  that  might  be  construed  into  disrespect."  He 
said  that  he  had  "  long  been  sensible  that  it  would  be  impossi 
ble  to  please,  not  individuals,  but  particular  provinces,  whose 
partial  necessities  would  occasionally  call  for  assistance  " — and 
concluded  with  the  remark  that  "the  spirit  and  zeal  of  Con 
necticut"  were  "unquestionable,"  and  that  he  hoped  it  would 
not  suffer  from  the  alarm  on  the  coast. 

"  I  have  no  disposition,"  was  the  happy  response  of  Trum- 
bull  to  this  epistle — "to  increase  the  weight  of  your  burdens, 
which,  in  the  multiplicity  of  your  business,  must  be  suffi 
ciently  heavy,  nor  inclination  to  disturb  the  harmony  so 
necessary  to  the  happy  success  of  our  public  operations.  I 
am  persuaded  no  such  difficulty  will  any  more  happen.  It 
is  unhappy  that  jealousies  should  be  excited,  or  disputes  of 
any  sort  be  litigated  between  any  of  the  colonies,  to  disunite 
them  at  a  time  when  our  liberty,  our  property,  our  all  is  at 
stake.  If  our  enemies  prevail,  which  our  disunion  may  occa 
sion,  our  jealousies  will  then  appear  frivolous,  and  all  our 
disputed  claims  of  no  value  to  either  side." 

Thus — his  feelings  soothed  by  kind  explanations  from 
Washington — his  discontent  softened  by  the  consideration  of 
public  harmony — thus  magnanimously  did  Trumbull  close 
the  only  painful  correspondence  he  ever  had  with  the  Com 
mander-in-chief  of  the  American  armies.  That  the  course 
he  took  with  the  troops — though  contrary  to  the  established 
policy  of  Congress,  as  this  Body  took  occasion  subsequently 
to  say — was  yet — under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
18° 


210  CHAP.    XVII. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

under  the  pressing  emergency  of  danger  that  then  existed — 
warranted,  we  have  not  a  doubt — especially  so  when  we  con 
sider  the  fact  that  it  was  by  Washington's  own  particular 
order  that  the  new  levies  had  been  retained  in  Connecticut 
up  to  the  time  when  he  demanded  their  removal  to  Cam 
bridge—having  "had  some  reason,"  as  he  wrote,  "to  expect 
a  remove  from  Boston  to  New  York" — in  which  case  these 
new  troops  would  have  been  able  "to  give  more  speedy  op 
position  to  the  enemy."  But  the  difference  between  himself 
and  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  was  all  closed,  as  we  have 
seen,  speedily,  and  in  a  manner  highly  creditable  to  both  the 
parties  concerned.  Sweet  peace  ever  after  reigned  in  their 
counsellings.  The  friendships  of  Scipio  and  Lelius,  or  of 
Theseus  and  Pirithous,  or  of  Orestes  and  Py lades — though 
they  ran  in  different  channels — never  ran  more  fondly,  or 
with  a  more  perfect  coincidence  of  interests,  than  those  of  the 
great  Father  of  our  Country  and  Trumbull,  during  the 
remainder  of  their  lives. 


C  HAPTE  R    XVI  I  I. 
1775. 

TRUMBULL  in  connection  with  the  sea  coast  defence  of  Connecticut  The 
dangers  upon  the  coast,  from  the  enemy,  "both  to  property  and  per 
son — what  they  were.  Attempted  seizure  of  Gov.  Griswold,  and  of 
other  leading  whigs — as  G-en.  Washington — Gen.  Schuyler — Gen.  Silli- 
man — Gov.  Clinton — and  Gov.  Livingston.  Trumhull  a  special  ohject 
of  the  enemy's  vengeance.  A  Tory  threat  against  him.  A  price  was 
set  on  his  head.  A  special  guard,  therefore,  appointed  to  protect  him. 
at  Lebanon.  A  suspicious  stranger  at  his  dwelling.  Spirited  conduct 
of  his  housekeeper,  Mrs.  Hyde,  upon  the  occasion.  He  receives  alarm 
ing  intelligence  of  an  intended  attack,  "by  a  large  British  fleet,  upon 
the  shipping,  and  seaport  towns  of  Connecticut.  He  is  "busy  for  their 
protection.  He  detains  the  Nancy — a  suspected  ship — and  distributes 
her  avails  to  the  puhlic  use.  He  is  applied  to  by  Congress  to  furnish  a 
large  armed  ship  to  intercept  two  store  brigs  from  England.  He  grants 
permits  for  exportation — commissions  privateers — and  sends  out  spy 
vessels  His  oversight  of  prisoners  of  war.  Many  such  sent  to  Con 
necticut.  Trumbull  and  the  prisoners  from  Ticonderoga  and  Skenes- 
borough.  His  management,  particularly,  of  the  cases  of  the  elder 
Skene  and  Lundy.  His  management  also  of  the  cases  of  Capt.  De  La 
Place — Major  French — and  especially  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Church,  his  old 
classmate  in  College  His  watchfulness  against  tories,  suspicious  wan 
derers,  and  inimical  persons  generally.  The  Detective  System  of 
Connecticut  at  this  time. 

THE  defence  of  the  sea-coast  of  Connecticut,  to  which  in 
our  last  chapter  we  alluded — and  the  oversight  of  prisoners — 
were  other  great  objects  of  Trumbull's  attention  during  the 
year  upon  which  we  dwell — and  we  proceed  to  notice  him 
now,  particularly,  in  these  important  spheres  of  duty. 

British  ships — especially  the  Kose,  the  Swan,  and  the 
Kingfisher* — were  constantly  cruising  up  and  down  Long  Is 
land  Sound,  sweeping  it  clear  of  American  craft — firing  at 
some  vessels,  and  boarding  others,  and  plundering  all.  Now 

*  "The  Hose,  Swan,  and  Kingfisher,  ships  of  war,  with  a  small  tender,"  wrote 
Trumbxill  to  Washington,  July  thirty-first — "the  26th  instant  came  into  the  har 
bour  of  New  London.  On  the  27th  some  men  landed  near  the  lighthouse,  broke 
off  the  nuts,  and  plugged  up  with  old  files  three  or  four  cannon.  They  sailed  out 
again  on  Friday  last.  It  is  reported  Mr.  Collector  Stuart  is  packing  up  his  effects, 
in  order  to  leave  that  port." 


212  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

they  made  a  descent  upon  Fisher's  Island.*  Now  they  can 
nonaded  Stonington,  and  now  threatened  New  London,  as 
we  have  seen.  Now  they  chased  vessels,  as  once  the  Lively, 
into  Connecticut  Kiver — now  chased  another  ashore  before 
the  very  door  of  Matthew  Griswold  at  Lyme,  and  roused  the 
good  old  Deputy  Governor  of  the  Colony  to  rally  his  neigh 
bors,  put  himself  at  their  head,  and  amid  a  shower  of  bullets 
drive  the  assailants  away — and  now  they  made  descents  on 
other  parts  of  the  coast,  and  seized  goods,  cattle,  and  effects 
of  every  description. 

Nor  was  this  system  of  predatory  warfare  directed  by  the 
enemy  against  property  alone,  but  also  against  persons. 
They  frequently,  and  during  every  year  of  the  war,  concerted 
plans  for  the  seizure  of  leading  American  Whigs.  At  one 
time  they  plotted  to  capture,  and  as  was  believed,  even  to 
assassinate  Washington  himself.  At  a  later  period  in  the  war 
than  that  upon  which  we  are  now  engaged,  twenty  of  the 
foe,  it  will  be  recalled  by  readers  of  History,  surrounded  the 
house  of  General  Schuyler  at  Albany — penetrated  to  the  sa 
loon  leading  to  his  bedroom — secured  two  of  his  men — 
wounded  a  third — and  compelled  a  fourth  to  fly  the  house 
for  safety — but  fortunately  missed  the  principal  object  of  their 
search,  the  General  himself. 

In  the  darkness  of  the  night  again,  at  his  own  house  at 
Fairfield,  a  hostile  party  of  eight  men  succeeded  in  seizing 
General  Silliman — -and  with  him  his  eldest  sonf — and  bore 
them  both  off  in  triumph  to  Long  Island.  Often  it  was 
planned  to  obtain  possession  of  Governor  Clinton  of  New 
York — but  more  often  of  the  eminently  patriotic  Governor 
of  New  Jersey — William  Livingston — who,  at  one  time,  for 
many  months,  was  obliged  in  consequence  to  shift  his  quar- 

*"  We  are  again  alarmed,"  wrote  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Jr.,  to  his  brother  Jo 
seph,  July  thirty-first — "  with  the  appearance  of  three  ships  &c.  off  New  Lon 
don — discovered  Sunday  morning,  standing  into  Fisher's  Island  Sound,  and 
sending  their  boats  on  the  island.  'Tis  conjectured  they  are  taking  the  stock  off 
that  island.  They  will  find  poor  picking,  Mr.  Mumford  having,  by  particular 
advice,  purchased  all  the  fat  cattle  and  sheep,  and  got  them  off  the  island  the 
day  before  the  ships  appeared.  I  fear  they  have  some  further  design.  Three 
militia  regiments  (Saltonstall's,  Coit's,  and  Abbot's)  are  ordered  to  muster  forth- 
•with,  and  to  take  measures  to  prevent  any  mischief." 

t  Gold  Selleck  Silliman. 


1775.  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  213 

ters  every  day.  Once  a  party  of  British  troops,  landing  near 
Elizabethtown,  did  succeed  in  reaching  his  mansion — where 
they  grasped  some  of  his  papers,  and  carried  them  off — but 
luckily  missed  the  Governor  himself — who,  by  mere  acci 
dent,  though  his  family  was  at  home,  happened  to  be  absent 
at  the  time,  at  the  house  of  a  friend  a  few  miles  distant. 

Governor  Trumbull,  in  a  similar  manner,  was  a  special  ob 
ject  of  the  enemy's  vengeance.  A  villainous  tory  of  New- 
town  once  said,  that  he  "would  kill  him  quick  as  he  would  a 
rattlesnake!"  A  price  was  set  upon  his  head,  as  he  informs  us 
himself.*  The  facility  with  which  the  enemy — in  the  night 
season — in  their  little  privateering  craft — could  shoot  over 
from  their  countless  lurking  places  upon  Long  Island  to  the 
Connecticut  Main — make  a  descent — and  suddenly  retreat — 
rendered  precautions,  in  Trumbull's  case,  particularly  neces 
sary.  Accordingly  a  guard  of  about  half  a  dozen  men  was 
established  around  his  dwelling  at  Lebanon,  to  protect  his 
person — a  step  which  proved  useful — for  it  prevented  at 
tempts  that  otherwise,  in  all  probability,  would  have  been 
made  to  seize  this  eminent  and  ever  active  Son  of  Liberty. 

Once  circumstances  indicated  a  special  plot  for  this  pur 
pose.  A  traveller,  in  the  garb  of  a  mendicant — of  exceed 
ingly  suspicious  appearance — came  into  his  house  one  eve 
ning  when  he  was  unwell,  and  had  retired  to  bed.  The 
stranger,  though  denied  the  opportunity  of  seeing  him,  yet 
insisted  upon  an  interview  so  pertinaciously,  that  at  last  the 
Governor's  wary  housekeeper — Mrs.  Hyde — alarmed  and  dis 
gusted  at  his  conduct,  seized  the  shovel  and  tongs  from  the 
fire-place,  and  drove  him  out  of  the  house.  At  the  same 
time  she  called  loudly  for  the  guard — but  the  intruder  sud 
denly  disappeared,  and  though  careful  search  was  made, 
eluded  pursuit,  and  never  appeared  in  that  quarter  again. 

In  May,  1775,  news  reached  Trumbull  from  Cambridge, 
that  General  Gage  intended  seizing  all  the  vessels  on  the 
Connecticut  sea-coast,  and  attacking  New-London — and 
shortly  after,  in  October,  he  was  informed  by  Washington 
that  a  British  fleet  had  left  Boston  for  this  purpose.  "  They 

*  In  his  Memorial  to  the  General  Assembly,  May  24th,  1785. 


214  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

cannonaded  Bristol  last  Saturday" — it  was  then  reported. 
In  November  again,  alarming  intelligence  reached  the  Gov 
ernor  of  fresh  orders  from  England  to  destroy  all  the  seaport 
towns  of  this  Colony — and  in  December  again,  came  fresh 
reports  of  a  hostile  embarcation  at  Boston,  intended  for  Con 
necticut.  "We  are  infested  by  ministerial  ships  and  trans 
ports,"  wrote  Trumbull  this  year  from  time  to  time. 

All  this  kept  the  seashore  inhabitants,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  in  constant,  and  at  times  intense  alarm.  Much, 
therefore,  was  to  be  done  for  their  protection.  By  acts  of 
the  General  Assembly,  three  armed  vessels,  and  four  armed 
row-gallies,  were  to  be  built,  equipped,  and  manned  for  the 
coast  defence,  under  the  care  and  direction  of  the  Governor 
and  Council.  Brigantines  were  to  be  chartered,  and  fitted 
for  the  same  purpose,  under  the  same  direction.  All  care 
was  to  be  taken  to  prevent  provisions  near  the  water  from 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  fort  at  New- 
London,  particularly,  was  to  be  put  in  the  best  condition  for 
use,  and  an  engineer,  and  men,  and  tools — sledges  and  shov 
els,  crowbars  and  pickaxes,  draught  chains  and  log  chains, 
oxen  and  carts — were  all  to  be  provided  for  the  purpose. 
Batteries  there,  and  at  Groton,  Stonington,  Norwich,  Lyme, 
Newhaven,  Milford,  Norwalk,  and  Stamford,  were  to  be  sup 
plied  with  men  and  guns.  Cannon  were  to  be  procured 
from  New-York,  and  from  Congress,  and  some  were  to  be 
cast  at  Salisbury.  Coast  guards  were  to  be  stationed,  and 
entrenchments  made  at  all  important  points.  Beacons  were 
to  be  erected  for  the  communication  of  intelligence.  Ex 
presses  were  to  be  established.  And  upon  Trumbull,  as  the 
Chief  Executive  of  the  Colony,  all  this  labor,  mainly,  de 
volved.  Into  his  ear  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast,  whenever 
attacked,  or  whenever  startled  by  the  rumor  of  approaching 
danger,  poured  their  apprehensions.  From  his  hand  they 
sought  relief — and  from  his  hand,  to  the  extent  of  his  means, 
they  received  it. 

To  him  also,  in  July,  Massachusetts  applied  for  the  deten 
tion,  in  the  port  of  Stonington,  of  a  suspected  ship  belong 
ing  to  Boston — the  Nancy  and  her  cargo — the  disposition  of 
which,  by  public  sale,  and  the  distribution  of  whose  avails 


1775.  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  215 

to  public  hospitals,  and '  among  the  Commissaries  of  Sup 
plies  for  the  army,  the  Governor  had  subsequently  to  super 
vise. 

To  him  too,  in  October,  Congress  applied  to  furnish  the 
largest  ship  in  the  Connecticut  service,  to  be  sent  out — with 
two  armed  vessels  from  Massachusetts — in  order  to  intercept 
and  capture,  if  possible,  two  "north  country -built  brigs" 
from  England,  that  were  on  their  way — loaded  with  six 
thousand  stand  of  arms,  and  a  large  quantity  of  powder  and 
other  stores — for  Quebec,  without  convoy. 

To  him  also — as  lying  within  his  own  peculiar  power — 
owners  of  vessels  in  the  Colony,  during  the  period  of  embar 
goes,  were  in  the  habit  of  applying  for  permits  in  case  of 
exportation  for  particular  purposes — as  to  the  West  Indies, 
particularly,  for  powder.* 

Here  and  there,  too,  Trumbull  commissioned  a  few  priva 
teers,  to  commence  a  system  of  naval  warfare  upon  the  Brit 
ish — which,  in  succeeding  years,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
observe,  was  greatly  augmented,  and  met  with  wonderful 
success.  Many  a  little  spy  vessel  also  he  chartered,  and  sent 
out,  from  bay  and  inlet,  to  watch  the  motions  of  the  enemy 
upon  the  water,  and  make  report.  Many  a  communication 
from  the  armed  brig  Minerva,  and  the  schooner  Spy,  reached 
him  through  their  commanders — Captain  Hall  and  Captain 
Niles — giving  news  of  their  naval  ventures,  and  solicit 
ing  fresh  instructions,  and  fresh  equipments  for  new  enter 
prises. 

But  besides  this  defence  of  the  long  seashore  of  Connecti 
cut — one  which,  in  the  year  that  follows,  we  shall  find 
making  greater  and  greater  demands  upon  Trumbull's  time, 
and  attended  with  many  interesting  and  highly  important 
results — he  was  also  charged,  we  have  said,  with  the  over 
sight  of  prisoners.  These  he  had  to  receive — especially  pris- 

*  "The  merchants  of  St.  Eustatia  are  much  our  friends,"  he  wrote  in  July  to 
his  son  Joseph — "we  shall  soon  have  powder  enough."  Nathaniel  Shaw,  Jr.,  a 
highly  enterprising  merchant  of  New-London,  and  an  ardent  patriot,  was  at  this 
time,  as  well  as  subsequently,  closely  connected  with  Trumbull  in  the  importa 
tion  of  powder  from  the  West  Indies.  "Purchase  gunpowder,  and  return  soon," 
was  the  frequent  direction  which  he  gave  to  the  commanders  of  his  vessels, 
loaded  with  flour,  pipe-staves,  and  other  commodities,  for  Hispaniola. 


216  CHAP.     XVIII. — TKUMBULL.  1775. 

oners  of  war — to  distribute  into  suitable  places  of  confine 
ment,  and  look  to  their  safe  custody. 

Connecticut,  for  some  reason  or  other — either  because  of 
the  natural  security  and  comparative  compactness  of  many 
of  her  inland  towns — or  from  the  fact  that  she  was  the  first 
to  receive  any  large  body  of  prisoners — or  because  of  a  gen 
eral  confidence  in  her  superior  watchfulness  and  patriotism- 
had,  relatively,  more  charge  of  prisoners,  during  nearly  the 
entire  War  of  the  Revolution,  than  any  other  one  of  the 
Thirteen  Colonies.  Massachusetts  sent  them  to  her  in  great 
numbers — New- York  by  crowds — New-Jersey  quite  numer 
ously — the  Continental  Congress  numerously.  Such  and  so 
many  were  they,  in  fact,  in  the  first  year  of  the  War — and 
so  heavy  was  the  attendant  expense — that,  in  October,  her 
General  Assembly  was  obliged  specially  to  desire  the  Gov 
ernor  to  request  Congress  to  direct  what  provision  should  be 
made  for  them,  and  how  the  costs  incurred  in  their  keeping 
should  be  defrayed — a  duty  which,  November  eleventh,  he 
took  particular  pains  to  perform. 

Conspicuous  among  these  prisoners  were  those  surprised 
at  Ticonderoga  and  Skenesborough,  on  the  tenth  of  May  of 
the  present  year,  and  those  subsequently  brought  down  from 
St.  Johns,  and  from  Chamblee  in  Canada.  By  order  of  Con 
gress,  and  upon  direction  from  the  Governor  of  Connecticut, 
those  from  St.  Johns  were  placed  at  Windham  and  Lebanon, 
and  those  from  Chamblee,  at  Farmington — at  which  latter 
place,  on  account  of  the  turbulence  of  many  of  the  captives, 
and  their  attempts  to  escape,  Trumbull  was  compelled  to 
exercise  unusual  vigilance,  and  in  several  instances,  at  an 
extra  expense,  to  increase  their  guards. 

But  the  prisoners  from  Ticonderoga  and  Skenesborough — 
the  first  fruits,  in  their  character,  of  the  first  aggressive  act 
of  the  American  Eevolution — most  exacted  his  attention. 
They  consisted  of  forty -seven  private  soldiers  of  his  Majes 
ty's  troops,  of  Governor  Skene,  Major  Skene  his  son,  Major 
French,  Captain  De  La  Place,  Mr.  Lundy,  and  quite  a  num 
ber  of  women,  children,  and  servants — all  of  whom  were 
brought  to  Hartford.  Trumbull  immediately  communicated 
their  capture  to  Congress,  and,  under  the  direction  of  the 


1775.  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  217 

General  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  provided  for  their  due 
custody — with  the  exception  of  a  few  ladies  of  the  party,* 
from  Canada,  who  happened  to  have  been  taken  at  Skenes- 
borough,  and  who,  with  praiseworthy  readiness,  under  the 
escort  of  Captain  John  Bigelow,  were  at  once  returned  to 
their  friends.  The  elder  Skene  and  Lundy,  however,  were 
soon,  by  special  resolutions  of  Congress,  placed  under  Trum- 
bull's  own  immediate  surveillance.  He  was  to  order  them, 
under  a  guard,  either  to  Wethersfield  or  Middletown.  He 
was  to  confine  them  there  on  parole,  within  such  limits  as  he 
should  prescribe — and  make  such  provision  for  their  support, 
at  the  expense  of  the  United  Colonies,  as  he  should  think 
proper.f  This  duty  he  proceeded  to  execute — with  strict 
ness — more  than  was  required,  as  it  seemed  to  Silas  Deane, 
then  a  Member  of  Congress,  who  had  given  Skene  private 
assurances  of  a  milder  treatment  than  that  which  he  in  fact 
experienced,  and  wrote  to  Trumbull  in  his  behalf. 

"You  have  no  reason  to  blame  yourself  for  any  seeming 
harshness  towards  the  captive,"  answered  Trumbull.  "Doth 
it  not  rather  appear  that  Providence  interposeth  to  prevent 
the  operation  of  Skene's  inimical  purposes  and  designs 
against  the  constitutional  rights  and  liberties  of  these  Colo 
nies?  Truly  as  a  prisoner  of  war  he  is  entitled  to  the  per 
formance  of  the  conditions  on  which  he  was  made  such — but 
I  could  learn  of  no  other  conditions  than  such  as  came  to 
me  authenticated  from  the  minutes  of  Congress."  Trumbull 
continued,  therefore,  in  the  course  he  had  already  adopted, 
and  his  judgment  of  Skene  was  fully  confirmed  by  succeed 
ing  events — for  at  Hartford — at  Mr.  Hooker's  house  in  the 

*  Among  these  ladies  were  the  aunt  and  two  sisters  of  Andrew  Philip  Skene. 
To  Skene  also  liberty  was  granted,  under  the  direction  of  a  Committee,  "to  ap 
point  and  send  a  suitable  man  to  take  charge  of  his  farm  and  business"  at 
Skenesborough — and  the  Commander  from  Connecticut  at  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point,  was  directed  to  see  that  his  estate  "  should  receive  no  unnecessary 
damage  from  the  troops  under  his  charge." 

t  Gov.  Skene,  wrote  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Jr.,  to  his  brother  Joseph,  July  24th, 
1775 — "has  been  very  surly  and  turbulent — and  is  very  much  displeased  with 
his  destination  in  the  town  of  Hartford — swore,  before  he  left  Philadelphia,  that 
he  would  never  come  here — at  least  he  would  not  come  alive.  Mr.  Ross,  one  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Delegates,  told  him  they  did  not  pretend  to  have  power  over 
his  soul — but  that  if  he  disengaged  soul  and  body,  his  body  should  go  where  it 
was  ordered." 

19 


218  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  m5. 

"West  Division — to  which  place  this  leading  captive  was  re 
moved — he  was  believed  to  have  been  engaged  plotting 
busily  against  the  Colony — particularly,  it  was  supposed, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  his  servants.  A  special 
Committee,  therefore,  was  raised  to  investigate  and  report 
upon  his  proceedings — and  subsequently,  after  having  been 
sent  by  Trumbull,  as  was  arranged,  to  the  care  of  Washing 
ton — with  his  son  and  some  other  British  officers — he  perfid 
iously  broke  his  parole.* 

Captain  De  La  Place — who  had  been  commandant  of  the 
garrison  at  Ticonderoga — often  addressed  Trumbull,  as  well 
as  petitioned  the  Legislature,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  his 
companions  in  captivity — praying,  in  the  first  place,  that 
they  might  be  set  at  liberty — and  next,  have  an  allowance 
of  money  suitable  to  their  rank.  The  first  request  was,  of 
course,  disregarded,  but  the  second  met  with  respectful  and 
proper  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  Governor. 

A  third  request,  about  the  same  time,  but  of  a  different 
character,  was  preferred  to  him.  Major  French — another  of 
the  northern  prisoners,  in  custody  at  Hartford,  and  a  Church- 
of-England  man — applied  for  removal  to  Middletown,  be 
cause  for  himself  there  was  no  place  of  worship,  he  said,  in 
the  town  in  which  he  was  then  confined.  "  The  situation 
and  circumstances  of  Middletown,"  wrote  Trumbull  to  the 
President  of  Congress  on  this  matter — "render  that  an  im 
proper  place  for  the  officers.  There  is  an  Episcopal  Mission 
ary  at  Simsbury.  I  have  no  objection  to  that  place,  if  de 
sirable  to  them."  After  this  manner,  during  the  year  1775, 
with  frequent  applications  from  captives  of  one  sort  and 
another,  was  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  considerably  oc 
cupied. 

But  the  most  remarkable  case  among  the  prisoners  sent  at 
this  time  to  his  custody,  was  that  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Church, 
of  Watertown,  Massachusetts.  This  noted  individual  was 
with  Trumbull  in  College,  as  we  have  formerly  stated — and 
it  was  his  peculiar  destiny,  in  the  period  of  which  we  now 
speak,  to  be  incarcerated,  in  a  common  jail,  under  the  eye 

*  So  Trumbull  was  informed  by  Gen.  Schuyler,  in  a  letter  from  Albany  dated 
the  ensuing  December. 


1775.  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  219 

and  surveillance  of  his  own  old  classmate.  His  traitorous 
correspondence  with  the  enemy  in  Boston — and  that  too 
while  a  professed  friend  of  the  American  cause,  and  while  he 
was,  by  appointment  of  Congress,  Director  of  the  Hospital 
and  chief  Physician  for  the  Army  at  the  East,  and  while  en 
joying  a  seat  of  honor  also  in  the  Legislature  of  Massachu 
setts — brought  him  into  this  forlorn  situation.  November 
twenty-second,  he  was  sent  by  General  Washington  to  Leba 
non,  in  charge  of  Captain  Putnam  and  a  sergeant  with  seven 
men — under  a  resolve  of  Congress  that  he  should  be  closely 
confined  in  some  secure  jail  in  Connecticut,  without  pen, 
paper,  or  ink — and  that  no  person  should  be  allowed  to 
converse  with  him  except  in  the  presence  and  hearing  of 
a  magistrate,  or  of  a  sheriff  of  the  County  within  which 
he  should  be  kept,  and  then  only  in  the  English  lan 
guage — until  further  orders  from  the  Supreme  Authority 
of  the  nation. 

Governor  Trumbull  was  requested  to  comply,  in  every 
particular,  with  the  words  of  this  resolve — and  he  did  so. 
He  sent  Church  to  the  prison  at  Norwich — and  soon  directed 
the  Sheriff  there  not  to  permit  him  to  go  out  from  close 
confinement  but  once  in  a  week — a  precaution  which  the 
dangerous  character  of  the  prisoner  rendered  imperative. 
Soothed  by  no  sympathy  from  the  lips  of  his  old  college 
companion  and  friend — animated  by  him  with  no  hope  of  es 
cape,  or  of  release,  except  on  the  stern  condition  of  turning 
his  freedom,  heartily  and  unalterably,  to  the  account  of  his 
suffering  country — yet  treated  with  no  more  rigor  than  cir 
cumstances  required — it  was  not  until  July  of  the  succeeding 
year,  that,  by  order  of  Congress,  he  was  relieved  from  re 
straint,  and  through  his  jailor — Prosper  Wetmore — was  re 
turned  to  his  home  in  Watertown. 

But  in  addition  to  the  oversight,  now  indicated,  of  those 
who  strictly  were  prisoners,  the  Governor  had  also,  at  this 
period,  to  keep  an  eye  of  vigilance  out  in  other  directions — 
over  tories,  suspicious  wanderers,  and  all  inimical  persons  in 
Connecticut — to  see  that  they  carried  on  no  traitorous  cor 
respondence  with  the  enemy,  and  were  in  no  way  concerned 
in  any  plot  or  combinations  for  betraying  the  State,  or  for 


220  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  17*75. 

resisting  the  measures  pursued  for  a  general  union  of  defence 
in  the '  American  cause.  "  Arrest  and  secure  every  person 
whose  going  at  large  may  endanger  the  safety  of  the  Colony, 
or  the  liberties  of  America" — was  the  injunction  of  the 
Continental  Congress.  Seize  the  tones  that  are  active,  was 
the  recommendation  of  Washington  addressed  to  him  in  No 
vember — they  are  preying  on  the  vitals  of  the  country,  and 
will  do  all  the  mischief  in  their  power  1 

But  neither  this  injunction  from  Congress,  nor  the  recom 
mendation  from  "Washington,  were  needed  to  stimulate  the 
conservative  espionage  either  of  Governor  Trumbull,  or  of 
the  State  at  large,  at  the  critical  period  now  under  considera 
tion.  A  perfect  system  of  police,  with  reference  to  internal 
foes — at  the  head  of  which  stood  Trumbull — was  organized 
by  Connecticut  upon  her  own  warning  impulse. 

Let  any  person  within  this  Colony,  she  proclaimed  by  act 
of  legislation — directly  or  indirectly  supply  the  Ministerial 
army  or  navy  with  provisions,  or  military  or  naval  stores — 
or  give  to  their  officers,  soldiers,  or  mariners,  any  intelli 
gence — or  enlist,  or  procure  others  to  enlist  into  their  serv 
ice — or  undertake  to  pilot  any  one  of  their  vessels — or  aid 
or  assist  in  any  other  way  against  this  or  any  one  of  the 
United  Colonies — and  the  offender  shall  forfeit  his  whole  es 
tate  to  the  use  of  this  Colony — and  furthermore  shall  be  in 
carcerated — three  years — if  a  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court 
shall  think  proper — in  a  common  jail. 

Let  any  one,  proclaimed  Connecticut  again — either  by 
writing  or  speaking,  or  by  any  overt  act,  libel  or  defame  any 
resolves  or  proceedings  of  Congress,  or  of  the  General  As 
sembly  of  this  Colony,  made  for  the  defence  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  country — and  his  arms  shall  be  taken 
from  him.  He  shall  be  rendered  incapable  of  serving  in  any 
office,  civil  or  military.  Furthermore,  he  shall  be  punished  by 
fine,  imprisonment,  or  disfranchisement — shall  find  surety  of 
the  peace,  as  the  Court  may  order — and  himself  shall  pay  the 
costs  of  his  own  prosecution.  And  the  Civil  Authority,  Se 
lectmen,  and  Committees  of  Inspection  of  the  several  towns, 
were  commanded  to  examine  every  person  charged  with  hos 
tility  to  Connecticut,  or  to  any  other  of  the  United  Colonies. 


1775.  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  221 

It  was  made  imperative  that  such  offenders  should  solemnly 
purge  themselves  of  the  sin  of  unfriendliness  to  the  country, 
or  be  at  once  disarmed.  Warrants  were  to  issue  for  this  pur 
pose.  The  Sheriff  was  to  see  them  enforced.  If  resisted,  the 
militia  of  any  County,  all  or  any  part,  was  to  be  summoned 
to  execute  them.  Let  every  informing  officer  take  care  to 
make  presentments  for  any  breaches  of  this  law — concluded 
the  stringent  and  warning  enactment. 

Here  then,  in  Connecticut — with  details  needless  to  men 
tion  in  this  place — was  a  Detective  Code  and  a  Detective  Po 
lice,  for  the  suppression  of  internal  foes — thorough  for  the 
purpose  intended  as  was  that  of  the  Duke  of  Otranto's  in  the 
days  of  Napoleon  the  First.  An  open  inquisition — under  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  Colony — patriotic  from  its  motive — 
searching  from  the  pressure  of  danger — and  irresistible  from 
the  support  of  the  whole  judicial  and  the  whole  military 
Arm  of  the  State — stood  at  the  door  of  every  tory  within 
the  bounds  of  its  operation.  Innumerable  Committees — the 
Magistracy — the  General  Assembly  itself  when  in  session — 
and  the  Council  of  Safety — all  watched  to  seize  every  offender 
against  the  struggling  liberty  of  the  day,  and  swift  punish 
ment  awaited  swift  trial,  and  swift  condemnation. 

It  was  a  system,  which — without  moving  phalanxes  of 
supple,  crafty,  and  salaried  spies — without  recourse  to  venal 
zeal  in  the  gentler  sex — with  no  fierce  gendarmarie  for  its  en 
forcement — with  no  fiscal  support  from  the  visee  of  passports, 
or  in  taxes  levied  on  gambling  and  prostitution — as  was  the 
vast  and  terrific  system  of  Joseph  Fouch6 — which  yet,  like 
that  of  this  famous  Minister  of  the  General  Police  of  France, 
spread  a  perfect  network  over  the  State  for  the  discovery  of 
disaffection — one  so  energetic,  so  elastic,  and  so  penetrating, 
from  the  patriotism  which  inspired  it,  as  to  render  it  impossi 
ble  for  tart  toryism  to  conceal  its  own  activity,  or  to  escape 
retribution. 

Trumbull  administered  this  system — as  Chief  Executive — 
as  by  virtue  of  his  office  the  great  Searcher  into  the 
State — with  prudence  and  with  energy.  Its  strings  all 
converged  upon  himself,  and  he  managed  them  with  wary 
efficiency.  Fortunately,  the  calls  for  its  application,  the 


222  CHAP.    XVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

present  year — so  strong  and  overwhelming  was  the  popu 
lar  tide  in  favor  of  liberty — were  comparatively  few — and 
these  confined,  chiefly,  to  a  little  strip  of  the  State  bord 
ering  on  New  York.  Elsewhere,  there  was  almost  universal 
harmony — one  heart — one  mind — one  glorious  end — and  this 
end,  FREEDOM! 


CHAPTER    XIX. 
1775. 

A  NEW  anxiety  for  Trum"bull.  Soldiers  left  the  Camp  around  Boston, 
and  among  them  some  of  the  troopa  from  Connecticut.  Washington 
•writes  Trum/bull  respecting  these,  animadverting,  in  severe  terms,  on 
their  conduct.  An  admirable  reply  from  Trum'bull.  Another  letter 
of  censure,  to  Trum'bull — from  the  New  York  Congress — in  regard  to 
Capt.  Sears  and  the  Tlivington  Press.  Trum"buH's  reply.  He  "blames 
New  York  for  granting  permits  to  carry  provisions  to  the  Island  of 
Nantucket,  then  deemed  somewhat  disaffected  to  the  American  cause. 
Satisfied  now  that  Great  Britain  will  not  yield,  he  continues  diligent  for 
the  public  good.  For  the  sake  of  general  harmony,  he  again  urges  Con 
gress  to  aid  in  quieting,  for  the  present,  the  Susquehannah  Controversy. 
Dr.  Franklin's  Plan  of  Union  sent  to  Trumbull.  His  views  concerning 
it.  He  proclaims  a  Fast,  at  the  close  of  1775.  The  Proclamation. 

THE  month  of  December  1775  ushered  in  a  novel  and 
painful  anxiety  for  the  Governor  of  Connecticut,  in  connec 
tion  with  military  affairs  at  the  East.  Enlistments  in  that 
quarter  were,  many  of  them,  expiring — and  some  of  the 
Connecticut  troops,  particularly  of  General  Putnam's  regi 
ment — like  other  troops  from  other  Colonies — induced  in 
part  by  the  termination  of  their  contracts — in  part  by  neg 
lect  in  the  payment  of  their  wages — in  part  by  "ill  usage  on 
the  score  of  provisions  "* —  in  part  by  the  idea  that,  as  win 
ter  had  begun,  there  would  probably  be  no  call  for  any  ac 
tive  service — and  in  part  by  the  consideration  that  they  had 
been  summoned  suddenly  to  the  field,  and  had  left  families 
and  property  at  home,  that  urgently  required  their  atten 
tion — forsook  the  Camp. 

In  a  letter  addressed  by  "Washington  to  Trumbull,  Decem 
ber  second,  the  Commander-in-chief  animadverts,  in  severe 
terms,  upon  this  matter — "  the  late  extraordinary  and  repre 
hensible  conduct,"  as  he  styles  it,  of  some  of  the  Connecticut 
troops.  When  the  time  of  their  enlistment  was  about  to 

*  1775.  "  Oct.  23rd,  Mon.  Went  to  Cambridge  w'th  Hd  Comms'nd  Officers  to 
Gen'l  Putnam,  to  let  him  know  the  state  of  the  Reg't,  and  yt  it  was  thro'  ill 
-usage  on  the  score  of  Provisions  yt  th'y  would  not  extend  their  term  of  service 
to  the  1st  of  Jan'y  1776."— Diary  of  Capt.  Nathan  Hale. 


224  CHAP.    XIX.— TKUMBULL.  1775. 

expire,  lie  said,  they  refused  to  remain  a  short  time  longer  in 
camp,  to  man  the  lines  until  other  forces  should  have  been 
raised  to  supply  their  places.  Through  a  Council  of  War 
assembled  in  the  exigency,  he  continued — he  had  determined 
to  call  in,  by  the  tenth  instant,  minute-men  and  militia,  and 
two  thousand  troops  from  New  Hampshire — and  the  Con 
necticut  troops  were  informed  of  this  arrangement.  Yet  on 
the  first  of  December  quite  a  number  resolved  to  leave — and, 
eluding  the  vigilance  exerted  to  retain  them,  started  from 
camp.  "Many  were  taken,"  he  added,  "and  brought  back. 
I  have  enclosed  you  a  list  of  those  that  got  off  from  Gen. 
Putnam's  regiment  only,  with  their  arms  and  ammunition, 
and  who  have  thus  basely  deserted  the  cause  of  their  coun 
try  at  this  critical  juncture.  I  submit  it  to  your  judgment 
whether  some  example  should  not  be  made  of  them." 

To  this  crimination  from  the  Commander-in-chief,  Trum- 
bull  made  the  following  admirable  reply : — 

"Lebanon,  7th  Dec.  1775.  Sir.  Your  Excellency's  letter  of  the  2nd 
instant,  per  Capt.  Clark,  came  to  hand  the  14th — The  late  extraordinary 
and  reprehensible  conduct  of  some  of  the  troops  of  this  Colony  impress- 
eth  me,  and  the  minds  of  our  people,  with  grief,  surprise,  and  indigna 
tion,  since  the  treatment  they  met,  and  the  order  and  request  made  to 
them  was  so  reasonable,  and  apparently  necessary  for  the  defence  of  our 
common  cause,  and  safety  of  our  rights  and  privileges,  for  which  they 
freely  engaged,  the  term  they  voluntarily  enlisted  to  serve  not  expired, 
and  probably  would  not  end  much  before  the  time  when  they  would  be 
relieved,  provided  their  circumstances  and  inclination  forbid  them  under 
taking  further.  Indeed  there  is  great  difficulty  to  support  liberty,  to 
exercise  government,  to  maintain  subordination,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
prevent  the  operation  of  licentious  and  leveling  principles — which  many 
easily  imbibe.  The  pulse  of  a  New  England  man  beats  high  for  liberty. 
His  engagement  in  the  service  he  thinks  purely  voluntary — therefore  in 
his  estimation,  when  the  time  of  his  enlistment  was  out,  he  thinks  himself 
not  holden,  without  further  engagement.  This  was  the  case  in  the  last 
war.  I  greatly  fear  its  operation  among  the  soldiers  of  other  Colonies,  as 
I  am  sensible  this  is  the  genius  and  spirit  of  our  people. 

"  I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  the  people  of  the  towns  where 
the  most  of  them  belong,  were  so  greatly  affected  by  their  unreasonable 
conduct,  that  they  would  readily  march  to  supply  their  places.  This  is 
thought  not  advisable,  as  your  Excellency  made  no  such  application. 
Our  laws  against  desertion  are  well  calculated  to  punish  such  as  are 


1775.  CHAP.    XIX. — TRUMBULL.  225 

guilty.  Provision  is  made  effectually  to  punish  such  offenders,  espe 
cially  the  ringleaders.  Of  this  care  will  be  taken. 

"  The  officers,  by  Act  of  Assembly,  appointed  Paymasters  of  their 
companies,  are  not  likely  to  return  soon,  and  many  might  be  uneasy  for 
want  of  their  wages.  To  obviate  this,  I  advised  three  gentlemen  of  our 
Pay  Table  to  proceed  to  the  camp  with  money,  to  take  your  advice  and 
direction  therein — taking  care  for  the  public  arms  and  ammunition,  for 
minors  and  apprentices.  The  Union  of  the  Colonies,  and  the  internal 
union  of  each  are  of  the  utmost  importance. 

14 1  determine  to  call  the  General  Assembly  of  this  Colony  to  meet  at 
Newhaven  on  Thursday  the  14th  instant.  Please  to  notify  me  of  any 
matters  you  think  fit  to  suggest  for  consideration.  You  may  depend  on 
their  zeal  and  ardor  to  support  the  common  cause,  to  furnish  our  quota, 
and  to  exert  their  utmost  strength  for  the  defense  of  the  rights  of  these 
colonies.  Your  candor  and  goodness  will  suggest  to  your  consideration 
that  the  conduct  of  our  troops  is  not  a  rule  whereby  to  judge  of  the 
temper  and  spirit  of  the  Colony.  I  am  &c." 

The  readiness  with  which  in  the  letter  now  given,  Trum- 
bull  admits  and  censures  the  behaviour  of  the  soldiers  in 
question,  and  the  pride  with  which  he  seeks  in  the  liberty- 
loving  zeal  of  the  inhabitants  of  Connecticut  some  extenua 
tion  for  the  conduct  of  the  few  offenders,  are  pleasing  evi 
dences,  the  Keader  will  concede,  of  an  ingenuous  and  manly 
spirit.  Washington,  in  reply,  fully  admitted  all  that  the 
Governor  affirmed  in  commendation  of  the  patriotism  of  his 
people,  and  expressed  sincere  gratification  at  the  fact.  "  I 
have  nothing  to  suggest  for  the  consideration  of  your  Assem 
bly,"  he  wrote.  "  I  am  confident  they  will  not  be  wanting  in 
their  exertions  for  supporting  the  just  and  constitutional 
rights  of  the  Colonies." 

At  about  the  same  time  with  the  letter  from  Washington 
now  considered,  Trumbull  received  another  letter — from  an 
other  quarter — in  censure  of  Connecticut.  It  was  a  commu 
nication  from  the  New  York  Congress,  in  regard  to  the  fa 
mous  exploit  of  Captain  Sears  in  annihilating  the  Eivington 
press — a  press  whose  political  poison  had  created  serious  de 
fections  from  the  American  cause — and  which,  for  this  rea 
son,  Sears,  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  horsemen  from  Connec 
ticut,  well  armed,  had  broken  up.  To  the  tune  of  Yankee 
Doodle,  in  part  destroying,  and  in  part  bearing  off  its  types — 


226  CHAP.    XIX. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

lie  by  these  means  bravely  overawed  the  tories,  and  gave 
check  to  a  plan — regularly  concerted,  it  was  believed — for 
inviting  the  British  troops  from  Boston  to  New  York. 

The  Congress  of  New  York — taking  umbrage  at  this  pro 
ceeding — addressed  the  Continental  Congress  respecting  it, 
and  wrote  Trumbull  in  terms  of  serious  remonstrance.  They 
complained  that  they  could  not  but  consider  "  such  intru 
sions  as  an  invasion  of  their  essential  rights  as  a  distinct 
Colony." — "Common  justice,"  they  said,  obliged  them  to 
request  that  "  all  the  types  should  be  returned  to  the  Chair 
man  of  the  General  Committee  of  the  City  and  County  of 
New  York  " — and,  though  they  would  not,  they  added,  just 
ify  the  man  from  whom  the  types  were  taken,  they  yet  earn 
estly  wished  that  the  glory  of  the  existing  contest  might 
"  not  be  sullied  by  any  attempt  to  restrain  the  freedom  of 
the  press." 

Small  consolation,  however,  did  the  Kemonstrants  in  this 
case  get  in  response  from  Governor  Trumbull — and  certainly 
they  did  not  get  one  of  the  types.  "  The  proper  resort  for  a 
private  injury,"  he  immediately  answered — "  must  be  to  the 
courts  of  law,  which  are  the  only  jurisdictions  that  can  take 
notice  of  violences  of  this  kind."  If  the  affair  is  to  be 
viewed  in  a  public  light  at  all,  the  Governor  continued, 
"  the  head  and  leader  of  the  whole  transaction  was  a  respect 
able  member  of  your  city  and  Congress,*  whom  we  consider 
as  the  proper  person  to  whom  the  whole  transaction  is  im- 
putable,  and  who  belongs,  and  is  amenable  to  your  juris 
diction  alone — and  therefore  the  affair  cannot  be  consid 
ered  as  an  intrusion  of  our  people  into  your  province, 
but  as  a  violence  or  disorder  happening  among  your 
selves.'^ 

It  is  plain  from  this  that  Trumbull  had  no  sympathy  to 
expend  on  the  tory  Eivington — as  he  had  not,  we  know, 
upon  tories  anywhere.  Even  at  the  very  time  when  he  was 
thus  answering  New  York  on  the  affair  of  the  ruined  printing 
press,  he  was  transmitting  to  the  Council  of  Massachusetts  per- 

*  Sears  was  at  that  time  a  resident  of  New  York,  but  gathered  his  party  in 
Connecticut, 
t  Bivington  went  off  to  England,  and  nothing  more  was  done  about  the  affair. 


1775.  CHAP.    XIX. — TRUMBULL.  227 

mits  that  fell  into  his  hands,  which  New  York  had  granted 
for  the  transportation  of  provisions  to  the  then  somewhat 
tory-infected  island  of  Nantucket* — and  was  remonstra 
ting  against  this  indulgence — this  sending  supplies  "to  the 
favorites  of  Administration"  in  that  quarter — as  being  a 
"  suspicious "  proceeding,  and  one  to  be  carefully  watched. 
"I  give  you  this  intelligence,"  he  forcibly  adds — "that 
such  measures  may  be  taken  that  while  we  are  at  war 
with,  we  may  not  at  the  same  time  be  feeding  our  ene 
mies." 

From  the  proceedings  in  Great  Britain,  Trumbull  was  now 
satisfied  that  his  country  at  last — alas  too  truly — was  "re 
duced  to  the  alternative  of  choosing  between  unconditional 
submission  to  the  tyranny  of  irritated  ministers,  or  resistance 
by  force."  He  was  familiar  with  the  fact  that  the  Provinces 
had  been  freshly  stigmatized,  by  large  majorities,  in  Parlia 
ment,  as  in  a  state  of  "revolt,  hostility,  and  rebellion" — that 
the  British  naval  establishments  and  land  forces  had  been 
augmented,  and  that  measures  had  been  taken  by  the  King 
to  procure  foreign  troops.  "I  am  fully  assured,"  he  said  in 
November,  "  of  the  insufficiency  now  of  all  petitions,  and 
that  the  Eoyal  Proclamations  in  regard  to  America,  are  de 
cisive." 

Most  diligently  did  he,  therefore,  at  this  period,  keep  him 
self  at  work  in  cementing  that  union  and  harmony  between 
the  Colonies  which  he  had  always  promoted,  and  which  he 
deemed  utterly  vital  to  their  success.  It  was  his  own  most 
emphatic  desire  that  his  countrymen — as  was  immortally 
expressed  by  Congress,  in  its  Declaration,  in  July,  of  the 
causes  which  led  them  to  take  up  arms — should  be  "  with 
one  mind  resolved  to  die  freemen,  rather  than  live  slaves." 
So  again — towards  the  close  of  the  present  year — he  wrote 
the  Supreme  Authority  of  the  nation  in  regard  to  the  contest 
about  the  Susquehannah  lands — and  expressed  his  "strong 
hope  that  all  altercations"  between  Connecticut  and  Mr. 
Penn  and  the  Settlers,  would  "be  quieted  by  the  Honorable 
Congress."  This  Body,  he  urged,  "may  lay  their  hand 

*  They  were  granted  to  one  Captain  Fanning. 


228  CHAP.    XIX. — TRUMBULL.  1775. 

effectually"  upon  the  strife,  "and  prevent  mischief."*  And 
he  at  the  same  time  labored  assiduously  to  promote  the  suc 
cess  of  those  Articles  of  Confederation  and  Union  between 
the  Colonies,  which,  in  August,  Dr.  Franklin  had  proposed 
to  Congress — and  which,  though  not  adopted,  are  yet  consid 
ered  as  containing  much  of  the  substance  of  the  plan  that 
was  subsequently  submitted  to  the  Colonies  for  their  appro 
bation.  He  had  objections  to  some  features  of  the  original 
scheme,  it  is  true — and  he  expressed  them  to  Congress.  A 
draught  of  it  was  sent  him,  for  his  own  particular  considera 
tion — which  he  returned  with  such  alterations  as  suited  his 
views.  In  his  own  opinion,  however,  it  was  "  of  the  utmost 
importance"  that  this  scheme,  after  being  "well  and  maturely 
digested,"  should  be  "entered  into  as  soon  as  might  be  with 
conveniency" — and  should  "continue  firm  and  inviolate," 
even  in  the  event  of  a  possible  reconciliation  with  Great 
Britain — as  he  could  see  nothing  in  such  a  confederation 
"  inconsistent  with  the  English  Constitution." 

But  the  most  interesting  among  the  acts  of  Trumbull,  in 
the  closing  month  of  the  year  on  which  we  dwell,  was — De 
cember  Nineteenth — his  Proclamation  for  a  Fast — in  which, 
after  recapitulating  the  tyrannies  suffered  from  Great  Britain, 
he  proceeds,  in  a  spirit  of  unfeigned  piety,  and  in  language 
of  peculiar  forcibleness,  to  assign  a  Day  of  Humiliation  and 
Prayer,  and  to  particularize  the  ends  of  the  appointment. 
The  document,  as  has  been  well  remarked,  "breathes  the 
very  spirit  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  whose  prede 
cessor  it  was  by  about  six  months."  We  give  it,  therefore, 
entire — and  with  all  its  typographical  peculiarities — as  a  fit 
ting  close  to  our  survey  of  the  life  and  services  of  Governor 
Trumbull  during  the  first  year  of  the  great  American  Strug 
gle.  It  was  published  as  follows : — 

*  "  This  cannot  easily  be  done,  if  it  can  be  done  at  all,"  he  wrote  the  Conti 
nental  Delegates  from  Connecticut,  Nov.  17th,  1775 — "  by  the  Assemblies  of  the 
two  Colonies,  and  it  may  endanger  the  peace  of  both.  All  desired  here  by  the 
friends  of  American  liberty,  is  that  the  two  claims  may  lie  dormant  during  our 
more  important  struggles — but  the  enemies  who  are  seeking  the  ruin  of  our  priv 
ileges,  will  make  the  best  handle  of  it  they  can  to  embroil  and  divide  the  two 
Colonies.  The  Congress  may  lay  their  hand  effectually  upon  it,  and  prevent 
mischief." 


1775.  CHAP.    XIX. — TRUMBULL.  229 

"By  the  Honorable  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Esquire,  Governor  of  the 
English  Colony  of  Connecticut  in  New-England  in  America. 

UA  PROCLAMATION 

"For  a  day  of  public  Fasting  and  Prayer. 

"Whereas  it  hath  pleased  the  Most  High  God,  blessed  forever,  the 
supreme  and  righteous  Ruler  of  the  World,  to  bring  upon  this  Colony, 
and  the  other  British  Colonies  on  this  Continent,  grievous  and  distressing 
Troubles,  by  permitting  the  Administration  and  Rulers  of  our  Parent 
State  to  make  a  solemn  Declaration,  that  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain 
hath  a  right  to  make  Laws  binding  upon  the  Colonies  in  all  cases  what 
soever — and  in  Pursuance  thereof  have  imposed  Taxes  upon  us  without 
our  Consent ;  deprived  one  of  the  Colonies  of  their  most  essential  and 
chartered  Privileges ;  sent  over  a  Fleet  and  Army  which  have  engaged 
us  in  a  Civil  War ;  destroyed  many  lives,  burnt  two  of  our  flourishing 
Towns ;  captured  many  of  our  Vessels  that  fell  in  their  Way ;  prohibited 
and  destroyed  our  Fishery  and  Trade ;  hostilely  taken  from  the  Inhabit 
ants  of  our  Sea  coast  and  Islands,  Live  Stock,  and  other  Articles  of  pri 
vate  Property,  and  threaten  us  with  general  Destruction,  for  no  other 
Reason  known  to  us,  than  that  we  will  not  surrender  our  Liberties,  Prop 
erties,  and  Priviledges,  which  we  believe  God  and  Nature,  the  British 
Constitution,  and  our  sacred  Charters  give  us  a  just  right  to  enjoy — And 
in  the  midst  of  these  Calamities  it  hath  pleased  God  to  visit  many  of  our 
Towns  with  Sickness  in  the  last  Autumn. — All  which  call  for  extraordi 
nary  Humiliation,  Fasting  and  Prayer,  and  sheweth  us  that  God  demands 
our  sincere  Repentance  and  Return  to  Him. 

"  I  have  therefore  thought  fit,  by  and  with  the  Advice  of  the  Council, 
and  at  the  Desire  of  the  Representatives  in  General  Court  assembled,  to 
appoint,  and  do  hereby  appoint  Wednesday  the  Seventeenth  day  of  Jan 
uary  next,  to  be  observed  as  a  Day  of  Fasting  and  Prayer  throughout 
this  Colony,  hereby  exhorting  our  Ministers  and  People  of  all  Denomina 
tions  of  Christians  to  observe  the  same ;  unfeignedly  to  humble  them 
selves  before  God,  penitently  to  confess  their  Sins ;  earnestly  to  beseech 
the  Mercy  of  God,  and  His  gracious  Return  to  us. — That  He  would  par 
don  our  Iniquities,  pour  out  His  Holy  Spirit  upon  us,  and  effect  a  thor 
ough  and  general  Reformation — That  he  would  be  pleased  to  remove  the 
awful  Calamities  we  are  under ;  put  an  End  to  the  Miseries  of  Civil  War ; 
restore,  preserve,  and  secure  our  Liberties  and  Priviledges,  and  settle 
them  upon  a  lasting  Foundation. — That  He  would  bless  and  direct  the 
Rulers  and  Guides  of  His  People  in  all  the  Colonies,  and  particularly 
guide  the  Continental  Congress,  and  make  all  their  Counsels,  Advice  and 
Determinations  such  as  will  be  pleasing  to  Him,  and  will  promote  the 
Union  and  Happiness  of  the  People  and  secure  the  Enjoyment  of  our 
just  Rights,  and  more  and  more  unite  and  engage  the  Hearts  of  this 
People  in  the  Things  of  God,  and  their  own  Peace ;  succeed  all  just  En- 
20 


230  CHAP.    XIX. — TKUMBULL.  1775. 

deavors  to  obtain  the  Restoration  of  our  Liberties  and  Priviledges,  and 
go  on  to  restore  and  establish  Health  among  us. — That  He  would  partic 
ularly  dwell  in  this  Colony,  give  his  Presence  and  Blessing  to  our  Civil 
Rulers,  strengthen,  direct  and  assist  them  in  this  dark  and  difficult  day 
to  understand  and  pursue  the  Things  of  our  Welfare, — build  up  the 
Churches  in  Faith,  Unity  and  Holiness, — prosper  the  Gospel  Dispensa 
tions, — give  his  Presence  with  the  Ministers  of  Christ, — make  them 
greatly  successful  in  gathering  in  Souls  to  Him, — bless  the  College  and 
Schools  of  Learning,  succeed  Endeavors  used  for  promoting  Christianity 
among  the  Heathen, — preserve  their  Peace  and  Friendship  with  us, — con 
tinue  to  turn  the  Counsel  of  our  Enemies  to  foolishness,  and  blast  every 
evil  Design  against  us. — And  to  offer  fervent  Prayers  for  our  sovereign 
Lord  King  George  the  Third,  our  Gracious  Queen  Charlotte,  the  Prince 
of  "Wales,  and  all  the  Royal  Family. — That  God  would  direct  the  King's 
Councils,  teach  him  ever  to  discern  and  incline  him  to  pursue  and  pro 
mote  the  Things  of  God's  Will,  and  the  true  Interests,  Happiness  and 
just  Rights  of  His  People,  remove  evil  Counsellors  far  from  him  and 
bless  him  with  such  Ministers  as  fear  God,  hate  Covetousness,  and  are 
sincere  Lovers  of  the  People. — That  he  would  pardon,  enlighten,  and 
save  the  Nation,  and  fill  the  Earth  with  his  Praise. 

"  And  all  Servile  Work  is  forbidden  on  said  Day. 

"  Given  under  my  Hand  in  the  Council-Chamber  in  New-Haven,  the 
Nineteenth  day  of  December,  in  the  Sixteenth  Year  of  the  Reign  of  our 
Sovereign  Lord  George  the  Third,  of  Great  Britain,  France  and  Ireland, 
King,  &c.,  Annoque  Domini,  1775 

"JoN™-  TBUMBULL. 
"God  Save  the  King." 


CHAPTER    XX. 

TBTTMBULL  known  and  denounced  a"broad  as  "the  Rebel  Governor  of  Con 
necticut."  Extract  from  a  London  Magazine,  of  1781,  showing  the  man 
ner  in  which  he  was  vilified  in  England.  Was  in  fact  the  only  "Rebel" 
Governor  in  America,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution.  His  course, 
under  this  aspect,  examined  and  vindicated  by  contrast  with  the  course 
of  every  other  Q-overnor  in  the  United  Colonies — viz:  Thomas  Hutch- 
inson  of  Massachusetts — John  Wentworth  of  New  Hampshire — Joseph 
Wanton  of  Rhode  Island— William  Tryon  of  New  Tork — William 
Franklin  of  New  Jersey — John  Penn  of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware — 
Robert  Eden  of  Maryland — Lord  Dunmore  of  Virginia — Joseph  Martin 
of  North  Carolina — Lord  William  Campbell  of  South  Carolina — and 
James  Wright  of  Georgia. 

"God  save  the  King !" — concludes  emphatically  the  Procla 
mation  with  which  our  last  Chapter  closes — yes,  as  the  phrase 
concluded  every  official  document — from  every  Chief  Magis 
trate — in  all  the  Thirteen  Colonies — down  to  that  memorable 
morning  which  ushered  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Intermitting  now  the  fashion  of  royalty — relaxing  for  once 
its  ceremonial  silence  and  stately  reserve — would  George  the 
Third  at  this  time,  do  our  Eeaders  think,  have  consented  to 
reciprocate  the  solemn  invocation,  and  have  prayed  God  to 
save  that  Governor  who  thus  prayed  God  to  save  the  King? 
In  his  heart  he  might  have  done  so — nay  did — for  each  of 
his  own  high  functionaries  in  the  New  World,  save  for  the 
one  solitary  Governor  of  solitary  Connecticut — for  other  Gov 
ernors  all  obeyed  him.  They  were  loyal — to  all  appearance 
affectionate — true  to  his  maxims  of  power — nay  almost  all 
of  them  forward  in  their  allegiance — ready,  in  truth,  to  bend 
uthe  pregnant  hinges"  of  the  knee  in  unquestioning  adora 
tion  of  every  feature  of  his  kingly  omnipotence. 

But  for  Trumbull — alone  of  all  who  stood  at  the  helm  of 
his  subordinate  sovereignties  in  the  New  World — he  had  no 
impulse  of  attachment — not  a  purpose  but  to  condemn — not 
a  wish  but  for  his  downfall  and  his  extirpation.  He  would 
not  have  said  "God  save"  him,  for  all  the  worth  of  his  king 
dom — for  Trumbull  was  the  outspoken  foe  to  all  his  meas- 


232  CHAP.     XX. — TRUMBULL. 

Tires  respecting  America — his  stern,  uncompromising,  unrest 
ing  opponent  upon  every  question  that  involved  the  liberty 
of  the  American  subject.  He  was  in  thought — in  word — in 
deed — against  him.  He  was  against  him  in  arms.  He  had 
despised,  repudiated,  and  forgotten,  it  was  believed,  every 
sentiment  of  what  "his  Majesty"  deemed  true  allegiance. 
He  was  "  the  rebel,  the  Eebel  Governor  of  Connecticut ! " — 
so  denounced  by  the  king  himself,  and  by  his  own  haughty 
Parliament — so  proclaimed  in  periodicals,  and  talked  of  at 
almost  every  fireside  and  wayside,  in  Great  Britain — so 
known  the  world  over,  wherever  American  resistance  found 
one  eye  to  note  its  leaders.* 

*"  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the  Eebel  Governor  of  Connecticut" — says,  for  ex 
ample,  the  "Political  Magazine"  for  January  1781,  published  in  London — in  one 
of  the  most  mendacious  and  scurrilous  articles  on  record — "a  man  of  desperate 
fortune,  with  an  abundant  share  of  cunning" — "is  about  five  feet  seven  inches 
high,  has  dark  eyes,  a  Koman  nose,  sallow  countenance,  long  chin,  prominent 
forehead,  high  and  broad  cheek  bones,  hollow  cheeks  and  short  neck" — is  "in 
person  of  a  handsome  figure  and  very  active" — and  is  "now  between  70  and  80 
years  of  age.  He  is  morose  in  his  natural  temper,  reserved  in  his  speech,  vain 
and  covetous,  envious  and  spiteful  to  a  great  degree,  never  forgiving  or  forgetting 
an  affront.  He  is  at  the  same  time  very  artful ;  he  will  smile  in  the  face  of  those. 
he  hates,  and  court  their  friendship  at  the  very  moment  he  is  endeavoring  by 
every  means  in  his  power  to  effect  their  ruin.  As  to  justice,  he  never  had  an 
idea  of  it ;  at  least  he  never  showed  any  in  practice ;  always  judging  according 
to  a  party  spirit,  which  ever  domineered  in  his  merciless  soul." 

The  article  from  which  this  extract  is  taken — for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the 
politeness  of  John  Langdon  Sibley  Esquire,  the  Librarian  of  Cambridge  Uni 
versity — covers  four  pages  and  a  half— of  very  fine  print — two  columns  on  a 
page — in  the  Political  Magazine — and  is  entitled — '''•History  of  Jonathan  Trum- 
bull,  the  present  Rebel  Governor  of  Connecticut,  from  his  Birth,  early  in  this 
Century,  to  the  present  Day" 

It  opens  with  gross  defamation  of  Trumbull' s  birth,  parents,  and  ancestry — and 
next — in  order  to  sustain  a  charge  of  cheatery  in  business  affairs,  and  of  fanati 
cism  and  intolerance  in  religion,  fabricates  a  story  of  a  lawsuit  between  the  Gov 
ernor  and  one  Joel  Harvey,  a  loyalist  and  Church-of-England  man.  It  then  pro 
ceeds  wholly  to  misrepresent  and  pervert,  to  his  prejudice,  his  connection  with 
the  famous  Peters  riot  at  Hebron — and  concludes  with  some  references  to  his 
"rebel"  children. 

Connecticut  also,  in  the  course  of  the  article,  is  abused  without  stint.  Its 
"first  emigrants,"  according  to  the  malignant  and  ignorant  writer,  "had  more 
zeal  than  honesty  or  common  justice.  They  murdered  King  Connecticote,  and 
killed  or  drove  away  all  his  subjects,  seized  their  lands  under  pretence  of  spread 
ing  the  gospel,  and  by  way  of  compensation,  or  in  memory  of  their  triumph, 
called  the  Colony  by  the  name  of  the  murdered  King. — In  1662,  after  having 
killed  two  kings,  they  accepted  a  Charter  under  Charles  II,  but  declared  at  the 
same  time,  Jesus  was  their  King,  and  themselves  sole  legislators  and  lords  of 
Connecticut ;  admitting  no  law  of  England  to  be  of  any  validity  until  it  had  re- 


CHAP.     XX. — TRUMBULL.  233 

"The  Rebel  Governor!'1'1  Phrase  significant  indeed — and 
already  abundantly  explained  by  the  acts  of  Trumbull  dur 
ing  the  year  we  have  just  surveyed,  as  well  as  by  those  of  his 
previous  life  from  the  Peace  of  Paris  down !  But  the  only 
Rebel  Governor — the  sole  Chief  Magistrate  of  a  Colony,  who, 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  American  Revolution,  as  well  as  ever 
after,  took  the  side  of  Freedom  and  the  People !  This,  in  the 
sphere  in  which  he  moved — this  his  naked  solitariness  of  re 
bellion — is  peculiarly  fraught  with  patriotic  beauty,  and  de 
serves  to  be  contemplated  in  connection  with  the  position  of 
those  other  Governors — those  other  "loyal"  Chief  Magistrates, 
as  they  were  termed — with  whom  Trumbull  came  so  strik 
ingly  in  contrast.  Let  us  run  the  comparison  then — summa 
rily — but  here  fittingly  at  the  close  of  the  first  Act  in  the 
Drama  of  the  American  Revolution. 

There  was  first  Thomas  Hutchinson,  Governor  of  Massachu 
setts — a  classmate  of  Trumbull's  in  College,  as  we  have  here 
tofore  had  occasion  to  state,  and  notorious  as  a  bitter  foe  to 
America — "like  a  mildewed  ear,"  contrasting  with  "his 
wholesome  brother."  Acute,  learned,  thoroughly  experi 
enced  in  public  affairs,  affable,  insidious,  insinuating,  ambi 
tious,  avaricious — ready  to  sacrifice  everything  for  place  and 
power — zealous  to  uproot  now  the  Constitution  of  Massa 
chusetts,  now  that  of  Rhode  Island,  now  that  of  Connecticut, 
and  now  the  whole  New-England  organization  of  towns — 

ceived  the  sanction  of  the  General  Assembly." — And  their  descendants,  "after 
the  reduction  of  Canada,  judged  the  Millenarian  State  had  commenced,  and 
viewed  Britain  only  as  a  foggy  island,  proper  to  be  annexed  to  the  States  of  Hol 
land,  or  to  France." 

Almost  the  only  passage  in  the  article,  concerning  Trumbull,  which,  with  much 
that  is  false,  has  yet  one  or  two  glimpses  of  truth,  is  the  following : — 

"  No  sooner  had  Jonathan  taken  his  degree,  [at  College,]  than  he  became  a 
preacher  in  the  independent  way,  and  was  esteemed  to  be  a  man  of  grace  ;  but 
having  a  bad  delivery,  he  could  not  obtain  a  parish.  However,  his  politeness, 
apparent  goodness,  and  address,  recommended  him  to  Miss  Eobinson,  a  de 
scendant  of  the  famous  reverend  Mr.  Eobinson,  head  of  a  Sect  both  in  Old  and 
New  England.  His  marriage  with  this  Lady  (whose  father  was  a  burning  and  a 
shining  light  among  the  independents  and  children  of  the  regicides,  who  settled 
in  New  England,)  raised  him  from  obscurity  to  a  state  of  nobility,  for  all  who 
have  any  blood  in  their  veins  of  the  first  settlers,  or  of  the  regicides,  are  consid 
ered  in  New  England  as  of  the  rank  of  Noblesse.  Mr.  Jonathan's  matrimonial 
connection  giving  him  the  prospect  of  preferment  in  civil  life,  he  bid  adieu  to 
the  pulpit,  and  commenced  merchant." 
20* 


234  CHAP.    XX. — TRUMBULL. 

toiling  now  to  restrain  American  commerce,  now  to  make 
the  Judiciary  dependent  on  the  Crown,  now  to  render  the 
denial  of  Parliamentary  Supremacy  a  capital  felony,  and 
now  to  establish  Martial  Law — from  the  days  of  the  Stamp 
Act  down  to  the  close  of  his  career  in  the  New  World,  he 
did  more  to  embroil  the  Colonies  and  the  Mother-Country, 
and  to  fan  the  quarrel  after  it  commenced,  than  any  other 
man  upon  the  American  Continent.  All  who  are  familiar 
with  his  pernicious  administration  of  public  affairs  in  the 
Colony  which  he  governed,  and  with  the  fatal  consequences 
which  ensued,  agree  that  "few  ages  have  produced  a  more 
fit  instrument  than  he  proved  to  be  for  the  purposes  of  a 
corrupt  court."  In  1774 — defeated  in  his  ambition — suffer 
ing  "  all  the  tortures  of  age  trembling  for  the  loss  of  place" — 
with  his  gray  hairs,  that  should  have  been  ever  "  kept  purer 
than  the  ermine,"  now  "covered  with  shame" — he  left  his 
native  country  forever — on  the  same  day  when,  by  Act  of 
Parliament,  the  blockade  of  Boston  took  place.  Without 
living  to  see  American  Independence  established — but  living 
long  enough  "to  repent  in  bitterness  of  soul,"  it  is  said,  "the 
part  he  had  acted  against  a  country  once  disposed  to  respect 
his  character  " — in  London,  in  1780 — by  a  kind  of  retribu 
tive  justice,  a  victim  to  chagrin,  disappointment,  and  des 
pair — he  breathed  out  his  disturbed  and  disturbing  soul  on 
the  very  day  when  the  riots,  roused  by  Lord  George  Gordon, 
reached  their  fearful  height. 

There  was  John  Wentworth,  Governor  of  New- Hampshire. 
Far  back  as  1767,  this  man  manifested  his  hostility  to  Amer 
ican  interests  by  preventing  the  merchants  of  Portsmouth 
from  entering  into  the  Non-Importation  Scheme,  which  was 
then  devised  in  resistance  to  the  arbitrary  measures  of  Great 
Britain.  Soon  as  the  Kevolution  dawned,  he  labored  most 
assiduously  to  prevent  the  appointment  of  Committees  of 
Correspondence — those  props  and  safeguards  of  Liberty. 
When  the  New-Hampshire  Legislature,  in  spite  of  his  oppo 
sition,  appointed  them,  he  at  once  dissolved  this  Body. 
When  these  Committees  met  to  appoint  Delegates  to  Con 
gress,  he  took  a  Sheriff  with  him,  and  dispersed  them.  He 
soon  lost  all  power  in  the  Province.  An  outraged  People 


CHAP.     XX. — TRUMBULL.  235 

compelled  Mm  to  shut  himself  up  in  Portsmouth.  An  in 
dignant  mob  pillaged  his  house.  Popular  anger  continued 
to  swell  against  him,  and  he  fled  the  territory,  leaving  the 
political  control  of  New-Hampshire  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
its  Eepublican  Provincial  Congress,  and  local  Committees. 

There  was  Joseph  Wanton,  Governor  of  Rhode  Island — "  a 
man  of  weak  capacity,  and  of  little  political  knowledge" — 
who  not  only  "  endeavored  to  impede  all  measures  of  oppo 
sition  to  Great  Britain,"  but  also  "  to  prevent  even  a  discus 
sion  on  the  propriety  of  raising  a  defensive  army."  After 
the  burning  of  the  Gaspee,  treacherously  to  the  interests  of 
freedom,  he  sat  on  that  most  obnoxious  inquisitorial  Court 
of  Inquiry,  then  raised  by  his  Majesty — which  was  vested 
with  the  fearful  power  of  seizing  any  person  on  bare  suspi 
cion — confining  him  on  board  a  King's  ship — and  sending 
him,  in  desolation  and  despair — far  from  friends — out  of  the 
reach  of  a  single  witness  in  his  favor — to  stand  trial,  and 
receive  a  certain  condemnation  in  distant  England. 

There  was  William  Tryon,  Governor  of  New-  York,  a  most 
noted  foe  indeed  to  the  Colonies.  Several  years  before  the 
Eevolution,  his  administration  of  North  Carolina  had  marked 
him  as  an  extortioner  and  an  oppressor.  His  merciless  con 
duct  in  that  Province — sword  and  torch  in  one  hand,  and 
the  halter  in  the  other — towards  a  poor,  scourged,  and  almost 
defenceless  people  in  the  counties  of  Orange  and  Mecklen- 
burgh — signalized  him  as  one,  says  Bancroft,  who  "in  his 
revengeful  zeal  for  the  Crown,  had  treasured  up  wrath 
against  the  day  of  wrath."  The  Cherokees  there,  with 
whom  he  negotiated  boundaries,  to  mark  his  cruelty  and 
craft,  distinguished  him  by  the  name  of  the  "  Great  Wolf." 
Able,  enterprising,  artful,  a  perfect  master  of  intrigue,  there 
was  not  one  measure  of  the  British  Cabinet  into  which  he 
did  not  enter  with  hot  zeal.  "When  he  assumed  the  govern 
ment  of  New- York,  he  counselled  every  soul  under  his  rule 
there  to  submit  quietly  to  the  King,  and  "to  decline  any 
union  of  opinion  and  action  with  the  other  Colonies  in  their 
opposition  to  the  new  regulations  of  the  British  Parliament." 
He  encouraged  the  recusants  upon  Long  Island,  and  upon 
Staten  Island,  in  their  refusal  to  sign  the  Continental  Asso- 


236  CHAP.    XX. — TRUMBULL. 

elation.  Though  he  soon  became  so  obnoxious  as  to  be  com 
pelled,  for  personal  safety,  to  fly  on  board  the  Asia  man-of- 
war,  yet  he  soon  emerged  from  his  retreat — like  a  dragon 
from  his  den — put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  loyalists, 
and  annoyed  and  scourged  the  inhabitants  of  New- York  and 
the  Jerseys,  wherever  he  could  penetrate.  In  the  course  of 
his  career  he  burned  Continental  Village,  and  the  public 
stores  there,  and  houses  and  other  buildings  at  numerous 
other  points  upon  the  Hudson.  He  reduced  Danbury  and 
Fairfield  to  ashes.  He  fired  Norwalk.  He  plundered  New- 
haven.  He  devastated  wherever  he  could.  A  most  active, 
malicious  foe  to  the  Colonies  and  all  their  rights,  his  memory 
is  execrated. 

There  was  William  Franklin,  Governor  of  New-Jersey. 
The  fact  that  this  man  was,  by  order  of  Congress,  deprived, 
as  a  prisoner,  of  the  use  of  pen,  ink  or  paper,  fully  shows 
his  dangerous  opposition  to  the  rights  of  America.  Far 
back  as  1767,  he  had  prevailed  on  New-Jersey  to  return  a 
negative  answer  to  the  famous  patriotic  Circular  of  Massa 
chusetts.  It  was  a  fit  preparation,  on  his  part,  for  the  course 
he  took  when  the  doings  of  the  first  Continental  Congress 
came  before  an  Assembly  of  his  Province  for  ratification. 
He  then  labored  most  zealously,  but  in  vain,  to  prevent  this 
ratification.  He  took  the  Assembly  to  task  for  avowing  sen 
timents  favorable  to  a  separation  from  the  Mother-Country, 
and  denounced  such  separation  as  "  a  horrid  measure."  He 
held  traitorous  correspondence  with  the  enemy.  New-Jersey, 
therefore,  made  him  a  prisoner  in  his  own  house.  Persisting 
in  it,  he  was  sent  to  rigid  confinement  in  Connecticut — and 
when  released,  by  exchange,  became  at  once  President  of  a 
Board  of  Loyalists  whose  object  it  was  to  trample  down 
Colonial  rights  and  liberties. 

There  was  John  Penn,  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
Governor  also  of  Delaware — for  it  was  not  until  1777,  when 
the  Presidency  of  John  McKinley  commenced,  that  this  lat 
ter  territory,  though  previously  enjoying  a  distinct  adminis 
tration,  became  in  fact  wholly  separate  from  the  adjoining 
"Propriety."  Like  the  Governor  of  New-Jersey,  he  too, 
before  the  Eevolution  broke  forth,  acted  out  sentiments  not 


CHAP.    XX. — TRUMBULL.  237 

in  accordance  with  that  glorious  event.  He  too,  like  William 
Franklin,  had  opposed  that  patriotic  Massachusetts  Circular, 
to  which  we  have  referred — had  even  enjoined  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Assembly  to  disregard  it  as  factious,  and  of  dangerous 
tendency.  Soon  after  his  first  arrival  in  Philadelphia — at 
which  time  an  earthquake,  of  ill  omen  as  by  many  regarded, 
shook  the  city — he  had,  by  a  demand  for  proprietary  taxes 
deemed  extravagant,  so  incensed  this  Assembly,  as  that,  by 
a  very  large  majority,  it  determined  to  petition  the  King  to 
take  the  jurisdiction  of  the  province  out  from  the  hands  of 
the  Proprietors,  and  vest  the  government  directly  in  the 
Crown.  So  that  he  too  was  prepared,  when  the  Kevolution 
broke  out,  to  resist  it — with  occasionally,  it  is  true,  an  ap 
pearance  of  sympathy  with  such  leading  spirits  in  his  Prov 
ince  in  the  cause  of  liberty  as  John  Dickinson,  and  perhaps 
his  own  co-Quaker  friend,  General  Miiflin — and  with  com 
parative  mildness — yet  after  all,  with  so  much  of  positive- 
ness,  as  that  when  the  detested  Boston  Port  Bill  took  effect, 
and  he  was  requested  thereupon  to  convene  the  Assembly  of 
his  Province,  he  refused  absolutely  to  do  so,  and  during  the 
whole  time  that  the  storm  was  gathering,  adhered  to  instruc 
tions  from  the  Crown,  and  openly  disapproved  of  the  patriot 
mode  of  redressing  grievances  through  the  medium  of  Con 
ventions,  and  of  the  immortal  Continental  Congress. 

There  was  Robert  Eden,  Governor  of  Maryland — a  man  of 
conciliating  manners,  and  estimable  private  character,  but 
one  whom  Marshall  describes  as  strongly  prejudiced  in  favor 
of  British  interests,  and  a  spy  for  the  public  enemy — a  man 
whose  arrest,  in  consequence  of  his  traitorous  correspondence 
with  the  British  Ministry,  was  recommended  by  Congress — 
and  to  whom  a  Convention  of  his  own  Province  formally 
signified  its  opinion  that  "the  public  safety  and  quiet  re 
quired  him  to  leave  "  Maryland.  General  Lee  threatened  to 
seize  and  confine  him.  The  summer  of  1776  saw  him  sail 
for  England,  a  fugitive  from  his  own  seat  of  power. 

There  was  Lord  Dunmore,  Governor  of  Virginia — a  man 
whose  intemperate  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  King  caused  universal 
disgust — who  strove  to  cut  short  every  deliberation  upon  the 
public  grievances — who  proclaimed  Patrick  Henry,  and  his 


238  CHAP.    XX. — TRUMBULL. 

coadjutors  in  the  cause  of  the  People,  guilty  of  rebellion — 
who,  in  the  face  of  a  tumult  which  his  own  rashness  excited, 
was  compelled  to  retreat  for  safety  on  board  the  British  man- 
of-war  Fowey — and  who  proceeded  then,  for  several  months, 
to  wage  a  bitter  predatory  war  upon  Virginia — which  term 
inated,  most  disgracefully  to  himself,  in  his  applying  the 
torch  to  the  best  town  in  the  Province.*  He  seized  the 
powder  of  the  Colony,  and  placed  it  on  board  an  armed 
ship.  He  dismantled  the  Colonial  fort  at  Williamsburgh. 
He  threatened  to  declare  the  blacks  free,  and  to  arm  them 
against  their  masters.  He  did  enlist  fugitive  slaves  to 
butcher  their  masters.  He  encouraged  the  Indians  to  rush 
from  the  wilderness  on  the  back  settlements.  After  outrag 
ing  in  every  form  that  he  could  the  interests  and  liberties  of 
the  Province  he  had  governed,  this  rash,  ranting,  and  exe 
crated  defender  of  Parliamentary  Power,  found  it  necessary 
at  last  to  retire  with  his  plunder  to  St.  Augustine. 

There  was  Joseph  Martin,  Governor  of  North  Carolina — also 
an  inveterate,  zealous,  cruel  tory — who,  after  doing  all  in  his 
power  to  prevent  the  appointment  of  Delegates  from  his 
Province  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  the  subsequent 
ratification  of  the  doings  of  this  Body,  conspired  with  the 
Regulators,  and  Scotch  Highlanders,  in  his  government,  to 
overawe  and  subdue  all  the  Sons  of  Liberty  there — who 
commissioned  McDonald  and  McLeod  to  march  against  them 
for  their  destruction — who  angrily  denounced  all  their  con 
ventions  and  proceedings.  Compelled  at  last,  in  fear  of 
their  indignation,  first  at  JSTewbern  to  fortify  his  own  dwell 
ing,  and  next  to  fly  for  safety  on  board  a  British  man-of- 
war,  he  co-operated  heartily  with  Clinton,  in  every  form,  to 
retain  North  Carolina  in  subjection  to  the  Crown. 

There  was  Lord  William  Campbell,  Governor  of  South 
Carolina.  He  too,  like  the  Chief  Magistrates  already  de 
scribed,  was  hostile  to  the  liberties  of  the  Province  which  he 
ruled.  All  the  proceedings  of  the  people  there  for  putting  it 
in  a  state  of  defence,  he  opposed.  He  struck  at  its  Commit 
tee  of  Safety.  He  secretly  negotiated  with  the  Cherokees, 
and  with  the  disaffected  in  the  back  counties  of  the  South, 

*  Norfolk. 


CHAP.     XX. — TKUMBULL.  230 

and  encouraged  insurrections  of  the  negroes,  in  order  to  over 
power  the  patriots.  All  harmony  between  himself  and  the 
latter  being  soon  broken  up,  he  too  was  compelled  at  last  to 
retire  for  safety  on  board  a  British  ship-of-war — where,  in 
the  attack  on  Charleston — in  June  1776 — serving  as  a  vol 
unteer  in  the  flag-ship  of  the  enemy,  he  fell  fighting  against 
the  liberties  of  America. 

There  was  James  Wright,  Governor  of  Georgia — another 
violent  tory  Chief  Magistrate — who  opposed  the  adoption  in 
his  Province  of  the  American  Association,  and  had  influ 
ence  enough  for  a  time  to  prevent  it — who  issued  proclama 
tions  against  all  conventions  of  his  people — and  who  attempt 
ed  to  stop  them  from  seizing  powder  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Savannah,  that  so  they  might  be  deprived  of  an  article  vital 
to  their  defence.  Made  at  last,  on  account  of  his  obnoxious 
course,  a  prisoner  in  his  own  house,  he  forfeited  his  parole — 
and  after  having  done  everything  in  his  power  to  quench  the 
flame  of  revolution,  he  too  stole  off  for  security  to  a  British 
ship. 

And  now,  in  striking  contrast  with  every  other  Chief  Mag 
istrate  of  every  other  American  Colony,  when  the  Revolu 
tion  began,  how  does  the  subject  of  our  Memoir,  Jonathan 
Trumbutt,  Governor  of  Connecticut — how  does  he  appear  ? 

"Quantum  mutatus  ab  illisf"  Thoughtful  only  of  the 
good  of  the  people  over  whom  he  presided,  we  find  him 
heartily  and  at  once  flinging  himself  on  their  side — and  with 
a  contempt  of  all  the  allurements  or  menaces  of  royal  power, 
and  an  almost  unparallelled  assiduity,  devoting  his  time, 
talent,  and  treasure  to  the  support  of  colonial  rights.  Yes, 
with  the  ardor,  courage,  and  inflexibility  of  an  Adams' 
of  an  Otis,  a  Henry,  and  a  Rutledge — with  the  wisdom  of  a 
Sherman  and  a  Franklin — and  with  the  serene  confidence, 
and  undying  hope  of  a  Washington — he  sprang  into  the  con 
test — and  to  every  act  of  British  tyranny  opposed  a  wall  of 
resistance — opposed  a  rampart  of  reason,  and  a  rampart  of 
men — thirty-one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-nine  in 
number,  in  the  course  of  the  War — whom  his  own  energy, 
as  we  shall  see,  gathered  from  every  hill  and  valley  in  Con 
necticut,  to  fight  the  battles  of  Freedom ! 


240  CHAP.    XX. — TRUMBULL. 

"  The  Rebel  Governor  !  "  Ah,  yes — title  of  glory  indeed — 
a  rebel  to  an  arrogant  King — to  a  dictatorial  British.  Minis 
try — to  an  enslaving  British  Parliament — to  all  power,  and 
all  policy,  not  founded  on  the  indestructible  rights  of  man 
kind!  The  names  of  other  Colonial  Governors,  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  American  Kevolution,  may  live — but  it  will 
be  only  in  union  with  the  thought  of  oppression.  That  of 
Trumbull  will  survive  immortally  associated  with  Liberty — 
that  Liberty  which  is  "  the  eternal  Spirit  of  the  chainless 
mind" — whose  habitation  is  the  heart  of  patriotism — and 
whose  monument  is  "  the  independence,  the  glory,  and  the 
durable  prosperity  of  one's  country." 


PART   II. 


21 


CHAPTER    XXI. 
1776. 

TRUMBULL  in  his  connections  -with  the  War,  at  the  North — around  New 
York — and  at  the  East.  He  issues  two  Proclamations  for  raising  a 
Northern  Regiment.  He  makes  other  preparations  for  the  Northern 
Department,  and  hears  favorable  news  from  this  quarter.  He  warmly 
aids  the  defence  of  New  York  by  Gen  Lee.  An  instance,  here,  of  his 
promptness  and  decision.  He  guards  against  tories.  Congress  and 
Lord  Sterling  press  him  to  continue  his  aid  to  New  York.  He 
strengthens  and  supplies  the  army  around  Boston  He  encourages 
the  procurement  and  manufacture  of  the  munitions  of  war.  The 
•works  at  Salisbury  in  this  connection.  Death  of  his  friend  and  pastor, 
Rev.  Solomon  Williams.  Trumbull  in  his  relations  to  this  worthy 
man — to  his  Church — and  to  his  death-bed. 

WE  enter  now  with  Trumbull  upon  the  year  1776 — one 
of  renowned  events  both  in  the  forum  arid  the  field  of  new 
born  America — a  year  peculiarly  of  triumph  for  freedom 
upon  the  civil  and  political  stage,  but  upon  the  military  are 
na,  one  of  blood-baptism  and  distress.  We  shall  watch  his 
steps  here — as  in  that  we  have  just  left,  and  in  that  which 
follows — closely — for  these  are  the  years  especially  in  which 
the  War — not  yet,  as  subsequently,  transferred  mainly  to  the 
Southward — had  its  seat  at  the  North — raged  as  it  were 
around  his  own  dwelling — and  most  particularly  tasked  his 
energies,  tested  his  patriotism,  and  developed  the  man.  Let 
us  look  at  him  then — as  in  our  plan  hitherto — in  his  connec 
tions  with  the  War,  at  the  North — around  New  York — at 
the  East — and  upon  the  waters  and  shores  of  his  own  native 
State — and  first,  during  that  period  of  the  year — its  three 
opening  months — which  closes  with  the  marked  event  of  the 
evacuation  of  Boston  by  the  British  troops. 

And  here  let  the  Eeader  observe  him  first  on  the  opening 
day  of  January,  1776 — on  which  day,  developing  at  this 
date  both  his  own  and  the  action  of  the  State  over  which  he 
presided — he  addressed  a  letter  to  General  Washington,  from 
which  the  following  are  extracts : — 


24A  CHAP.    XXI. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

"  I  received  the  20th  of  last  month,  your  Excellency's  favor  of  the 
15th,  enclosing  a  list  of  the  officers  and  companies  under  the  new  ar 
rangement,  with  the  number  of  men  enlisted ;  and  at  the  same  time,  an 
other  of  the  17th,  with  the  information  of  several  persons  who  then  had 
lately  come  out  of  Boston.  I  return  my  thanks  for  both. 

"  By  accounts  received  from  various  parts  of  the  Colony,  the  recruiting 
officers,  for  the  Continental  service,  have  good  success  in  enlisting  men. 

"  The  Assembly  have  granted  Chaplains  the  same  pay  given  last  cam 
paign,  with  the  addition  of  forty  shillings  per  month  each,  to  enable 
them  to  supply  their  pulpits. 

"  Brigadier  General  Prescott  is  not  arrived.  Shall  give  particular  di 
rections  to  prevent  his  escape,  if  he  comes  into  this  Colony. 

u  The  23rd,  yours  of  the  14th  of  December  came  to  hand,  per  Mes 
sieurs  Penet  &  De  Pliarre.  Every  necessary  assistance,  for  expediting 
their  journey,  was  afforded  without  delay ;  they  set  out  the  next  morn 
ing.  You  shall  be  made  acquainted  with  the  expense  incurred  on  their 
account,  when  the  same  is  known. 

"The  28th  instant,  at  evening,  our  General  Assembly  adjourned. 
There  is  great  unanimity  in  our  common  cause." 

And  the  Governor  goes  on  to  describe  several  important 
acts  which  the  Assembly  passed — among  others,  one  for 
raising  and  equipping,  as  Minute-Men,  one-fourth  part  of  the 
militia  of  Connecticut — another  for  restraining  and  punish 
ing  persons  who  were  inimical  to  the  liberties  of  the  coun 
try — another  providing  for  the  construction  of  armed  ves 
sels — another  exempting  the  polls  of  soldiers  from  taxes — 
and  still  another  for  encouraging  the  manufacture  of  salt 
petre  and  gunpowder. 

"  I  hope,"  he  continues — "  to  collect  Saltpetre  and  manufacture  a  con 
siderable  quantity  of  gunpowder  early  in  the  spring.  The  furnace,  at 
Middletown,  is  smelting  lead,  and  likely  to  turn  out  twenty  or  thirty 
tons.  Ore  is  plenty. 

"  Please  to  favor  me  with  an  account  of  the  quantity  of  lead  received 
from  Crown  Point.  From  thence  I  received  one  hundred  and  eighty  old 
gun  barrels,  which  are  fitting  up  here,  and  will  make  one  hundred  and 
fifty  stands  of  good  arms.  Hearing  that  those  stands,  taken  in  the  ord 
nance  store-ship,  had  each  a  spare  lock,  I  thought  proper  to  mention  to 
you,  that,  if  it  be  so,  whether  it  may  not  be  well  to  furnish  a  number 
for  the  arms  fitting  here. 

"  On  the  26th,  at  evening,  I  met,  at  Hartford,  on  my  returning  from 
the  General  Assembly,  yours  of  the  23d  of  December,  and  immediately 
sent  to  Captain  Wadsworth,  a  person  employed  by  the  Commissary- 


me.  CHAP.  xxi. — TRUMBULL.  245 

General,  and  much  acquainted,  to  see  if  any  blankets  could  be  pur 
chased,  and  found  there  are  none.  Many  of  our  new  enlisted  men,  I  am 
told,  will  bring  blankets  with  them,  which  they  get  from  private  families. 
Those  lost  at  the  Bunker  Hill  fight  were  furnished  in  that  manner,  and 
our  minute-men  will  supply  themselves  in  that  way ;  but  I  am  very 
doubtful  of  success,  if  attempted.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Durkee  this  day 
mentioned  to  me  your  direction  to  him  on  this  head.  Shall  lay  the  same 
before  our  Committee  at  their  next  meeting. 

"  Inclosed  is  a  copy  of  an  Act  empowering  the  Commander-in-chief, 
&c.,  to  administer  an  oath.  Also,  Minutes  of  the  ordnance  taken  from 
the  Ministerial  troops  at  the  several  Northern  posts,  from  the  1st  of  May 
to  the  13th  of  November,  1775  " — also  "  a  letter  from  President  Wheelock, 
at  Dartmouth  College." 

The  year  1775,  as  is  familiar  history,  so  far  as  the  North 
ern  Campaign  is  concerned,  went  down  in  blood — in  the 
blood  of  one  of  the  noblest  Generals  of  the  Eevolution,  and 
in  calamity  and  defeat  before  Quebec.  The  fall  of  Montgom 
ery,  however,  and  the  disastrous  state  of  affairs  at  Quebec 
which  immediately  ensued,  but  stimulated  effort  afresh  on 
the  part  of  the  United  Colonies.  Congress  at  once  resolved 
to  raise  nine  battalions  of  men  for  the  preservation  of  Cana 
da,  and  apportioned  their  quotas  accordingly  upon  different 
States.  Yet  before  he  received  particular  instructions  from 
Congress,  Trumbull — to  whom,  from  his  peculiar  efforts  for 
the  Northern  Department,  the  rout  proved  most  distressing — 
was  up  and  doing. 

January  nineteenth,  he  issued  a  Proclamation  for  raising  a 
Northern  Regiment.  After  reciting  the  news  of  Montgom 
ery's  defeat* — in  consideration  of  this,  and  of  the  fact  that 
the  Continental  Congress  could  not  instantly  forward  troops, 
and  would  approve  his  steps — he  called  for  a  regiment  of 
foot,  to  consist  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  effective  men — 
which  was  "to  be  marched  with  all  possible  expedition,"  he 
said,  "to  the  relief  and  succor  of  the  Continental  Army  in 
Canada,  and  to  continue  in  service  until  the  first  of  March 
next,"  unless  it  could  be  "sooner  released  consistent  with  the 
public  safety."f 

*  "I  lament  the  loss  of  Gen.  Montgomery,  and  the  other  brave  officers  before 
Quebec" — he  wrote  Jan.  21, 1776.  "Let  our  eyes  be  upon  the  Lord.  May  we 
humbly  and  patiently  bear  his  chastisement ! " 

t  "And  I  do,"  he  concluded — "earnestly  recommend  it  to,  and  invite  all  per 


246  CHAP.     XXI. — TRUMBULL. 

Shortly  after  this  Proclamation,  he  received  from  Congress, 
by  express,  directions  for  keeping  up  nine  battalions  in  Can 
ada,  and  for  raising  one  regiment  in  Connecticut.  Where 
upon  he  issued  a  second  Proclamation — in  lieu  of  the  form 
er — drafted  on  the  Congress  plan — and  calling  for  eight  com 
panies,  of  ninety  men  each,  including  officers.  In  this  offi 
cial  document,  after  declaring  pay  and  encouragement  for 
those  who  would  enlist,  he  pledged  himself  that  they  should 
receive  all  that  was  offered.  "And  considering,"  he  con 
cluded — "the  generous  encouragement  aforesaid,  granted  by 
said  Honorable  Congress,  the  nature  and  importance  of  the 
service  more  immediately  affecting  the  Northern  Colonies, 
the  justice  of  the  cause  &c.,  I  repeat  the  invitation  contained 
in  my  former  Proclamation,  to  all  able-bodied  men,  to  a  suf 
ficient  number,  for  the  sake  of  all  that  is  dear  to  freemen, 
and  for  security  of  those  rights  which  render  life  desirable, 
freely  and  cheerfully  to  exert  themselves  on  this  great  occa 
sion,  in  which  we  have  much  reason  to  hope  for  the  blessing 
of  Almighty  God,  and  that  our  vigorous  exertion,  for  one 
ensuing  campaign,  will  lay  a  happy  foundation  for  putting  an 
end  to  the  unnatural  contest  into  which  we  are  forced  by 
cruel  oppression,  and  secure  the  lasting  peace  and  tranquillity 
of  this  once  happy  land,  on  the  sure  and  happy  basis  of  re 
ligious  and  civil  liberty." 

The  regiment  thus  called  for  was  speedily  prepared — and 
Colonel  Burrall,  a  brave  and  energetic  officer,  was  placed  at 
its  head.  It  is  completed,  as  you  desired,  and  will  soon  be 
on  its  march — wrote  Trumbull  to  Congress.  It  will  be  at 
Albany  soon — he  wrote  to  Schuyler.  Pay  and  all  needful 
supplies  were  furnished — and  in  advance  too  of  General 
Washington's  request.  "The  early  attention  which  you  and 
your  Honorable  Council  have  paid  to  this  important  busi 
ness,"  said  Washington — addressing  Trumbull  on  the  sub 
ject — "has  anticipated  my  requisition,  and  claims,  and  de 
serves,  in  a  particular  manner,  the  thanks  of  every  well-wish 
ing  American." 

sons  able  for  said  service,  to  a  sufficient  number,  freely  and  cheerfully  to  engage 
in  and  undertake  the  same,  for  the  sake  of  the  love  of  their  country,  and  all  the 
dear  bought  rights  and  privileges  thereof,  the  happiness  of  themselves,  and  of  all 
posterity." 


me. 


CHAP.    XXI. — TRUMBULL.  247 


In  February,  Trumbull  sent  Northward  for  as  many  old 
gun  barrels  as  could  be  procured,  and  put  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  into  the  hands  of  his  son  David  to  see  them  re 
paired.  He  forwarded  all  the  powder  that  could  then  be  ob 
tained.  He  made  provision  that  John  Lawrence  Esquire — 
with  twelve  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  then  lately  ap 
propriated  by  Congress  to  Connecticut  for  the  expedition — 
should  repair  to  Canaan  of  elsewhere,  and  pay  off  each 
officer  and  soldier  of  the  Northern  Battalion  before  they 
marched — thus  anticipating  again  the  request  of  Washing 
ton,  Schuyler  and  others.  And  in  this  connection  he  was 
the  first  to  adopt  the  measure  of  appointing  a  Eegimental 
Paymaster — for  which  he  received  the  special  thanks  of 
Schuyler.  It  will  be  attended  "  with  vast  benefit  to  the  serv 
ice,"  said  the  latter.  Nor  in  this  connection  did  he  forget 
payment  for  those  who  first  at  the  North — in  the  capture  of 
Ticonderoga— signalized  the  American  arms.  He  brought 
this  matter  before  his  own  Council,  and  warmly  urged  it  in 
letters  to  Congress. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  duty,  he  was  gratified  with  news 
somewhat  favorable  from  the  North.  "  Our  brave  little  corps 
before  Quebec,"  wrote  Schuyler  in  February — "hold  their 
ground,  and  continue  the  blockade." — "It  gives  me  great 
pleasure,"  answered  Trumbull,  on  hearing  the  fact.  "This 
is  true  bravery.  It  must  convince  Lord  North  that  Ameri 
cans  are  not  all  poltroons." 

At  the  same  time  with  the  Canadian,  the  Atlantic  frontier 
of  New  York  was  receiving  military  attention  at  the  hands 
of  Trumbull.  Upon  report  of  a  hostile  embarcation  from 
Boston  for  its  leading  city,  and  authentic  information  that  a 
great  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Long  Island  were  inimical  to 
the  American  cause,  Washington  determined  to  detach  Gen 
eral  Lee*  in  that  direction.  Early  in  January,  therefore, 

*  General  Lee  was  himself  very  anxious  that  this  plan  should  be  expedited. 
"The  consequences,"  he  wrote  Washington,  January  fifth— "of  the  enemy's  pos 
sessing  themselves  of  New  York  have  appeared  to  me  so  terrible,  that  I  have 
scarcely  been  able  to  sleep  from  apprehensions  on  this  subject.  *  *  I  would 
propose  that  you  should  detach  me  into  Connecticut,  and  lend  your  name  for  col 
lecting  a  body  of  volunteers.  I  am  assured  that  I  shall  find  no  difficulty  in  as 
sembling  a  sufficient  number  for  the  purposes  wanted.  This  body  (if  there 


248  CHAP.    XXI.— TRUMBULL.  1776. 

through  Captain  Sears,  he  communicated  his  plan  to  Trum- 
bull — for  his  sanction — and  asked  him  to  provide  troops  for 
the  purpose — especially,  he  said,  "  volunteers  of  gentlemen 
without  pay."  Trumbull  warmly  welcomed  the  proposal — 
convened  his  Council — drew  money  from  the  Treasury — and 
issued  a  Proclamation*  to  encourage  enlistments — as  the  fol 
lowing  letter,  which,  January  fifteenth,  he  addressed  to 
"Washington  on  the  subject,  shows. 

"  I  have  received  your  agreable  letter,  of  the  7th  instant,  per  Captain 
Sears.  The  condition  and  circumstances  of  the  Colony  of  New  York 
give  me  pain,  lest  the  friends  to  American  liberty  in  that  Colony  should 
be  too  much  neglected  and  become  disheartened,  and  the  inimical  designs 
and  mischievous  operations  of  others  succeed.  I  have  received  credible 
information  that  the  Provincial  Congress  there  had  spent  some  time,  just 
before  they  adjourned  to  the  1st  of  February,  in  debating  whether  they 
should  not  address  Mr.  Tryon  for  the  purpose  of  calling  the  General  As 
sembly  of  that  Colony,  to  revive  the  old  scheme  of  adopting  the  Parlia 
mentary  insult  of  the  20th  of  February  last,  which  was  rejected.  Surely 
our  friends  want  to  be  strengthened,  and  our  enemies  to  be  checked.  *  * 

"  I  wrote  a  letter  to  President  Hancock,  dated  the  6th  of  January,  and 
another  to  one  of  our  Delegates  at  Congress,  requesting  that  more  effect 
ual  measures  may  be  taken  for  the  security  of  New  York,  to  prevent  our 
enemies  from  being  supplied  with  provisions,  furnished  with  intelligence, 
and  from  having  an  opportunity  to  use  every  artifice  to  insult  and  injure 
us  from  that  quarter.  It  therefore  gave  me  sensible  pleasure  to  find,  that 
you  have  adopted  the  measures  mentioned  in  yours,  and  with  great 
cheerfulness  I  called  my  Council,  and  with  their  advice,  appointed  Colo 
nel  Waterbury,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Bradley,  and  Major  Holly,  field-offi 
cers  for  one  regiment,  Colonel  Ward,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Lewis,  and  Ma 
jor  Douglas  for  another.  Sent  a  Proclamation  to  the  two  Colonels,  and 
orders  to  them  with  the  rest  of  the  field-officers,  by  voluntary  enlistment, 
to  raise  seven  hundred  and  fifty  men  each,  to  join  and  assist  Major  Gen 
eral  Lee,  with  encouragement  that  they  should  be  entitled  to  the  same 
pay,  wages,  and  billeting  allowed  the  troops  before  Boston,  during  the 

should  appear  occasion  to  summon  them)  with  the  Jersey  Regiment  under  the 
command  of  Lord  Stirling,  now  at  Elizabethtown,  will  effect  the  security  of  New 
York,  and  the  expulsion  or  suppression  of  that  dangerous  banditti  of  Tories, 
•who  have  appeared  in  Long  Island  with  the  professed  intention  of  acting  against 
the  authority  of  the  Congress.  Not  to  crush  these  serpents,  before  their  rattles 
are  grown,  would  be  ruinous." 

*"That  ardent  patriot,"  says  Sparks  in  this  connection,  speaking  of  Trum 
bull— "always  foremost  in  vigorous  action  as  well  as  in  zeal,  and  public  spirit, 
immediately  issued  orders  for  raising  two  regiments  by  voluntary  enlistment," 
&Q.—Life  of  Charles  Lee. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXI. — TRUMBULL.  249 

time  they  served,  and  to  be  dismissed  soon,  when  the  service  would  con 
veniently  admit. 

"  The  field-officers  of  each  regiment  are  to  select  captains  and  subal 
terns  from  those  in  the  standing  militia ;  if  needful,  to  request  the  chief 
officer  of  the  militia  companies  to  call  their  companies  together  for  the 
purpose  of  enlisting  the  men  with  expedition ;  and,  to  prevent  difficulty 
from  want  of  ammunition,  I  have  ordered  Captain  Niles,  Commander  of 
our  armed  Schooner,  the  Spy,  to  take  on  board  half  a  ton  of  powder,  and 
transport  four  hundred  pounds  to  Newhaven,  two  hundred  pounds  to 
Norwalk,  and  four  hundred  pounds  to  Stamford,  with  orders  to  him  to 
follow  such  directions  as  Major  General  Lee  may  give  for  the  service  he 
is  employed  in,  and  to  execute  the  same,  until  dismissed  by  him,  or 
further  orders  from  me.  I  wished,  but  failed,  to  have  the  pleasure  of  a 
short  interview  with  him.  When  my  orders  were  ready,  very  early  on 
Saturday  morning  last,  Captain  Sears  took  them,  and  I  apprehend  he  got 
to  Hartford  by  noon.  I  wrote  to  Major  General  Lee,  informing  of  what 
was  done  by  me.  I  have  no  doubt  but  the  men  at  the  westward  part  of 
this  Colony  will  readily  and  expeditiously  engage  in  the  service.  May 
the  Supreme  Director  of  all  events  add  His  blessing  on  our  endeavors  to 
preserve,  support,  and  maintain  the  constitutional  liberties  of  these 
Colonies,  which  he  hath  made  it  our  duty  to  do."* 

In  the  Proclamation  to  which  Trumbull  above  refers,  he 
called  zealously  upon  the  good  people  of  the  Colony — espe 
cially  in  the  parts  most  contiguous  to  New  York — freely  and 
cheerfully  to  engage  in  this  most  important  service,  to  the 
number  of  fifteen  hundred  men — and  was  so  successful  as 
almost  by  the  time  General  Lee  reached  Stamford  in  Connec 
ticut,  to  have  a  highly  spirited  body  of  troops — two  regiments 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Waterbury  and  Colonel 
Ward,  with  an  additional  body  of  three  hundred  volunteers 
from  Hartford  County f — ready  to  march.  "  I  find  the  peo 
ple  through  this  province,"  wrote  Lee  from  Stamford  to 
Washington,  January  twenty-third — "more  alert  and  more 
zealous  than  my  most  sanguine  expectation.  I  believe  I 

*  In  communicating  the  same  facts  to  his  son  Joseph  at  the  same  time,  the  Gov 
ernor  remarks  that  Washington's  plan  "is  very  judicious." — "The  ministerial 
speech,"  he  adds,  "  breathes  destruction  and  ruin  to  the  Colonies,  but  if  the 
Lord  of  Hosts  is  on  our  side,  as  I  believe  he  is,  all  their  designs  will  prove 
abortive." 

t"In  consequence  of  General  Lee's  invitation,"  writes  Col.  Jeremiah  Wads- 
worth  to  Joseph  Trumbull,  Jan.  21,  1776,  from  Hartford— "  a  number  of  volun 
teers  set  out  from  hence  to-morrow — among  which  is  my  uncle  Col.  Sam.  Talcott, 
more  than  sixty  years  of  age,  Col.  Seymour,  &c." 


250  CHAP.    XXI. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

might  have  collected  ten  thousand  volunteers.  I  take  only 
four  companies  with  me,  and  Waterbury's  regiment,  which  is 
so  happily  situated  on  the  frontier." 

Yet  ere  Waterbury  could  march,  Trumbull  had  occasion 
to  display — quite  remarkably — his  own  peculiar  promptness 
and  decision. 

The  regiment  in  question — "Waterbury's — had  been,  by 
order  of  Congress,  made  ready  for  embarcation,  to  land  at 
Oyster  Bay,  and  in  conjunction  with  Lord  Stirling  on  the 
other  side,  attack  the  tories  upon  Long  Island — but  just  at 
this  moment,  by  another  and  counter-order  from  Congress — 
to  the  ruin,  apparently,  of  measures  essential  to  the  salvation 
of  ISTew  York,  and  to  the  infinite  regret  of  all  concerned  in 
the  expedition — the  regiment  was  suddenly  disbanded. 
Trumbull,  at  once — in  an  unhesitating  exercise  of  author 
ity — "like  a  man  of  sense  and  spirit,"  says  Lee — "ordered 
it  to  be  reassembled."*  And  on  went  Lee,  therefore,  with 
the  regiment.  Though  sick  himself  with  the  gout,  and 
borne  upon  a  litter,  on  he  went  to  take  "  strong  possession  " 
of  New  York — there  to  quarter  Waterbury's  troops  in  the 
upper  barracks  of  the  city,  while  Lord  Stirling's  occupied  the 
lower — there  soon  to  receive  Ward's  regiment,  which  also, 
Trumbull,  in  compliance  with  Lee's  request,  sent  promptly 
on,f  and  which  was  stationed  on  Long  Island  to  construct 
redoubts  for  commanding  the  entrance  to  East  River — there, 
behind  Trinity  Church,  to  erect  batteries  for  keeping  off  the 
enemy's  ships — and  throw  a  barrier  mounted  with  cannon 
across  Broadway^ — and  barricade  all  the  streets  leading  right 
and  left  into  the  main  way,  that  his  own  force  might  not  be 
taken  in  reverse — there  to  carry  into  effect,  should  occasion 
arise,  his  own  fearful  menace  at  the  time,  that  if  the  British 
ships,  then  threatening  the  city,  dared  to  set  one  house  on 
fire  in  consequence  of  his  coming,  he  would  "chain  a  hundred 

*  "  I  believe  it  will  be  ready  on  Sunday,  the  day  on  which  I  shall  leave  this 
town"— wrote  Lee  from  Newhaven,  January  sixteenth,  to  Washington. 

t  "  In  compliance  with  his  [Lee's]  request,  we  have  already  sent  orders  to  Col 
onel  Ward  to  repair  again  forthwith  to  New  York."—TmmbuU  to  Washington, 
Feb.  12th. 

J  To  prevent  the  fort  at  its  foot  from  being  converted  into  a  citadel  for  hostile 
rise. 


1776.  CHAP.     XXI. — TRUMBULL.  251 

of  their  friends  by  the  neck,  and  make  that  house  their  funeral 
pile!"  And  doubtless  this  impetuous  general — of  whom 
Irving  remarks  that  he  "had  served  in  the  famous  campaigns 
of  Europe,  commanded  Cossacks,  fought  with  Turks,  talked 
with  Frederick  the  Great,  and  been  aid  du  camp  to  the  King 
of  Poland  " — would  have  carried  this  menace  into  effect,  had 
the  foe  but  given  him  cause.* 

Tories,  as  already  seen,  were  no  favorites  with  the  patriot 
whom  we  commemorate — and  his  eye  was  upon  them  at  this 
time  not  only  on  Long  Island,  but  elsewhere  in  the  Province 
of  New  York — particularly  upon  some  in  the  County  of 
Westchester — concerning  whom  he  made  complaint  to  the 
Committee  of  Inspection  for  Greenwich,  that,  contrary  to 
every  principle  of  duty,  they  were  supplying  the  enemy  with 
provisions,  and  had  already  placed  a  large  quantity  on  board 
the  British  ship  of  war  Asia.  Lee  carried  into  effect  certain 
precautions  regarding  these  persons  which  Trumbull  desired, 
and  the  latter  was  highly  gratified.  "  The  news  from  New 
York,"  he  informed  Washington — when  in  February  Lee  was 
thoroughly  securing  the  city — "  is  interesting,  pleasing,  and 
sheweth  God's  marvellous  interposition  for  our  assistance. — I 
cannot  but  hope  propitious  Heaven  will  smile  success  on  that 
most  timely  and  judicious  exertion  of  your  Excellency  to 
prevent  our  enemies  from  possessing  themselves  of  that  im 
portant  station.  I  have  the  pleasure  to  enclose  you  a  copy 
of  Gen.  Lee's  letter." 

In  March  a  pressing  communication  from  Congress  reached 
Trumbull,  desiring  him  to  continue  his  aid  in  the  quarter 
now  under  consideration.  "  The  importance  of  the  service," 
wrote  President  Hancock  to  him  then — "  and  the  distinguished 
zeal  you,  Sir,  and  the  good  people  of  your  Colony,  have  dis 
covered  in  this  glorious  struggle,  give  the  strongest  assurance 
that  you  will  comply  with  this  request,  and  exert  your 
utmost  efforts  to  repel  our  hostile  invaders,  and  prevent  them 
from  gaining  possession  of  a  post  from  which  they  may  so 

*  Gen.  Webb,  in  a  letter  dated  Wethersfield,  Feb.  7th,  1776— speaking  of  the 
New  York  expedition  from  Connecticut,  says — "  our  people  are  so  much  enraged 
at  that  Den  of  Tories,  they  swear  if  Gen.  Lee  is  stopp'd,  they  will  march  in  a 
body  and  destroy  the  city." 


254  CHAP.    XXI. — TRUMBULL. 


me. 


the  Treasury  of  Connecticut — was  at  this  period  almost  dry — 
and  Trumbull,  therefore,  could  get  but  little  from  this  source 
with  which  to  refund  Colonial  expenses.  Still  he  was  not 
disheartened,  but  pushed  on  with  his  labors.  Fifty  to  sixty 
tons  of  lead,  for  the  use  of  the  army,  he  turned  out  from  the 
mine  at  Middletown — and  explored  for  more  in  different 
parts  of  the  Colony.  He  sent  Joseph  Hopkins  to  examine 
and  report  upon  another  mine  in  Canaan,  New- York — urged 
Congress  to  have  it  worked — and  warmly  encouraged  through 
out  Connecticut  the  manufacture  of  saltpetre,  the  erection  of 
powder  mills,  and  the  casting  of  guns  and  camp-kettles  in 
the  important  works  at  Salisbury. 

These  works  at  Salisbury — that  secluded  town  in  the 
north-west  corner  of  Connecticut — celebrated  to  this  day  for 
its  rich  and  productive  iron  mines — where  deep  limestone 
vallies  lapping  elevated  granite  hills,  lakes  kissing  the  foot 
of  mountains,  and  huge  clefts  in  gaping  rocks,  strangely 
break  and  diversify  the  landscape — occupied  the  anxious  at 
tention  of  Trumbull  and  his  Council,  not  only  at  the  period 

"I  received  your  favors,"  wrote  Trumbull  again  to  Washington,  February 
twelfth — "of  the 8th  instant;  have  also  received,  per  Bacon,  the  remittance  for 
the  expenses  of  the  French  gentlemen  to  Philadelphia.  I  had  no  design  to  have 
ever  called  on  you  for  the  money  paid  our  troops  under  your  immediate  com 
mand,  but  to  have  accounted  with  the  Congress,  had  we  not  been  unexpectedly 
drained  of  cash,  and  had  pressing  calls  upon  us  two  or  three  ways  at  once.  That 
to  the  northward  could  not  possibly  have  been  answered,  but  for  the  seasonable 
arrival  of  the  Continental  supply,  just  sufficient  for  that  purpose.  Our  other  de 
mands  for  the  common  service  are  many.  The  men,  for  the  short  service  with 
you,  could  not  have  inarched  without  some  money,  which  they  have,  I  trust, 
wholly  expended  for  necessary  clothing,  &c.  I  therefore  could  have  wished  it 
had  been  in  your  power  to  have  remitted  the  sum  advanced  by  our  Pay  Table, 
but  shall  do  everything  in  my  power,  that  the  common  interest  does  not  suffer. 

"  I  am  greatly  concerned  for  the  scarcity  of  powder  and  arms.  We  have  not 
half  a  sufficiency  for  ourselves,  as  the  circumstances  may  be ;  yet,  anxious  to 
furnish  you,  for  the  common  good,  with  every  supply  in  our  power,  I  have  or 
dered  a  quantity  of  gunpowder  arrived  at  Bedford,  in  Dartmouth,  carted  to  and 
now  lying  at  Providence,  on  account  of  this  Colony,  to  be  sent  you,  with  all  pos 
sible  expedition.  Three  thousand  weight  of  this  we  conclude  to  order  to  Major 
Thompson,  Agent  for  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  on  account  of  money  he  sup 
plied  to  Mr.  Shaw,  the  importer,  for  that  end,  and  you  will  consult  him  or  them 
concerning  the  use  of  it.  I  suppose  the  whole  to  be  upwards  of  six  thousand 
weight ;  the  residue,  on  account  of  this  Colony,  for  which  shall  expect  payment, 
or  to  be  replaced,  as  shall  be  hereafter  chosen  by  us.  I  shall  send  you  this  week 
twenty  or  thirty  stands  of  good  arms.  I  have  not  certain  advice  from  any  quar 
ter,  but  I  believe  our  three  regiments  are  all  on  the  march  to  your  camp,  except 
those  already  arrived  there." 


1776.  CHAP.     XXI. — TRUMBULL.  255 

of  which  we  now  speak,  but  during  the  entire  course  of  the 
Revolutionary  War.  There — for  the  use  not  only  of  Con 
necticut,  but  of  the  United  States  at  large — cannon  were  to 
be  cast,  from  time  to  time  with  quickest  speed,  and  cannon 
balls,  and  bomb  shells — swivels,  anchors,  grape  shot,  and 
hand  grenades  for  vessels  of  war — iron  pots  and  receivers  for 
the  manufacture  of  sulphur — kettles  for  camp  use — pig  iron 
for  the  fabrication  of  steel — wrought  iron  for  musket  bar^ 
rels — and  various  other  articles  vital  to  the  defence  of  the ' 
country.  And  to  keep  the  furnace  in  blast,  ore-diggers,  col 
liers,  firemen,  moulders,  founders,  overseers,  and  guards — 
exempted  all  from  ordinary  military  service — were  to  be 
procured  from  time  to  time,  and  furnished  with  clothing,  sub 
sistence  in  provisions,  and  money  from  the  Pay  Table. 
Woodlands  for  coal,  teams  for  transportation,  black  lead,  sul 
phur,  and  other  articles  essential  to  the  foundry,  were  to  be 
procured — and  once — to  facilitate  its  operations,  a  bridge 
was  to  be  built  across  the  Housatonic,  from  Salisbury  to 
Canaan. 

Trumbull,  therefore,  in  the  general  superintendence  of  a 
foundry  thus  vital  to  America,  and  thus  requiring  attention, 
had  much  to  do — and  it  is  plain,  from  memorials  that  remain, 
that  his  own  energy,  particularly,  promoted  its  success. 
Much  of  the  time  he  had  an  express  running  from  his  door 
at  Lebanon,  to  bear  his  own,  or  the  orders  of  himself  and 
Council,  to  its  overseer  Joshua  Porter,  or  to  its  Managers 
Henshaw  and  Whiting.  The  cannon  from  this  famous  estab 
lishment — its  shot — its  munitions  generally  for  military  and 
naval  use — it  fell  to  him,  very  often,  at  his  own  discretion,  to 
distribute — now  to  the  Selectmen  of  towns,  or  to  posts  upon 
the  coast — now  to  armed  vessels  in  the  Sound,  or  to  points 
of  defence  without  the  State — and  now  to  sell  for  cash,  or 
exchange  them,  as  was  sometimes  the  case,  for  West  India 
goods  that  were  in  demand  for  workmen,  or  for  the 
soldiery  of  Connecticut.  The  brown  hematite  of  Salis 
bury's  "  Old  Ore  Hill,"  and  that  furnace  upon  the  outlet  of 
its  Lake  Wanscopommuc — which,  as  it  happens,  the  hero  of 
Ticonderoga,  Ethan  Allen,  was  one  of  the  first  to  estab 
lish — will  ever  be  associated,  in  the  minds  of  those  who 


256  CHAP.    XXI. — TRUMBULL.  1716. 

know  the  facts,  with  the  Governor's  management,  and  with 
his  name.* 

Thus,  one  way  and  another — in  every  department  of  the 
war — was  Trumbull  busy  during  the  first  three  months  of 
the  year  on  which  we  have  paused.f 

And  it  was  an  interval  of  anxiety  to  him,  not  alone  in  his 
relations  to  the  public,  but  in  his  private  sphere — for  it  was 
marked  by  the  death  of  one  of  his  most  valued  friends — one 
with  whom  for  more  than  half  a  century  he  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  almost  daily  intercourse,  and  to  whom,  by  every 
social  as  well  as,  particularly,  by  every  religious  sympathy, 
his  own  soul  was  grappled.  We  refer  to  the  death  of  that 
"eminently  learned  and  pious  divine,"  as  he  was  justly 
called,  the  Rev.  Solomon  Williams  of  Lebanon.^  Let  us  turn 
here  then  for  a  moment  away  from  the  "  tented  field,"  briefly 
to  contemplate  Trumbull  in  his  relations  to  this  worthy  man, 
to  his  church,  and  to  his  death-bed — for  they  show  him  in  a 
new  and  pleasing  light. 

Dr.  Williams,  for  fifty-four  years  in  succession,  occupied 
the  pulpit  of  the  first  Congregational  Church  in  Lebanon. 
He  commenced  his  labors  there  just  a  year  before  Trumbull 
entered  College — and  it  was  into  his  religious  arms  that 
Trumbull  threw  himself  after  his  graduation,  when  he  made 
a  public  profession  of  religion,  and  became  a  communicant 
in  the  church.  During  the  whole  period  that  succeeded — 
down  to  the  close  of  the  good  minister's  career  on  earth — 
Trumbull  was  a  regular  attendant  upon  his  ministrations. 

*  The  partners  of  Ethan  Allen,  in  the  erection  of  this  furnace,  were  Samuel 
and  Elisha  Forbes,  and  a  Mr.  Hazeltine.  It  was  first  erected  about  the  year  1762. 
The  guns  used  on  board  the  frigate  Constitution,  by  Commodore  Truxton,  in 
capturing  the  French  frigate  L'Insurgente,  were  here  manufactured.  The  armo 
ries  of  the  United  States,  and  private  armories,  still  use  extensively  the  Salis 
bury  iron. 

t  "Furnishing  orders  to  the  troops  of  the  Colonies  of  New  York,  Quebec,  and 
Massachusetts,"  he  informed  his  son  Joseph  in  January — "prevents  my  being 
able  to  write  but  a  word." — "  I  have  long  been  in  continued  fatigue  " — he  again 
wrote  in  February — "more  especially  for  three  weeks" — making  orders  "and 
provisions  for  two  battalions  to  aid  Gen.  Lee — another  to  march  to  the  assistance 
of  our  friends  at  Canada — and  three  to  the  camp  near  Boston — for  the  building 
of  a  20  gun  ship-of-war — four  row  gallies — and  for  setting  the  Salisbury  furnace 
to  work  for  casting  cannon,  bomb  shells,  &  balls." 

\  Trumbull  and  Williams  were,  in  their  day,  often  spoken  of  as  Moses  and 
Aaron. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXI.— TRTJMBULL.  257 

He  was  a  most  heedful  listener  to  his  sermons  from  the  pul 
pit — was  in  the  habit  of  taking  brief  notes  of  them,  and  re 
peated  and  commented  upon  them  at  home,  before  his  family, 
after  his  return  from  worship.  He  attended  upon  his  exhort 
ations  during  the  "Lecture  Days"  of  the  week,  and  often 
himself  aided  in  the  duties  upon  these  occasions.  In  short, 
in  all  "holy  offices,"  he  stood  among  the  worthy  preacher's 
parishioners,  foremost  by  his  side — him 

"  followed  with  endearing  wile, 
And  plucked  his  gown  to  share  the  good  man's  smile." 

Did  the  business  affairs  of  the  Church  require  special 
attention  ?  Trumbull  was  the  member  most  leaned  upon  to 
bestow  it.  Were  contributions,  for  any  benevolent  purposes, 
wanted  ?  He  was  among  the  first  to  open  his  purse — and 
liberally.  Did  the  Meeting-House  require,  as  in  1775,  some 
monitor  of  time — an  unostentatious  clock?  Upon  him  it 
devolved  to  devise  a  subscription  paper  for  the  purpose — to 
head  it  with  his  own  "  one  pound,"  as  the  paper,  in  his  own 
handwriting  shows — and  to  commend  a  "skilful  work 
man  " — as  he  did  upon  this  occasion  one  Jedediah  Morse — 
to  make  it.  Did  some  of  the  members  of  the  Society,  as  in 
1772,  wish  to  abandon  the  venerable  old  House  of  Worship, 
and  build  a  new  one — upon  a  new  site — and  agitate  the  sub 
ject,  warmly,  at  many  public  meetings  in  Lebanon,  and  be 
fore  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut?  Trumbull  was 
the  impartial  draughtsman,  who,  with  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  history  of  the  edifice,  and  of  the  Society  from  its  be 
ginning,  was  relied  upon  to  prepare  a  statement  of  all  the 
facts  in  the  case. 

This  he  did  in  a  pointed  Memorial  to  the  Legislature — in 
which  he  showed  both  to  all  the  advocates  of  a  new  site,  and 
to  the  State,  that  the  change  desired,  under  the  circumstances, 
would  be  against  justice — that  it  would  violate  old  agree 
ments — that  it  would  be  against  faith  that  had  been  plighted 
in  past  payments — that  the  existing  edifice  was  one  in  which 
the  inhabitants  of  Lebanon  had  long  and  contentedly  wor 
shipped,  and  with  a  few  repairs,  might  worship  still — and 
that — as  in  pleasing  deference  to  the  age,  infirmities,  and  ar- 
22* 


258  CHAP.    XXI. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

dent  wishes  of  his  friend,  the  venerable  pastor,  he  added — 
Mr.  Williams  had  preached  from  its  time-honored  desk  for 
now  "  fifty  years  next  December." 

Now  when  this  good  old  man  came,  in  February  1776,  to 
his  bed  of  death,  Trumbull,  his  long-endeared  neighbor, 
friend,  and  supporter,  was  by  his  side — to  feel  as  the  follow 
ing  brief  extracts  from  his  letters  to  his  son  Joseph,  in  part 
show  him  to  have  felt.  There  he  was,  like  a  ministering 
angel,  to  soothe  the  entrance  of  his  revered  pastor  upon  the 
dark  valley — to  look  with  him,  in  the  deep  sympathy  of 
Christian  faith  and  hope,  at  that  dread  future  from  which  the 
curtain,  to  the  eye  of  the  sick  man,  fast  began  to  rise — to 
comfort  his  afflicted  family — and  go  away  to  mourn  his  own 
irreparable  loss,  and  lay  the  event  to  profound  religious  use. 

February  sixth,  he  writes — "  Poor  Dr.  Williams  is  in  a  dangerous  and 
painful  condition." 

February  nineteenth,  he  writes — "Dr.  Williams'  case  is  very  dan 
gerous." 

February  twenty-sixth,  he  writes —  "All  our  connections  are  well,  ex 
cept  our  dear  Reverend  Pastor.  I  left  him  at  12  o'clock,  to  all  appear 
ance  just  at  the  entrance  of  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death — 
his  family  in  tears.  He  is  calm,  patient,  and  resigned.  The  world  and 
its  objects  lessen  before  him  at  every  thought.  His  faithful  labors  will 
follow  him.  You  was  born,  and  bro't  up  under  his  ministry.  Most  of 
my  life  hath  been  under  the  like  enjoyment.  It  is  not  his  fault  if  we 
have  not  profited  thereby. — 0  the  vanity  of  man  as  mortal !  0  his  grand 
eur,  when  prepared  for  immortal  glory !  " 

March  first — Dr.  Williams  being  dead — he  writes  thus : — "  Alas,  he  is 
gone  from  us — but  let  us  follow  him  as  he  followed  our  dear  ascended 
Lord  and  master  Jesus  Christ.  His  friendship  hath  been  one  of  the 
great  comforts  of  my  life — pray  God  may  provide  another  of  like  spirit, 
to  take  his  people  by  the  hand,  and  lead  them  in  the  way  to  everlasting 
life." 

March  fourth,  he  writes — "  Our  reverend  and  worthy  Dr.  Williams 
departed  this  life  last  Wednesday  at  midnight.  His  funeral  solemnity  is 
to  be  attended  this  day  at  two  o'clock.  A  sermon  is  to  be  preached  on 
the  occasion."* 

*  The  following  is  the  inscription  upon  a  table  of  sandstone  supported  hori 
zontally  above  his  grave : — 

14  This  stone  covers  the  remains  of  that  eminent  Servant  of  God,  the  Eev'd 
Solomon  Williams  D.  D.  late  Pastor  at  Lebanon.  Adorned  with  uncommon 
gifts  of  nature,  learning  and  Grace,  he  shone  bright  as  the  Gentleman,  Scholar, 


me.  CHAP,  xxi.— TKUMBULL.  259 

Christian  and  divine,  conspicuous  for  wisdom,  -warm  in  devotion,  bold  in  the 
cause  of  Christ,  excelling  as  a  preacher,  most  agreeable  in  conversation,  clear 
&  Judicious  in  counsel,  an  ardent  lover  of  peace  and  the  rights  of  mankind, 
firm  in  friendship,  Singularly  hospitable  &  in  all  relations  exemplary ;  having 
faithfully  serv'd  the  interest  of  Christ,  of  Religion  &  Learning  at  his  Master's 
call,  he  calmly  fell  asleep  in  Jesus  Feb.  28th  1776  in  the  76th  year  of  his  age  & 
54  of  his  ministry. 
"  Them  that  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him." 


CHAPTER    XXII. 
1776. 

aids  the  American  Army  on  its  way  from  Boston  to  New  York. 
He  meets  Washington  at  Norwich.  His  sentiments  on  the  evacuation 
of  Boston.  He  is  informed  that  a  large  "body  of  foreign  troops  is  on  its 
passage  to  America — and  that  a  British  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  thirty 
sail  had  left  Halifax,  "bound  for  New  York.  His  preparations  thereupon 
"both  for  the  Continental  Army,  and  for  the  defence  of  Connecticut 
He  is  officially  apprized  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  His  views 
of  this  Instrument  He  lays  it  before  his  Council,  and  it  is  referred 
for  official  promulgation  and  record  to  the  next  General  Assembly. 
Depressed  state  of  American  affairs.  Trumbull  receives  the  Peace 
Propositions  of  Lord  Howe  and  his  "brother  as  King's  Commissioners. 
His  opinion  and  action  thereupon.  They  serve  "but  to  render  his  prep 
arations  for  the  defence  of  New  York  and  Long  Island  more  vigorous. 
His  Exhortation  to  the  people  in  this  connection.  Their  quick 
response.  Soldiers  rush  to  New  York. 

FKOM  viewing  Trumbull,  in  his  devotedness  and  piety,  in 
a  scene  of  private  death,  we  turn  now  to  view  him  again  in 
his  preparation  for  that  other  theatre  where  the  Destroyer 
"  sounds  the  trump  of  war,  and  rushes  to  the  field." 

March  eighteenth,  he  received  advices  from  General  Wash 
ington  that  the  British  troops  were  withdrawing  from  Bos 
ton,  and  entreating  him  to  send  two  thousand  men  forthwith 
to  New  York — there  to  remain  until  the  General  could 
march  his  own  army  to  this  quarter.  "With  this  request 
Trumbull  complied — giving  orders  for  the  purpose  to  the 
field-officers  of  the  regiments  nearest  New  York  to  forward, 
by  land  or  water,  twenty  companies  of  ninety  men  each — 
and  soon  after,  directing  the  commanding  officers  of  seven 
other  Connecticut  regiments  to  draft  each  one-fourth  of  their 
men,  and  hold  them  ready  to  march.  March  twenty-first, 
"Washington  informed  him  that  the  enemy  lay  in  Nantasket 
road — and  that — as  had  been  previously  suggested  by  Trum 
bull — he  should  take  his  army  to  New  York  by  the  sea- 
coast  route,  through  Norwich — at  which  place,  April  thir 
teenth,  the  two  patriots  met — at  the  house  of  Colonel  Jede- 


me.  CHAP.  xxn. — TBUMBULL.  261 

diah  Huntington — where  they  dined  together,  and  conferred 
until  evening,  when  General  Washington  pushed  on  for  New 
London. 

The  evacuation  of  Boston  by  the  British  troops  gave  the 
Governor  of  Connecticut  lively  satisfaction — and  he  did  not 
fail  to  express  it  in  letters  to  various  correspondents.  To 
John  Adams  and  George  Wythe,  in  Congress,  for  example,* 
he  said,  in  a  strain  of  mingling  piety  and  patriotism — "I  do 
most  sincerely  congratulate  you  on  Gen.  Washington's  suc 
cess,  and  on  the  shameful  retreat  of  our  enemies  from  Boston, 
which  demand  our  humble  adoration  and  praise  of  the  Su 
preme  Director  of  all  events  for  his  marvellous  interposition 
for  our  help. — Burning  and  destroying  our  towns,  robbing 
our  property,  trampling  on  and  profaning  places  dedicated  to 
divine  worship  and  service,  and  cruel  treatment  of  the  per 
sons  so  unhappy  as  to  fall  into  their  hands,  are  injuries  of 
the  first  magnitude. — Every  subtile  art,  as  well  as  arms,  are 
used  against  us.  May  God  prevent  their  operations,  and 
turn  their  counsels  to  foolishness,  preserve  and  increase  the 
union  of  the  American  people,  grant  them  wisdom,  and 
guide  their  public  counsels !  "f 

May  sixth,  and  Trumbull  received  intelligence  from  the 
Massachusetts  Assembly,  that  a  large  body  of  foreign 
troops — hired  by  the  Ministry  of  Great  Britain  to  lay  waste 
America — were  on  their  passage  to  execute  their  "bloody 
orders,"  and  in  all  probability  were  near  our  coast.  They 
might  be  daily  expected,  he  was  told.  He  made  immediate 
preparations,  therefore,  to  receive  them.  In  conformity  with 
Acts  of  the  General  Assembly,  he  improved  the  organization 
of  the  Minute-Men  of  Connecticut.  He  raised  two  additional 

*  To  these  gentlemen,  about  this  time,  he  sent  an  account  of  losses  sustained 
in  Connecticut  from  the  Ministerial  navy — which  he  had  himself  carefully  pre 
pared. 

t  In  a  letter  to  Schuyler,  March  21st,  1776,  he  thus  concludes :  "  I  most  sin 
cerely  congratulate  you  on  the  success  of  Gen.  Washington.  The  enemy  evacu 
ated  Boston  last  Sunday.  Boston  is  now  open.  The  poor  inhabitants  are 
greatly  emaciated,  from  their  want  of  provisions,  and  rejoiced  for  their  happy 
deliverance.  The  most  of  the  tories  are  gone  off  with  the  troops.  The  cattle 
remain  in  the  enemy's  hands,  but  hope  they  will  soon  be  ours.  They  have  car 
ried  off  the  unhappy  prisoners,  it  is  said,  in  irons.  Is  it  not  time  to  retaliate  ? 
They  have  done  all  the  mischief  in  their  power." 


262  CHAP.     XXII. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

regiments  to  serve  within  the  Colony — which,  by  special  re 
solve,  were  to  be  stationed,  from  time  to  time,  as  he  should 
order.  He  raised  also  a  battalion  of  troops  to  march  "  to 
Boston  or  elsewhere" — and  upon  a  further  requisition  from 
Congress,  levied  seven  battalions  to  join  the  Continental 
Army  in  New- York — and  expended  twelve  hundred  pounds 
in  procuring  tents  and  clothing. 

At  the  same  time — that  supplies  might  be  on  hand — he 
proclaimed  an  embargo — and  sent  one  vessel  to  Cape  Fran 
cois  for  a  cargo  of  powder — to  be  obtained  "soon  as  possi 
ble" — and  others  to  different  ports  in  the  West  Indies  for 
military  and  naval  stores  of  every  kind.  That  the  resources 
of  Connecticut  in  men  might  be  accurately  known,  he  pro 
ceeded,  with  great  labor  on  his  own  part,  to  execute  a  census 
of  the  State — which,  together  with  authenticated  copies  of 
the  public  documents  of  Connecticut  relating  to  the  War, 
from  its  commencement  down,  he  transmitted  to  Congress — 
and,  receiving  from  this  Body  twenty-one  thousand  dollars, 
he  carefully  expended  it  for  the  public  service — procuring 
and  sending  to  the  army  at  New- York,  among  other  articles, 
yarn  stockings  to  the  number  of  five  thousand  pairs.  His 
hands  just  at  this  time  overflowed  with  business.  "  The  In 
telligence  is  very  alarming  " — he  wrote  his  son,  June  fifteenth. 
"  The  Assembly  tho't  it  necessary  to  sit  on  the  Lord's  Day" — 
he  wrote  June  sixteenth.  "Four  thousand  Hessians  are 
near  our  coast" — he  soon  heard.  Soon  again,  and  he  re 
ceived  news  of  what  he  styles  "  Tryon's  Assassination  Pow 
der  Plot"  in  New- York.  "Shocking!  Barbarous!" — he  ex 
claimed.  "  God  be  praised  for  the  discovery  made  thereof  in 
season ! " 

July  second,  he  was  informed  by  Washington  that  a  fleet 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  sail  had  left  Halifax,  bound  for 
New- York,  and  that  General  Howe  had  already  arrived  at 
Sandy  Hook.  He  therefore  ordered  three  regiments  of 
Lighthorse  forthwith  to  march  for  the  menaced  city,  and 
held  a  special  interview  with  John  Jay  at  Lebanon,  upon 
the  matter  of  procuring  cannon  for  the  defence  of  Hudson 
River.  At  the  same  time — hearing  from  the  frontier  towns 
of  western  Connecticut,  that  they  were  greatly  distressed  on 


1776.  CHAP.     XXII.— TRUMBULL.  263 

account  of  the  proximity  of  the  enemy — he  wrote  Washing 
ton  asking  that  a  Continental  Regiment  might  be  raised  for 
their  relief.  He  also  sent  Eliphalet  Dyer  and  Kichard  Law 
to  confer  with  the  General  on  measures  to  be  taken  for  the 
defence  of  Connecticut,  and  the  other  States — and  addressed 
Congress,  praying  for  some  new  legislation  against  tories,  and 
refugees,  and  counterfeiters  of  the  paper  money  of  the  na 
tion.  "  Notwithstanding  our  enemies  are  so  numerous  arid 
powerful,"  he  said,  addressing  Washington — "and  have 
hired  mercenaries  into  their  service,  yet,  knowing  our  cause 
righteous,  and  trusting  Heaven  will  support  and  defend  us,  I 
do  not  greatly  dread  what  they  can  do  against  us."* 

Just  the  very  day  upon  which  Trumbull  was  writing  Con 
gress,  as  we  have  stated — soliciting  its  special  legislation 
against  the  foes  of  his  country,  and  informing  them,  as  he 
did  also,  of  the  measures  he  had  himself  taken  for  defence — 
that  Body,  through  its  Presiding  Officer,  was  inditing  a  letter 
to  him,  communicating  that  immortal  Instrument,  which — 
finally  and  forever — absolved  this  country  from  all  allegiance 
to  the  British  Crown — and  declared  it — before  God  and  the 
world — free,  sovereign,  and  independent. 

With  what  emotion  it  was  received  by  the  Governor — with 
what  satisfaction  his  eye  paused  upon  its  solemn  clauses — 
with  what  enthusiastic  readiness  his  own  soul  sprung  to  unite 

*  "  Our  internal  malignants,"  he  continues,  "  may  be  permitted  to  do  many 
injurious  and  insidious  things.  They  are,  therefore,  to  be  watched  with  care  and 
diligence,  to  prevent  such  hypocritical  and  designing  men  carrying  on  and  perpe 
trating  their  wicked  purposes.  No  doubt  there  are  many  such,  the  persons  and 
characters  unknown  to  me,  and  not  convenient  to  mention  in  a  letter  the  notices 
given  me  of  any. 

"  Last  week  I  sent  circular  letters  to  the  civil  authority,  Selectmen,  Committees 
of  Inspection,  and  Military  Officers,  in  all  the  towns  of  the  State,  to  promote 
and  facilitate  the  several  battalions  ordered  to  be  raised  here,  and  to  send  them 
forward  to  the  places  of  their  destination.  Eecruiting  Officers  for  the  companies 
not  filled  are  necessary,  and  I  conclude  are  left  for  the  purpose.  The  people 
have,  in  some  measure,  got  through  the  hurry  of  harvest,  &c.  Hope  that  they 
will  now  cheerfully  enlist  and  go  on. 

"  Colonel  Dyer  and  Richard  Law,  Esq.,  are  directed  to  repair  to  New- York  to 
confer  with  your  Excellency  on  every  subject  needful  for  our  direction,  for  your 
information.  You  know  our  readiness  to  afford  every  assistance  for  the  common 
defence. — I  have  put  Colonel  Ward's  regiment  under  marching  orders,"  Trum 
bull  adds,  "to  proceed,  without  loss  of  time,  whatever  way  Congress  shall 
direct." 


264:  CHAP.    XXII. — TRUMBULL.  1716. 

with  the  soul  of  Congress  in  its  pledge  of  life,  and  fortune, 
and  sacred  honor,  to  the  cause  of  freedom — and  with  what 
just  confidence,  and  pious  gratitude,  he  could  himself  appeal 
to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  his 
own  intentions — it  is  easy  for  our  Readers  to  imagine. 

He  was  himself  fully  prepared  for  the  step.  Long  had  his 
expectation  fastened  upon  it — long  his  wishes.  In  the  op 
pressed  condition  of  his  country — when,  in  the  recorded 
language  of  Connecticut,  no  alternative  was  left  "but  abso 
lute  and  indefinite  submission  to  such  claims  as  must  termin 
ate  in  the  extreme  of  misery  and  wretchedness,  or  a  total 
separation  from  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  and  a  successful 
resistance  to  that  power  which  was  extended  to  effect  our 
destruction  " — in  this  state  of  peril,  Trumbull  knew  and  felt 
that  America  could  not  do  otherwise  than  proclaim  herself 
free.  And  after  that  fatal  Restraining  Bill  of  the  British 
Parliament — at  the  close  of  1775 — which  guillotined  Ameri 
can  trade,  and,  by  "  a  sentence  worse  than  death,  obliged  the 
unhappy  men  "  who  should  be  made  captives  in  the  preda 
tory  war  it  would  occasion,  "to  bear  arms  against  their 
families,  kindred,  friends  and  country,  and,  after  being 
plundered  themselves,  to  become  accomplices  in  plundering 
their  brethren  " — after  all  this,  in  the  winter  and  spring  of 
the  year  which  followed,  no  man  was  more  active  than 
himself  in  preparing  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  for 
Independence. 

"  Talk  of  rebellion ! " — he  said  in  March — "if  we  are  right, 
the  rebellion  is  on  the  part  of  our  enemies,  who  aim  at  the 
happy  constitution  of  the  Empire!" — "Talk  of  reconcilia 
tion  !  " — he  at  the  same  time  said — "  British  supremacy  such 
as  it  ought  to  be,  and  American  liberty,  have  been  seen  to 
exist  together.  But  under  our  present  cruel  treatment,  it  is 
too  late  to  think  of  this  now !  " 

Twenty  days  before  that  great  step  was  taken  of  which  we 
find  Congress  now  officially  apprizing  him — on  the  Four 
teenth  of  June — a  "memorable  day  in  the  history  of  Connec 
ticut  liberty — he  had  set  his  own  hand  to  a  Resolution  of  the 
General  Assembly,  which  solemnly  instructed  the  Delegates 
of  Connecticut  in  General  Congress  "  to  propose  to  that  re- 


1776. 


CHAP.    XXII. — TEUMBULL.  265 


spectable  Body,  to  declare  the  United  American  Colonies  free 
and  independent  States — to  give  the  assent  of  this  Colony  to 
such  Declaration" — and  "to  move  and  promote"  every 
measure  necessary  to  sustain  it,  and  to  preserve  our  just 
rights  and  liberties.*  So  that  it  was  with  no  surprise  that  he 
received  the  Matchless  Document  prepared  by  Congress- 
first,  July  eleventh,  enclosed  in  a  letter  from  his  son  Colonel 
John  Trumbull — and  next,  the  day  after,  in  a  letter  from 
President  Hancock.  He  immediately  laid  it  before  his  Coun 
cil,  where  it  was  again  and  again  "largely  discussed" — and 
finally  referred,  for  official  promulgation  and  for  record,  to 
the  next  ensuing  session  of  the  General  Assembly' — not  the 
Assembly  any  longer  of  the  Colony — but  now,  for  the  first 
time  of  the  State — the  Sovereign  State  of  Connecticut ! 

To  the  pleasure  afforded  Trumbull  by  the  great  event  to 
which  allusion  has  now  been  made,  was  added,  in  a  few  days, 
"the  joyful  news  from  South  Carolina" — as  it  was  styled 
in  a  handbill  which  Colonel  Huntington  first  sent  him  from 
camp,  and  which  described  the  successful  defence  of  Charles 
ton  against  the  attack  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton. 

But  save  from  these  two  sources,  there  was  nothing  else 
where  upon  the  face  of  the  American  struggle,  at  this  time, 
to  gladden  the  heart  of  the  patriot  we  commemorate.  In 
telligence  from  every  other  quarter  grew  more  and  more 
alarming.  Admiral  Howe  had  arrived,  and  joined  his 
brother  at  New  York — and  their  united  forces,  and  formi 
dable  batteries,  were  now  frowning  destruction  on  every 
thing  that  should  oppose  them.  Appointed  as  they  both 
were  by  the  King,  Commissioners  to  bear  what  the  Ministry 
called  "  the  olive  branch  as  well  as  the  sword  "  to  America — 
they,  in  July,  addressed  a  Circular  Letter  to  the  Governors 
of  the  American  Colonies,  calling  on  the  people  to  return  to 
their  allegiance — and  declaring  pardon  to  all  who  were  will 
ing,  by  thus  evincing  their  loyalty,  to  reap  the  benefit  of  the 
royal  favor.  One  of  the  Letters  and  Declarations,  sent  by 
Lord  Howe,  reached  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  about  the 
middle  of  July — and  his  opinion  of  the  document  is  shown 

*  See  this  remarkable  Eesolution,  with  its  Preamble,  in  a  note  at  the  end  of  this 

chapter. 

23 


266  CHAP.    XXII. — TRUMBULL.  Itt6. 

in  the  following  passage  from  a  letter,  dated  July  twenty- 
sixth,  1776,  to  William  Williams. 

"By  Friday's  post,"  he  proceeds — "received  Lord  Howe's  letter  of  the 
20th  of  June,  ult.,  and  his  declaration  of  pardons  to  all  those  who  in  the 
tumult  and  disorder  of  the  times,  may  have  deviated  from  their  just  alle 
giance,  and  who  are  willing  by  a  speedy  return  to  their  duty,  to  reap  the 
benefits  of  the  royal  favor ;  that  pardons  shall  be  granted,  dutiful  repre 
sentation  received,  and  every  suitable  encouragement  given  for  providing 
such  measures  as  shall  be  conducive  to  the  establishing  legal  government 
and  peace,  in  pursuance  of  his  Majesty's  most  gracious  intentions.  Tn 
his  letter  he  says  '  I  have  judged  it  expedient  to  issue  the  enclosed  decla 
ration,  in  order  that  all  persons  may  have  immediate  information  of  his 
Majesty's  gracious  intentions.' 

"  He  desires  me  to  promulgate  it,  assured  of  being  favored  with  my 
assistance  in  every  measure  to  restore  the  public  tranquillity,  and 
requests  such  information  as  will  facilitate  the  attainment  of  that  import 
ant  object.  I  shall  by  next  post  forward  copies  to  Congress ;  to  them  I 
shall  refer  him.  Who  began  the  war?  Who  withdrew  his  protection? 
Who  refused  to  hearken  to  most  dutiful  and  humble  petitions?  Who  in 
vaded  our  rights?  Is  not  the  appeal  made  to  the  Supreme  Director  of 
all  events?  Will  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right?  Doth  not 
pardon  presuppose  guilt?  Are  we  guilty  of  want  of  duty  and  allegiance? 
Could  anything  but  tyranny,  oppression,  injustice,  and  war  and  desola 
tion,  have  driven  us  to  cast  off  our  mother  country  ?  " 

How  manifest  in  all  this  is  Trumbull's  conviction  that,  in 
the  struggle  then  going  on,  truth  and  reason  were  on  the 
side  of  his  country — and  how  manifest  also  his  contempt  for 
the  propositions  of  the  foe !  He  viewed  these  propositions 
just  as  Congress  did — and  just  as  Congress  by  resolution  de 
clared  them  to  be,  when  it  ordered  their  publication  in  all 
the  gazettes  of  the  land  as  an  endeavor  on  the  part  of  the 
insidious  Court  of  Great  Britain  "  to  amuse  and  disarm  the 
good  people  of  the  United  States."  Like  Franklin — and  as 
the  latter  told  Lord  Howe  at  the  time — he  felt  astonished  that 
the  British  Commissioners  should  imagine  the  American 
people  would  now  submit  to  a  government  that  had  "  with 
the  most  wanton  barbarity  and  cruelty,  burnt  our  defenceless 
towns,  in  the  midst  of  winter,  excited  the  savages  to  massacre 
our  peaceful  farmers,  and  our  slaves  to  murder  their  masters, 
and  that  was  then  bringing  foreign  mercenaries  to  deluge  our 
settlements  with  blood."  Like  Franklin,  he  had  long 


1776.  CHAP.    XXII. — TRUMBULL.  267 

labored — "  with  unfeigned  and  unwearied  zeal — to  preserve 
that  fine  and  noble  vase — the  British  Empire — from  break 
ing."  But  this  vase  was  now  ruptured — irremediably — and 
Trumbull  was  not  the  man  to  make  the  first  advance  in  an 
impotent  and  humiliating  attempt  to  reunite  its  scattered 
fragments.* 

But  from  resistance  to  the  Peace-Propositions  of  Lord 
Howe,  Trumbull  had  now  to  turn  to  resist  his  arms.  It  was 
certain  at  this  time,  as  we  have  intimated,  that  New  York 
would  be  attacked — and  August  made  heavier  and  heavier 
draughts  on  the  Governor  in  the  way  of  military  prepara 
tions.  On  the"  first  of  this  month,  he  issued  a  Circular  to  the 
Civil  Authority,  Selectmen,  Committee  of  Inspection,  and 
military  officers  in  different  towns  of  the  State,  to  procure 
fresh  recruits.  It  was  addressed  also — a  curious  and  interest 
ing  fact — to  many  Ministers  of  Churches,  with  a  request  that 
it  should  be  read  at  the  close  of  public  worship,  and  that  the 
Authorities  of  the  Society,  and  the  Committee  of  Inspection, 
should  be  invited  to  meet  with  the  Selectmen  the  next  day.f 

August  eleventh,  Trumbull  directed  the  commanding  offi 
cers  of  fourteen  regiments  of  militia,  to  march  their  respect 
ive  forces  to  New  York,  and  place  themselves  under  General 
Washington  until  the  exigency  there  should  be  over.  He 

*  In  a  letter  to  his  son  John,  dated  Sep.  2oth,  1776 — Trumbull  epeaks  farther 
of  Lord  Howe,  and  of  his  conference  with  a  Committee  of  Congress,  as  follows : 
"It  seems  the  conference  with  Lord  Howe  came  to  nothing.  He  had  no  powers 
but  to  pardon.  The  Rebels  who  need  pardon  from  the  King  of  Great  Britain  are 
not  yet  discovered.  We  disclaim  the  name,  and  judge  that  our  rights  and  privi 
leges  have  been  injuriously  invaded." 

fThat  sent  to  Newhaven  was  communicated  to  Rev.  Mr.  Whittlesey.  "What 
a  contrast,"  it  affords,  "  between  our  peaceful  Sabbaths,  and  those  days  when 
the  might  of  Great  Britain  was  raised  to  crush  our  fathers  in  the  act  of  asserting 
their  constitutional  liberty  !" — "As  I  have  the  most  pressing  requisitions,"  pro 
ceeds  Trumbull  in  this  document,  August  1st,  1776 — "urging  the  absolute  neces 
sity  of  having  our  new  levies  filled  up,  completed,  and  forwarded  with  the  ut 
most  dispatch;  and  as  delay  may  be  attended  with  the  utmost  disastrous  conse 
quences,  our  enemies  being  about  to  use  their  utmost  exertions  as  soon  as  the 
foreign  troops  arrive,  which  by  the  best  intelligence  are  now  on  our  coast,  if  not 
in  port ; — therefore,  in  this  critical  moment,  on  which  the  fate  of  America  de 
pends,  I  do  most  earnestly  entreat  you  all,  as  you  value  your  lives,  liberty,  prop 
erty,  and  your  country,  that  you  immediately  and  vigorously  exert  all  your  influ 
ence,  power  and  abilities,  in  encouraging  and  forwarding  the  enlistments  within 
your  respective  spheres  of  influence  and  connections,  that  the  same  may  be  com 
pleted  and  sent  forward  with  all  possible  expedition." 


268  CHAP.    XXII. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

urged  them  by  every  patriotic  consideration — by  the  "raised 
expectations"  which  he  said  had  been  formed  of  their  "dis 
position  and  ability  to  serve  their  country "  in  this  most  im 
portant  crisis — cheerfully  to  undertake  the  service,  and  "  be  at 
New  York  quick  as  possible."  For  the  purpose  of  co-oper 
ating  with  Washington  specially  upon  Long  Island — to  har 
ass  the  enemy  there  in  their  rear  or  flanks,  and  prevent  them 
from  advancing  eastward — at  the  particular  request  of  the 
General,  he  rallied  a  force  at  New  London,  and  elsewhere  on 
the  coast — as  we  shall  have  occasion  soon  more  particularly 
to  recount — in  part  provided  transports  to  bear  them  across 
the  Sound — and  sent  Major  Ely  and  Benjamin  Huntington 
over  to  the  Island,  to  consult  and  agree  with  the  sure  friends 
of  our  cause  there  for  an  addition  to  the  force.*  And  to  all 
the  able-bodied,  effective  men  in  the  State,  who  were  not 
obliged  to  do  military  duty  in  any  Train-Band — and  to  such 
as  were  "  gentlemen  of  horse  " — for  the  purpose  of  securing 
their  services  also  in  the  existing  crisis — he  published  what 
he  styled  an  "  Exhortation" — a  document  so  spirited  that  we 
here  give  it  entire. 

"'intelligence  is  just  received,"  he  proceeds — "from  General  Washing 
ton,  of  the  necessity  of  a  large  augmentation  of  our  forces  at  New  York, 
that  the  number  of  our  enemies  is  greatly  increased  by  the  arrival  of 
Gen.  Clinton  and  Lord  Cornwallis  with  the  whole  southern  army  from 
South  Carolina,  that  the  fleet  which  came  in  a  few  days  since  are  Hessians 
and  Scotch  Highlanders,  part  of  12,000  who  were  left  off  Newfoundland, 
in  the  whole  making  30,000  men,  that  it  is  said  by  officers  both  of  the 
army  and  navy,  that  they  are  to  attack  New  York,  Long  Island  &c.,  in  the 
course  of  a  week. 

"  In  this  day  of  calamity  and  great  expectations,  when  our  enemies 
are  exerting  every  nerve  to  pluck  up,  pull  down,  and  destroy  us,  it  is  of 
the  greatest  necessity  that  everything  in  our  power  be  done  for  defence 
of  our  rights,  properties,  lives  and  posterity.  To  trust  altogether  to  the 
justice  of  our  cause  without  our  own  utmost  exertions,  would  be  tempt 
ing  Providence.  Be  roused  therefore  and  alarmed  to  stand  forth  in  our 
just  and  glorious  cause.  Join  yourselves  to  some  one  or  other  of  the  com- 

*"The  knowledge,"  says  Washington,  in  his  letter  of  Aug.  24th — calling  on 
Trumbull  for  this  preparation — "  I  have  of  the  extraordinary  exertions  of  your 
State  upon  all  occasions,  does  not  permit  me  to  require  this,  not  knowing  how  far 
it  is  practicable.  I  only  offer  it,  therefore,  as  a  matter  for  your  consideration, 
and  of  great  public  utility,  if  it  can  be  accomplished." 


1776.  CHAP.    XXII. — TRUMBULL.  269 

panics  of  the  militia  now  ordered  to  New  York,  or  form  yourselves  into 
distinct  companies  of  fifty  men  or  more  each,  and  choose  a  Captain, 
Lieutenant,  and  ensign  forthwith.  March  on — this  shall  be  your  war 
rant — and  give  notice  thereof  to  me,  and  commissions  shall  be  forthwith 
issued,  and  sent  after  you.  You  are  to  join  the  regiment  to  which  you 
belong,  and  the  army  under  command  of  his  Excellency  Gen.  Washing 
ton,  for  this  important  emergency — to  be  held  only  the  short  time  the 
present  necessity  calls  for  your  service.  Stand  forth  for  our  defence. 
Play  the  man  for  God,  and  for  the  cities  of  our  God.  May  the  Lord  of 
Hosts,  the  God  of  the  armies  of  Israel,  be  your  Captain,  your  Leader, 
your  Conductor  and  Saviour — give  wisdom  and  conduct  to  your  generals 
and  officers,  and  inspire  our  soldiers  with  courage,  resolution  and  forti 
tude,  that  God  may  delight  to  spare  and  save  us  for  his  name's  sake. 
The  same  provisions  and  wages  shall  be  given  to  you  as  to  others  that  go 
into  the  service,  and  it  shall  be  recommended  to  the  General  Assembly 
to  do  everything  for  your  service  that  justice  requires.  Given  under  my 
hand  in  Lebanon  this  12th  day  of  August,  1776. 

"JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

This  appeal  was  irresistible.  It  roused  Connecticut  like  a 
fire-cry.  Men  rushed  to  supply  the  army — and  of  her  twen 
ty-five  regiments,  all  but  two  were  soon  collected  at  New 
York,  together  with  many  companies  of  volunteers.* 

*  The  "good  people"  of  this  State,  said  Trumbull  at  this  time,  addressing  the 
President  of  Congress — "  do  not  hesitate  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  be  freemen 
while  they  live,  and  to  leave  their  posterity  the  heirs  of  freedom  and  its  bless 
ings."  "  Notwithstanding  our  enemies  are  so  numerous  and  powerful,"  he  wrote 
to  Washington — "yet knowing  our  cause  righteous,  and  trusting  Heaven  will  sup 
port  and  defend  us,  I  do  not  greatly  dread  what  they  can  do  against  us." — "No 
exertion  hath  been  wanting  to  forward  men,"  he  wrote  his  son  then  in  New- 
York.  "  This,  with  the  support  of  the  Colonies  near  you,  will,  it  is  hoped,  be 
sufficient,  with  the  protection  and  blessing  of  heaven,  to  defeat  the  devices  of  the 
enemy,  and  crush  their  plan  in  its  cradle." 

NOTE   REFERRED   TO   ON   PAGE    265. 

"At  a,  General  Assembly  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the  English  Colony 
of  Connecticut  in  New  England  in  America,  holden  at  Hartford,  in  said  Colony, 
by  special  order  of  the  Governor,  on  the  14th  day  of  June,  A.  Dom.  1776. 

"  Whereas  the  King  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  by  many  acts  of  said 
Parliament,  have  claimed  and  attempted  to  exercise  powers  incompatible  with, 
and  subversive  of  the  ancient,  just  and  constitutional  rights  of  this  and  the  rest  of 
the  English  Colonies  in  America,  and  have  refused  to  listen  to  the  many  and  fre 
quent,  humble,  decent  and  dutiful  petitions  for  redress  of  grievances  and  resto 
ration  of  such  their  rights  and  liberties,  and  turning  from  them  with  neglect  and 
contempt  to  support  such  claims,  after  a  series  of  accumulated  wrong  and  injury, 
have  proceeded  to  invade  said  Colonies  with  Fleets  and  Armies,  to  destroy  our 
towns,  shed  the  blood  of  our  countrymen,  and  involve  us  in  the  calamities  inci- 
23* 


270  CHAP.    XXII. —  TRUMBULL.  1776. 

dent  to  war ;  and  are  endeavoring  to  induce  us  to  an  abject  surrender  of  our  nat 
ural  and  stipulated  rights,  and  subject  our  property  to  the  most  precarious  de 
pendence  on  their  arbitrary  will  and  pleasure,  and  our  persons  to  slavery,  and  at 
length  have  declared  us  out  of  the  King's  protection,  have  engaged  foreign  mer 
cenaries  against  us,  and  are  evidently  and  strenuously  seeking  our  ruin  and  de 
struction. — These  and  many  other  transactions,  too  well  known  to  need  enumer 
ation,  the  painful  experience  and  effects  of  which  we  have  suffered  and  feel,  make 
it  evident,  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt,  that  we  have  nothing  to  hope  from 
the  justice,  humanity,  or  temperate  counsels  of  the  British  King  or  his  Parlia 
ment,  and  that  all  hopes  of  a  reconciliation,  upon  just  and  equal  terms,  are  delu 
sory  and  vain.  In  this  state  of  extreme  danger,  when  no  alternative  is  left  us 
but  absolute  and  indefinite  submission  to  such  claims  as  must  terminate  in  the 
extreme  of  misery  and  wretchedness,  or  a  total  separation  from  the  King  of  Great 
Britain,  and  renunciation  of  all  connection  with  that  nation,  and  a  successful  re 
sistance  to  that  force  which  is  intended  to  effect  our  destruction — appealing  to 
that  God,  who  knows  the  secrets  of  all  hearts,  for  the  sincerity  of  former  declara 
tions  of  our  desire  to  preserve  our  ancient  and  constitutional  relation  to  that  na 
tion,  and  protesting  solemnly  against  their  oppression  and  injustice,  which  have 
driven  us  from  them,  and  compelled  us  to  use  such  means  as  God  in  his  provi 
dence  hath  put  in  our  power,  for  our  necessary  defence  and  preservation — 

"Eesolved  unanimously  by  this  Assembly,  that  the  Delegates  of  this  Colony 
in  General  Congress,  be,  and  they  are  hereby  instructed  to  propose  to  that  re 
spectable  body,  to  declare  the  United  American  Colonies,  free  and  independent 
States,  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  and  to  give  the 
assent  of  this  Colony  to  such  Declaration,  when  they  shall  judge  it  expedient 
and  best,  and  to  whatever  measures  may  be  tho't  proper  and  necessary  by  the  Con 
gress,  for  forming  foreign  alliances,  or  any  plan  of  operations  for  necessary  and 
mutual  defence ;  and  also  that  they  move  and  promote,  as  fast  as  may  be  conven 
ient,  a  regular  and  permanent  plan  of  union  and  confederation  of  the  Colonies 
for  the  security  and  preservation  of  their  just  rights  and  liberties,  and  for  mutual 
defence  and  security — saving  that  the  administration  of  Government  and  the 
power  ought  to  be  left  and  remain  to  the  respective  Colonial  Legislatures ;  and 
that  such  plan  be  submitted  to  the  respective  Legislatures  for  their  previous  con 
sideration  and  assent." 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 
1776. 

DISASTROUS  Battle  of  Long  Island.  Trumbull  not  disheartened — "but 
sends  reenforcementa,  and  animates  Massachusetts  and  Bhode  Island 
to  do  the  same.  He  appoints  a  Day  of  Fasting  and  Prayer.  His  Proc 
lamation  for  this  purpose.  Forces  from  Connecticut  pour  into  the 
Continental  Army.  Washington  expresses  his  thanks  to  Trumtmll. 
Trumbull's  reply.  American  affairs  still  in  a  calamitous  state.  Trum- 
"bull,  undismayed,  continues  his  exertions  for  the  common  cause. 
Some  of  his  labors. 

THE  plan  of  the  enemy,  unfortunately,  was  not  destined, 
in  conformity  with  Trumbull's  patriotic  wish,  to  be  crushed. 
The  disastrous  battle  of  Long  Island  brought  death  to  his 
hopes  in  this  direction.  New  York  was  taken.  Washing 
ton  was  compelled  to  evacuate  the  island.  Everything  wore 
the  gloomiest  aspect  as  the  Autumn  of  1776  began  to  open 
its  prospect  of  desolated  nature,  and  the  verdure  of  the  fields 
began  to  blast,  and  the  "  Flowery  Kace  to  resign  their  sunny 
robes."  Yet  to  the  heart  of  Trumbull  the  event  did  not 
bring  despair — no,  nor  to  the  heart  of  his  State — which  still, 
notwithstanding  defeat,  beat  with  an  "  indomitable  firm 
ness  " — such  as  neither  Athens,  when  beset  by  the  legions  of 
Xerxes,  nor  Rome,  when  she  had  lost  the  battle  of  Cannae, 
exhibited  more  gloriously. 

To  the  urgent  solicitations,  both  from  Washington  and  the 
New  York  Congress,  for  military  succor,  Trumbull  respond 
ed  with  an  alacrity  that  is  truly  astonishing.  Within  six 
days  only  from  the  first  of  September,  he  started — first,  eight 
regiments,  and  all  the  troop  of  Horse  in  the  State  east  of  the 
Connecticut  Kiver — next  nine  regiments  of  militia  more,  and 
two  additional  of  horse — and  next  two  companies  additional 
of  a  regiment  stationed  at  New  London  and  Groton  for  coast 
defence — to  march  all  forthwith  towards  New  York.  Some 
of  them  were  to  embark — if  circumstances  should  require — 
for  some  convenient  point  on  Long  Island,  and  thence  pro 
ceed  "  to  the  assistance  of  our  army  against  the  troops  and 
mercenaries  of  Great  Britain" — and  some  were  to  proceed 


272  CHAP.  XXIII. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

all  the  way  by  land — rendezvous  in  Westchester — and  from 
thence  defeat  the  enemy's  design  of  throwing  a  force  upon 
the  Main,  and  cutting  off  in  this  quarter  the  communication 
with  New  York.  And  Trumbull  appealed  to  Massachu 
setts — and  he  appealed  to  Rhode  Island — informing  both 
these  States  of  what  he  had  himself  now  done,  and  stimulat 
ing  their  immediate  cooperation.* 

And  farther — at  this  dark  crisis  in  American  affairs — not 
content  with  providing  the  material  of  war  merely,  but  wish 
ing  specially  to  propitiate  the  favor  of  Heaven — September 
sixth — in  view  of  the  "judgments"  lately  fallen  upon  the 
country,  and  of  the  "  sins  and  shortcomings,"  he  feared,  of 
the  people  of  the  land — he  issued  the  following  Proclamation 
for  a  "Day  of  Fasting  and  Prayer"  in  Connecticut — the  first 
of  the  kind,  which  since  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  he 
caused  to  be  published,  and  which  will  be  found  worthy  of 
attentive  perusal. 

"  When  it  is  considered"  he  proceeds — "  that  all  Mankind,  and  all 
Communities  of  Men,  have  an  absolute,  entire,  and  necessary  Dependence  on 
God; — that  he  is  the  great  Governor  of  the  World,  and  the  wise  Disposer 
of  all  the  Affairs  and  Concernments  of  the  Children  of  Men;  that  He 
hath  done  great  and  marvellous  things  for  his  People  in  this  Land,  from 
their  first  Beginnings  to  this  Day,  which  our  Fathers  have  told  us,  and 
which  we  have  seen  with  our  Eyes; — that  He  is,  in  his  holy  and  right 
eous  Providence,  come  out  in  Judgment  against  us,  and  doth  permit  the 
King  of  Great  Britain  with  his  Parliament,  to  sap  the  Constitution  in 
its  very  foundation,  and  to  sport  with  all  the  Privileges  of  the  People 
in  all  Parts  of  the  Empire  ;  and  to  accomplish  their  Purposes,  to  have 
Recourse,  in  spite  of  the  most  powerful  Arguments  to  the  contrary,  to 

*  "  We  thank  your  Honor,"  wrote  back  to  him  the  Speaker  of  the  Massachu 
setts  Assembly,  Sep.  13th — for  your  exertions  in  the  common  cause,  and  assure 
you  it  will  be  our  ambition  to  cooperate  with  the  United  States,  to  the  utmost  of 
our  power,  in  efforts  for  their  common  safety  " — and  a  battalion  from  the  old  Bay 
State  militia,  destined  for  Ehode  Island,  was  ordered  to  join  the  forces  around 
New  York  "  with  all  possible  dispatch." 

"  Our  eastward  regiments  are  raised,  and  ordered  forward  to  go  to  or  near  West- 
Chester  to  cooperate  with  the  army— or,  if  not  needed  there,  to  supply  the  place 
of  some  of  the  last  militia  sent."— The  Governor's  letter  to  his  son  Joseph, 
Sep.  Uh. 

"  I  have  this  minute  sent  a  letter  to  Gov'nor  Cooke— to  move  them  on  this  ques 
tion  [that  of  military  cooperation.]  My  Council  will  be  with  me  in  a  hour  or 
two.  Our  regiments  are  prepared  for  motion,  whenever  tho't  necessary  &  best." 
— Same  to  same,  Oct.  llth. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIII. — TRUMBULL.  273 

every  dishonorable  Artifice,  and  unprovoked  Violence,  and  finally  to 
levy  an  unnatural  War  upon  his  British  People  in  America,  who  at  that 
time  were  a  dutiful  and  liege  people;  and  to  carry  on  the  same  with 
unrelenting  Cruelty  and  Vigor,  have  engaged  Mercenaries  and  Savages 
to  join  therein,  using  every  Artifice  to  cause  Division  and  Discord 

among   the  People: When  it  is   also   considered,  that  humble  and 

decent  Petitions  have  been  made  and  presented  to  obtain  Relief  and  Re 
dress  of  these  Grievances,  which  have  been  rejected  and  spurned ; — that 
Thirteen  Governments  in  AMERICA  being  declared  Rebels,  and  deprived 
of  the  Protection  and  paternal  kindness  of  the  King,  and  suffering 
under  the  Malevolence  of  their  British  Brethren,  have  solemnly  declared 
that  they  are,  and  of  Right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States  ; 
that  a  solemn  act  of  Confederation  is  forming,  to  be  entered  into  by  all 
these  United  States,  so  that  all  Men  in  them  may  lead  quiet  and  peace 
able  Lives  in  all  Godliness  and  Honesty  ; — and  that  a  solemn  Appeal  is 
made  to  GOD  for  his  just  and  righteous  Decision  in  this  unhappy  War  ; — 
The  Scriptures,  the  Examples  of  Holy  Men,  and  of  our  Fathers,  show  it 
to  be  our  Duty  frequently  by  Fasting  and  Prayer,  to  appear  before  the 
LORD,  to  humble  ourselves  in  his  Sight,  to  confess  and  lament  for  our  evil 
Deeds,  and  for  our  great  Trespass,  and  to  repent  for  all  our  Iniquities, 
which  deserve  His  righteous  Punishment — to  seek  His  Face,  the  Light  of 
His  Countenance,  and  Deliverance  from  the  Hands  of  our  Enemies,  who 
have  risen  up  against  us,  to  deprive  us  of  our  Rights  and  Liberties — and  to 
supplicate  for  his  Mercy,  for  Wisdom  and  Direction,  that  so  the  free 
and  independent  States  may  be  radicated,  confirmed,  established,  built 
up,  and  caused  to  flourish,  and  to  become  a  Praise  in  the  whole  earth: 

"  I  HAVE  therefore,  by  and  with  the  advice  of  the  Council,  thought  fit 
to  appoint  Thursday  the  nineteenth  day  of  September  instant,  to  be  ob 
served  as  a  Day  of  Fasting  and  Prayer  throughout  this  State ;  hereby 
exhorting  both  Ministers  and  People  of  all  Denominations,  to  humble 
themselves  before  God,  confessing  their  sins,  and  intreating  his  divine 
Grace,  Favor,  and  Blessing.  Particularly,  to  confess  and  lament  their 
having  gone  far  from  God,  forgetting  the  errand  of  their  Fathers  into 
this  Land,  neglecting  and  abusing  the  inestimable  Privileges  of  the  Gos 
pel,  and  trifling  with  the  Liberties  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free — 
to  mourn  for  our  Pride,  Covetousness,  Sensuality,  Security,  Vanity,  Dis 
sipation,  and  Insensibility  of  the  Obligations  we  are  under  to  the  divine 
Author  of  all  our  Blessings ; — Upon  this  solemn  Day  of  Fasting  and 
Humiliation,  to  set  our  Sins  in  Order  before  us,  with  all  their  heinous 
Aggravations,  and  in  the  Bitterness  of  our  Souls  to  lament  and  bewail 
the  general  Prevalence  of  Impiety  and  Vice,  which  hath  overspread 
and  diffused  itself  throughout  the  Land  : — To  offer  up  fervent  supplica 
tions  to  Almighty  God,  for  his  gracious  Presence  with  us, — to  give  us 
true  Repentance  and  Reformation, — to  make  us  fully  sensible  that  our 
Dependence  must  be  on  his  Power  and  Grace  alone, — to  retrieve  the  an- 


274  CHAP.    XXIII. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

cient  Piety  and  Virtue  of  the  Land, — to  prosper  our  Arms, — to  deliver 
us  from  the  Power  of  our  Enemies, — to  quicken  and  enlarge  the  Hearts 
of  His  People  in  the  Fear  and  Service  of  God,  of  their  Country,  of  one 
another,  and  in  defence  of  their  just  Rights  and  Liberties. 

"  And  likewise  to  offer  up  devout  Prayers  for  the  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  in  General  Congress  assembled,  that  God  would  pre 
side  in  the  Midst  of  them,  direct  and  lead  them  to  such  wise  and  just 
Articles  of  Confederation,  and  to  such  equitable  and  righteous  Measures, 
as  may  preserve  and  secure  the  Rights  and  Liberties,  the  Prosperity  and 
Tranquillity  of  the  whole  United  States  of  America — That  he  would 
show  Favor  to  each,  and  in  particular  to  this  State,  carry  them  all  safely 
through  this  unhappy  War — give  Wisdom  and  Conduct  to  our  Generals 
and  Officers,  and  inspire  our  Soldiers  with  Courage,  Resolution,  and  For 
titude — defeat  the  Attempts  and  Designs  of  our  Enemies — turn  them 
back  from  us — and  make  bare  His  arm  for  our  Salvation — bless  and  guide 
our  Civil  Rulers,  and  enable  them  with  Wisdom  and  Courage  to  use  all 
their  Power  and  Influence  to  promote  the  Happiness  of  this  People — 
make  them  Protectors  and  Examples  of  Virtue,  the  Terror  of  Vice,  and 
happy  Instruments  of  the  public  Peace  and  Tranquillity ;  that  God 
would  Grant  plentiful  Effusions  of  His  Holy  Spirit  upon  Rulers,  Minis 
ters  of  the  Gospel,  Colleges,  Schools  of  Learning,  and  on  all  the  People — 
cause  true  and  un defiled  Religion  to  flourish  in  this  and  all  these  States, 
and  through  the  Christian  world. 

"  Further,  I  do  sincerely  recommend  to  all  the  Churches  in  this  State, 
to  continue  the  laudable  Practice  of  setting  apart  Seasons  of  Prayer  to 
God,  our  Almighty  Preserver  and  Deliverer. 

"  And  all  servile  Labor  is  forbidden  on  said  Day. 

"  Given  under  my  Hand  in  Lebanon,  the  sixth  Day  of  September,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  One  Thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-six. 

"JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

True  to  the  preparations  which  Trumbull  had  made,  the 
Connecticut  forces — in  the  crisis  at  New-York — poured  on, 
at  quick  intervals,  to  join  the  Continental  Army — much  to 
the  joy  of  the  whole  country — deeply  to  the  satisfaction  of 
"Washington  himself.  "  The  exertions  of  Connecticut  upon 
every  occasion,"  he  wrote  to  Trumbull,  September  sixth — 
"  do  them  great  honor." 

"  I  observe  with  great  pleasure,"  he  wrote  again,  September  ninth — 
"that  you  have  ordered  the  remaining  regiments  of  militia,  that  can  be 
spared  from  the  immediate  defence  of  the  sea-coast,  to  march  towards 
New- York  with  all  expedition.  I  cannot  sufficiently  express  my  thanks, 
not  only  for  your  constant  and  ready  compliance  with  any  request  of 
mine,  but  for  your  own  strenuous  exertions  and  prudent  forecast,  in 


me.  CHAP.  xxin. — TKUMBULL.  275 

ordering  matters  so,  that  your  force  has  generally  been  collected  and  put 
in  motion  as  soon  as  it  has  been  demanded." 

"When  your  Excellency,"  answered  Trumbull,  the  next  day — "was 
pleased  to  request  the  militia  of  our  State  to  be  sent  forward  with  all  pos 
sible  expedition  to  reenforce  the  army  at  New-York,  no  time  was  lost  to 
expedite  the  march ;  and  I  am  happy  to  find  the  spirit  and  zeal  that  ap 
peared  in  the  people  of  this  State,  to  yield  every  assistance  in  their  power 
in  the  present  critical  situation  of  our  affairs.  The  season  indeed,  was 
most  unfavorable  for  so  man)''  of  our  farmers  and  laborers  to  leave  home. 
Many  had  not  even  secured  their  harvest ;  the  greater  part  had  secured 
but  a  small  part  even  of  their  hay,  and  the  preparation  of  the  crop  of 
winter's  grain  for  the  ensuing  year  was  totally  omitted ;  but  they,  the 
most  of  them,  left  all  to  afford  their  help  in  protecting  and  defending 
their  just  rights  and  liberties  against  the  attempt  of  a  numerous  army 
sent  to  invade  them.  The  suddenness  of  the  requisition,  the  haste  and 
expedition  required  in  the  raising,  equipping,  and  marching  such  a  num 
ber  of  men  after  the  large  drafts  before  made  on  this  State,  engrossed  all 
our  time  and  attention." 

ISTor  were  this  "time  and  attention"  on  the  part  of  Trum 
bull  to  the  American  Army,  destined  to  be  otherwise  than 
engrossed,  for  the  residue  of  the  eventful  year  on  which  we 
dwell.  Disasters  crowded  thick  and  fast  upon  that  of  August 
Twenty-seventh.  The  evacuation  of  the  City  and  Island  of 
New- York* — the  indecisive  action  of  White  Plains — the  fall 
of  Fort  Washington — the  abandonment  of  Fort  Lee — the 
retreat  of  Washington,  with  but  the  shadow  of  an  army, 
through  the  Jerseys — all  these  misfortunes  rapidly  succeeded 
the  rout  upon  Long  Island.  They  resulted,  as  is  a  familiar 
fact,  from  the  wretched  policy  of  using  militia  upon  short 
enlistments,  instead  of  troops  upon  a  regular  and  permanent  es 
tablishment — a  policy  which  Trumbull  was  among  the  earliest 
to  condemn,  and  one  of  the  first,  in  common  with  Washing- 

*  "  The  City,"  Trumbull  warmly  says,  writing  his  son  Joseph,  Sep.  21st — "  is 
then  left  an  asylum  and  resting  place  for  our  enemies. — Strange  that  those  who 
fight  pro  aris  etfocis,  should  behave  in  such  a  poltroon  manner,  as  you  mention 
some  of  them  did  on  Sunday.  It  seems  some  others  made  up  for  it  on  Monday. 
I  lament  the  loss  of  the  brave  Lt.  Col.  Knowlton — would  others  behave  with  the 
spirit  and  bravery  he  did,  our  affairs  would  soon  put  on  a  different  aspect,  t — Par 
don  for  rebels — who  are  they  ?  Our  enemies  we  say  are  the  guilty.  They  may 
crave  pardon  on  repentance,  and  coming  to  a  better  mind  and  behaviour." 

t  "  Our  greatest  loss  is  poor  Knowlton,  whose  name  and  spirit  ought  to  be  im 
mortal" — wrote  Gen.  Joseph  Reed,  who  saw  him  fall  at  the  battle  of  Harlem 
Heights.  "  I  mounted  him  on  my  horse,  and  brought  him  off — and  when  gasp 
ing  in  the  agonies  of  death,  all  his  inquiry  was  if  we  had  driven  in  the  enemy." 


274  CHAP.    XXIII. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

cient  Piety  and  Virtue  of  the  Land, — to  prosper  our  Arms, — to  deliver 
us  from  the  Power  of  our  Enemies, — to  quicken  and  enlarge  the  Hearts 
of  His  People  in  the  Fear  and  Service  of  God,  of  their  Country,  of  one 
another,  and  in  defence  of  their  just  Rights  and  Liberties. 

"  And  likewise  to  oifer  up  devout  Prayers  for  the  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  in  General  Congress  assembled,  that  God  would  pre 
side  in  the  Midst  of  them,  direct  and  lead  them  to  such  wise  and  just 
Articles  of  Confederation,  and  to  such  equitable  and  righteous  Measures, 
as  may  preserve  and  secure  the  Rights  and  Liberties,  the  Prosperity  and 
Tranquillity  of  the  whole  United  States  of  America — That  he  would 
show  Favor  to  each,  and  in  particular  to  this  State,  carry  them  all  safely 
through  this  unhappy  War — give  Wisdom  and  Conduct  to  our  Generals 
and  Officers,  and  inspire  our  Soldiers  with  Courage,  Resolution,  and  For 
titude — defeat  the  Attempts  and  Designs  of  our  Enemies — turn  them 
back  from  us — and  make  bare  His  arm  for  our  Salvation — bless  and  guide 
our  Civil  Rulers,  and  enable  them  with  Wisdom  and  Courage  to  use  all 
their  Power  and  Influence  to  promote  the  Happiness  of  this  People — 
make  them  Protectors  and  Examples  of  Virtue,  the  Terror  of  Vice,  and 
happy  Instruments  of  the  public  Peace  and  Tranquillity ;  that  God 
would  Grant  plentiful  Effusions  of  His  Holy  Spirit  upon  Rulers,  Minis 
ters  of  the  Gospel,  Colleges,  Schools  of  Learning,  and  on  all  the  People — • 
cause  true  and  un defiled  Religion  to  nourish  in  this  and  all  these  States, 
and  through  the  Christian  world. 

"  Further,  I  do  sincerely  recommend  to  all  the  Churches  in  this  State, 
to  continue  the  laudable  Practice  of  setting  apart  Seasons  of  Prayer  to 
God,  our  Almighty  Preserver  and  Deliverer. 

"  And  all  servile  Labor  is  forbidden  on  said  Day. 

"  Given  under  my  Hand  in  Lebanon,  the  sixth  Day  of  September,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  One  Thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-six. 

"JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

True  to  the  preparations  which  Trumbull  had  made,  the 
Connecticut  forces — in  the  crisis  at  New-York — poured  on, 
at  quick  intervals,  to  join  the  Continental  Army — much  to 
the  joy  of  the  whole  country — deeply  to  the  satisfaction  of 
Washington  himself.  "  The  exertions  of  Connecticut  upon 
every  occasion,"  he  wrote  to  Trumbull,  September  sixth — 
"  do  them  great  honor." 

"  I  observe  with  great  pleasure,"  he  wrote  again,  September  ninth — 
"that  you  have  ordered  the  remaining  regiments  of  militia,  that  can  be 
spared  from  the  immediate  defence  of  the  sea-coast,  to  march  towards 
New- York  with  all  expedition.  I  cannot  sufficiently  express  my  thanks, 
not  only  for  your  constant  and  ready  compliance  with  any  request  of 
mine,  but  for  your  own  strenuous  exertions  and  prudent  forecast,  in 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIII. — TKUMBULL.  275 

ordering  matters  so,  that  your  force  has  generally  been  collected  and  put 
in  motion  as  soon  as  it  has  been  demanded." 

"When  your  Excellency,"  answered  Trumbull,  the  next  day — "was 
pleased  to  request  the  militia  of  our  State  to  be  sent  forward  with  all  pos 
sible  expedition  to  reenforce  the  army  at  New-York,  no  time  was  lost  to 
expedite  the  march ;  and  I  am  happy  to  find  the  spirit  and  zeal  that  ap 
peared  in  the  people  of  this  State,  to  yield  every  assistance  in  their  power 
in  the  present  critical  situation  of  our  affairs.  The  season  indeed,  was 
most  unfavorable  for  so  many  of  our  farmers  and  laborers  to  leave  home. 
Many  had  not  even  secured  their  harvest ;  the  greater  part  had  secured 
but  a  small  part  even  of  their  hay,  and  the  preparation  of  the  crop  of 
winter's  grain  for  the  ensuing  year  was  totally  omitted ;  but  they,  the 
most  of  them,  left  all  to  afford  their  help  in  protecting  and  defending 
their  just  rights  and  liberties  against  the  attempt  of  a  numerous  army 
sent  to  invade  them.  The  suddenness  of  the  requisition,  the  haste  and 
expedition  required  in  the  raising,  equipping,  and  marching  such  a  num 
ber  of  men  after  the  large  drafts  before  made  on  this  State,  engrossed  all 
our  time  and  attention." 

Nor  were  this  "time  and  attention"  on  the  part  of  Trum 
bull  to  the  American  Army,  destined  to  be  otherwise  than 
engrossed,  for  the  residue  of  the  eventful  year  on  which  we 
dwell.  Disasters  crowded  thick  and  fast  upon  that  of  August 
Twenty-seventh.  The  evacuation  of  the  City  and  Island  of 
New- York* — the  indecisive  action  of  White  Plains — the  fall 
of  Fort  Washington — the  abandonment  of  Fort  Lee — the 
retreat  of  Washington,  with  but  the  shadow  of  an  army, 
through  the  Jerseys — all  these  misfortunes  rapidly  succeeded 
the  rout  upon  Long  Island.  They  resulted,  as  is  a  familiar 
fact,  from  the  wretched  policy  of  using  militia  upon  short 
enlistments,  instead  of  troops  upon  a  regular  and  permanent  es 
tablishment — a  policy  which  Trumbull  was  among  the  earliest 
to  condemn,  and  one  of  the  first,  in  common  with  Washing- 

*  "  The  City,"  Trumbull  warmly  says,  writing  his  son  Joseph,  Sep.  21st — "is 
then  left  an  asylum  and  resting  place  for  our  enemies. — Strange  that  those  who 
fight  pro  aris  etfocis,  should  behave  in  such  a  poltroon  manner,  as  you  mention 
some  of  them  did  on  Sunday.  It  seems  some  others  made  up  for  it  on  Monday. 
I  lament  the  loss  of  the  brave  Lt.  Col.  Knowlton — would  others  behave  with  the 
spirit  and  bravery  he  did,  our  affairs  would  soon  put  on  a  different  aspect. t — Par 
don  for  rebels — who  are  they  ?  Our  enemies  we  say  are  the  guilty.  They  may 
crave  pardon  on  repentance,  and  coming  to  a  better  mind  and  behaviour." 

t  "  Our  greatest  loss  is  poor  Knowlton,  whose  name  and  spirit  ought  to  be  im 
mortal  "—wrote  Gen.  Joseph  Eeed,  who  saw  him  fall  at  the  battle  of  Harlem 
Heights.  u  I  mounted  him  on  my  horse,  and  brought  him  off — and  when  gasp 
ing  in  the  agonies  of  death,  all  his  inquiry  was  if  we  had  driven  in  the  enemy." 


276  CHAP.    XXIII. — TKUMBULL. 

ton,  by  appeal  particularly  to  Congress,  to  labor  to  over 
throw.*  Still  when  the  army,  after  the  ill-success  around 
New- York,  was  daily  and  fearfully  diminishing  in  numbers, 
he  continued,  after  the  old  mode,  to  recruit  its  exhausted 
ranks. 

When,  in  October,  he  heard  from  various  quarters  of  a 
projected  invasion  of  Connecticut  by  way  of  White  Plains, 
he  made  every  preparation  to  meet  it.  When,  on  the  second 
of  the  same  month,  he  heard  from  Washington  that  the 
army  was  actually  on  the  eve  of  a  dissolution — that  "  every 
nerve,"  therefore,  "should  be  exerted  to  enlist  a  new  one" — 
and  that  he  wanted  aid  also  particularly  for  securing  the 
Highlands — a  point  for  which  the  New- York  Committee  of 
Safety  too  specially  solicited  Trumbull's  assistance — the  un 
tiring  Governor  of  Connecticut,  upon  these  fresh  demands, 
issued  first  one  Proclamation  calling  on  the  militia  to  be 
ready  to  march — and  then  a  second,  renewedly  stimulating 
officers  and  men  to  promptness — "fully  confiding,"  he  de 
clared,  "in  the  virtue  and  public  spirit  of  the  good  people 
of  this  State,  that  has  at  all  times  exerted  itself  in  so  glo 
rious  a  cause  that  they  need  no  stimulus  to  duty  at  this  all- 
important  juncture."  In  November  again,  upon  a  requisition 
from  Congress,  he  issued  a  third  Proclamation,  for  raising 
eight  battalions  upon  a  Continental  Establishment — once 
more  desiring  the  people  of  the  State,  upon  "  the  generous 
encouragements  "  then  offered,  "  to  step  forth  voluntarily  in 
their  country's  service" — and  expressing  the  ardent  hope 
that  "  the  justice  of  our  cause,  and  reliance  on  the  favorable 
presence  of  the  God  of  armies,"  would  inspire  them  "  with 
that  fortitude  and  magnanimity  necessary  to  expel  our  en 
emies  from  our  coasts  and  restore  tranquillity  to  our  land." 

And  when  in  dark  and  gloomy  December,  just  previous  to 
the  flashing  pf  the  light  at  Trenton  and  Princeton — Wash- 

*  In  a  letter  to  Congress,  Sep.  21st,  1776,  he  says  :  "  The  mode  of  supplying 
the  army  by  militia  is  a  measure  not  to  be  depended  on  ;  there  must  be  a  durable 
army,  or  the  consequences  will  be  fatal. — The  time  of  the  inlistment  of  our  sol 
diery  is  beginning  to  expire.  Congress  will  suffer  me  to  ask,  if  it  is  not  a  matter 
worthy  serious  and  speedy  consideration,  that  measures  should  be  adopted  for 
their  further  enlistment.  In  which  case  I  think  it  of  great  moment  that  the  en 
gagement  should  be  for  a  longer  time  than  has  hitherto  been." 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIII. — TRUMBULL.  277 

ington — before  "a  numerous,  well-appointed,  and  victorious" 
army  of  the  foe — was  retreating  through  New -Jersey — 
through  a  desponding  country — with  a  force  reduced  now  to 
less  than  three  thousand  men — almost  wholly  destitute  of 
artillery — with  but  a  single  troop  of  cavalry — and  this  a  little 
band  of  mounted  militia-men  from  Connecticut  under 
Major  Sheldon — with  his  soldiers  all  wretchedly  armed — 
without  tents,  with  but  little  clothing,  almost  naked  and 
bare-footed,  in  cold  that  froze  the  breath — it  was  at  this  des 
pairing  moment  that  Trurnbull  more  earnestly  than  ever 
conjured  the  troops  of  Connecticut  to  rush  to  the  rescue — 
"  for  the  sake  of  their  country  and  all  its  inestimable  rights, 
for  the  sake  of  themselves  and  all  posterity  " — pleaded  with 
them  to  comply  with  the  requisitions  of  Washington. 

There  was  a  promising  opportunity  in  New -Jersey,  he 
thought — by  reenforcing  Washington  in  front  of  Cornwallis, 
and  Lee  in  his  rear — to  cut  off  the  enemy  between  two  fires. 
So  with  the  General  Assembly  of  his  State,  he  united  in 
proclaiming,  as  a  new  incentive  for  enlistments,  this  "so 
great  an  occasion."  And  with  a  Committee  of  Twenty- 
Two — raised  specially  by  Connecticut  at  this  time,  for  the 
purpose  of  propagating  "  the  spirit  and  zeal  of  the  country," 
and  rousing  the  people  to  serve  in  the  existing  conjuncture — 
Trumbull  traversed  and  animated  the  whole  State  with  his 
correspondence  and  his  influence.  Through  the  darkest 
period  of  the  American  Struggle,  courage  emphatically  was 
in  his  heart.  "Fortuna  favet  audaci" — he  remembered  it — 
his  own  family  motto.  Hope  was  on  his  banner, 

"  "White  as  a  white  sail  on  a  dusky  sea  " — 

and  he  looked  anxiously  forward  to  some  glorious  morning, 
yet  to  break,  when  this  auspicious  Messenger  was  sure  "  to 
ride  upon  the  wind,  and  Joy  outshine  the  sun."  A  State 
with  such  a  Governor,  and  such  a  People — thus  spirited — 
thus  harmonious — thus  lighting  up  anew  the  torches  of  ef 
fort — was  bound  to  be  free! 

24 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 
1776. 

TRUMBTTLL  in  the  department  of  Home  Defence.  The  hostile  vessels 
and  fleets  in  the  Sound.  He  is  made  Chief  Naval  Officer  of  the  State 
He  builds  three  row-galleys,  and  a  ship-of-war.  He  confers  -with  ingen 
ious  men  about  marine  devices.  Bushnell  and  his  Torpedo  in  thia  con 
nection.  Trumbull  commends  him  to  Washington.  He  regulates  pro 
vision  vessels,  and  guards  against  predatory  descents,  and  illicit  trade. 
He  concerts  expeditions,  in  aid  of  Washington,  to  drive  the  enemy 
from  Long  Island  and  the  Sound.  These  expeditions  described.  He 
urges  Congress  to  adopt  New  London  as  an  asylum  for  the  Continental 
fleet.  The  Marine  of  Connecticut  this  year.  Its  success.  The  De 
fence  captures  a  valuable  British  ship  and  brig,  after  a  sharp  engage 
ment.  Admiral  Hopkins  reaches  New  London,  from  the  West  Indies, 
•with  valuable  prizes,  and  important  prisoners.  Satisfaction  of  Trum 
bull. 

WHILE  steadily  sustaining — as  in  the  last  chapter  de 
scribed — the  main  army  under  Washington,  in  its  operations 
around  New- York  and  in  New- Jersey,  Trumbull  was  at  the 
same  time  busy  in  protecting  the  sea-coast  and  waters  of  Con 
necticut.  To  comprehend  fully  his  labors  during  the  year 
now  under  consideration,  we  have  to  look  at  him  here  also — 
in  the  department  of  Home  Defence. 

The  whole  of  Long  Island  Sound,  this  year,  was  almost 
incessantly  crowded  with  vessels  of  the  enemy,  and  some 
times  with  fleets  of  immense  size,  which  cruised  up  and 
down — watching  opportunities  to  seize  American  craft  of 
every  kind,  and  to  land  upon  the  Connecticut  coast — as  they 
did  with  impunity  upon  the  coast  of  Long  Island  opposite — 
for  purposes  of  plunder  and  devastation.  Conspicuous 
among  the  single  British  vessels  thus  employed,  were  the 
Kingfisher,  the  Swan,  the  Glasgow,  the  Phoenix,  the  Nautilus — 
the  man-of-war  Rose,  the  same  which,  the  preceding  year, 
had  attacked  and  fired  upon  Stonington — and  the  Cerberus, 
the  same  which  captured  the  brave  and  unfortunate  Captain 
Hale,  and  from  whose  hot  pursuit — from  Montauk  Point 
over  to  the  race  of  New-London — Captain  Niles  of  the  Spy 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIV.— TKUMBULL.  279 

but  barely  escaped,  with  the  loss  of  his  topmast.  And  there 
was  also  the  Bellona,  the  same  whose  crew,  eager  for  plunder, 
sprang  on  board  the  vessel  of  Captain  Hawley — as  he  sailed 
from  Stratford — and,  after  rifling  his  chest,  in  vain  labored  to 
bribe  the  gallant  sailor  into  their  service  as  pilot  by  offering 
him  payment  for  his  vessel  after  the  War  closed,  and  his  choice 
of  a  plantation  anywhere  upon  the  continent  of  America. 

Conspicuous  among  the  fleets  which  threatened  America 
were,  first,  one  in  March — when  the  British  were  about  to 
withdraw  from  Boston — which  was  reported  as  designed  for 
devastating  the  entire  coast  towards  New-York — next, 
shortly  after,  one  consisting  of  twenty-one  vessels  of  war, 
which  appeared  off  Newport — next,  one  which,  in  May,  Was 
said  to  be  on  its  passage  from  England — again  one  early  in 
July,  which,  consisting  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  sail,  left 
Halifax,  bound  for  New- York — and  again,  one  in  the  last 
week  in  August,  consisting  of  three  ships  and  two  tenders, 
which  anchored  off  Fisher's  Island,  and  then  off  Stamford. 
In  the  beginning  of  December  there  was  another,  consisting 
of  one  hundred  men-of-war  and  transports,  which  appeared 
off  Black  Point — about  eight  miles  from  New-London  har 
bor — and  there  remained  at  anchor  three  days.  Shortly 
after,  there  was  still  another,  composed  of  twenty-two  sail, 
which  lay  at  anchor  between  Fairfield  and  Norwalk,  and 
menaced  the  whole  coast  in  this  direction. 

All  these  alarms  gave,  of  course,  intense  anxiety  to  the 
people  of  Connecticut.  Forts  and  entrenchments  for  defence, 
consequently,  were  to  be  erected,  and  supplied  fully  with 
batteries,  and  every  munition  of  war,  all  along  the  shore — 
especially  at  Stonington,  New  London,  Saybrook,  Newha- 
ven,  Milford,  Bridgeport,  Fairfield,  Stamford,  and  Norwalk. 
Forces  were  to  be  raised  and  stationed  from  time  to  time. 
Minute-men  were  to  be  kept  in  readiness.  Signals  were  to 
be  agreed  upon — quick  modes  of  communication  estab 
lished — little  spy-boats  were  to  be  constantly  despatched. 
Kow-galleys,  whaleboats,  and  vessels  of  war  were  to  be 
built — sloops  purchased  and  fitted  up  as  brigantines — and  all 
to  be  armed,  officered,  manned,  and  have  their  cruising 
grounds  appointed.  Everything  in  short  was  to  be  done, 


280  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

for  the  security  of  American  navigation  in  the  Sound,  and 
of  towns  on  the  coast,  that  general  alarm  and  prudent 
bravery  could  instigate* — and  in  all  this  Trumbull  took  a 
leading  part.  It  was  upon  himself  and  his  Council  that  the 
duties  to  which  we  refer,  mainly  devolved — and  chiefly  on 
himself — he  and  his  Council  being  by  the  Assembly  specially 
empowered  to  make  such  regulations,  from  time  to  time,  for 
defence  of  the  sea-coast  and  of  the  Sound,  as  they  should 
think  best. 

By  special  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  too,  Trumbull 
was  constituted  Chief  Naval  Officer  of  the  State,  with  power 
to  appoint  four  naval  officers  under  himself — one  at  New 
London — one  at  Middletown — one  at  Newhaven — and  one  at 
Nbrwalk — and  with  power  also  to  fill  blank  commissions  for 
private  ships  of  war,  and  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal, 
sent  by  the  President  of  Congress  to  Connecticut,  and  take 
bonds  for  the  proper  execution  of  the  same — which  last 
power — as  is  manifest  from  the  numerous  naval  commissions 
to  be  found  among  his  Papers — he  exercised  to  a  very  great 
extent.f 

*  At  times  all  supplies  for  the  use  of  the  army  and  people  of  Connecticut, 
which  were  stored  upon  or  near  the  sea-coast,  were  to  be  removed  back  into  the 
country,  to  some  deposit  safe  from  the  enemy.  At  times  not  even  a  little  canoe, 
under  any  pretence,  without  a  written  license,  was  to  leave  any  port,  bay,  creek, 
or  river  in  the  State — but  all  the  small  craft  were  to  be  laid  up  on  shore  and  se 
cured.  And  at  times  again,  not  a  boat  from  any  islands  under  control  of  the  en 
emy — as  from  Block-Island,  particularly — was  to  be  permitted  to  land  in  Con 
necticut.  Every  hostile  vessel  that  might  be  hovering  about  the  coast,  was  to 
be  closely  watched,  and  captured,  if  possible.  Particular  orders  were  to  be  given 
with  regard  to  Provision  Ships,  to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  en 
emy.  Any  American  vessels  that  might  be  discovered  about  New  London  offing, 
or  in  the  Sound,  without  legal  clearances  from  Congress,  were  to  be  seized  and 
brought  into  port — and  all  smuggling  and  clandestine  management,  that  should 
be  contrary  to  the  laws,  or  to  any  embargoes,  or  to  any  prohibitions  of  Congress, 
or  of  the  State,  were  to  be  carefully  prevented.  Horned  cattle,  sheep,  and  swine, 
were  to  be  ordered  off  from  islands  adjacent  to  the  coast — from  Fisher's  Island, 
particularly — and  brought  to  the  Main.  And  vessels  were  to  be  sent  over  as 
convoys  for  transports  to  bring  off  inhabitants,  with  their  effects,  from  Long 
Island  to  Connecticut — Whig  inhabitants,  who  at  times  appealed  to  Governor 
Trumbull  in  crowds,  and  most  earnestly,  for  aid  and  protection. 

t  One  of  his  papers  contains  a  list  of  fourteen  different  bonds — the  basis  of 
fourteen  different  commissions  for  privateers,  all  issued  within  five  months. 
They  were  taken  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  usually  in  the  sum  of 
twenty  thousand  Spanish  milled  dollars — conditioned  that  commanders  and  own 
ers  should  govern  and  direct  themselves  according  to  the  Commission,  and  ordi 
nances,  and  instructions  of  the  United  States. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  281 

Early  in  the  year  lie  had  three  row-galleys  built — the 
Shark,  the  Whiting,  and  the  Crane — and  started  at  Saybrook 
the  construction  of  a  new  and  large  ship  of  war — the  Oliver 
Cromwell,  as  she  was  afterwards  called — giving  orders  for  the 
materials  necessary  to  build  her — looking  to  the  manufacture 
of  her  anchors — and  sending  to  Philadelphia  and  Boston  for 
the  duck  and  ropes  with  which  to  rig  her.  And  when,  in 
October — mounted  with  artillery  which  he  had  himself  or 
dered* — she  was  made  ready  for  sea,  he  immediately  sent  her 
out — Captain  Coit  commander — to  cruise  against  the  enemy.f 
In  April,  he  caused  the  armed  brig  Defence,  and  the  schoon 
er  Spy,  to  join  Admiral  Hopkins  in  a  cruise  of  eight 
weeks.  At  other  times — and  indeed  during  most  of  the 
year — he  kept  the  State  Captains,  Stanton,  Tinker,  and  Me 
Cleave — with  Stonington  and  New  London  harbors  as  their 
places  of  rendezvous — cruising  respectively,  from  Stonington 
on  through  Fisher's  Island  Sound  westward  to  New  London, 
and  east  and  south  of  Fisher's  Island — from  New  London 
westward  again  to  the  mouth  of  Connecticut  Eiver,  and 
southward  as  far  as  Montauk  Point — and  westward  again  to 
New  Haven  harbor  and  beyond — while  the  Spy  and  the  De 
fence  particularly,  were  to  cruise  at  large.  He  was  in  almost 
constant  correspondence  with  the  commanders  of  these  ves 
sels.  They  were  often  in  his  presence,  to  receive  his  orders, 
and  to  report,  when  made,  their  prizes — and  upon  one  occa 
sion,  in  July,  he  sent  the  captains  of  the  three  row-galleys 
above-mentioned,  upon  Washington's  request,  specially  to 
aid  the  General  in  New  York,  when  the  American  ships  in 
the  North  River  were  threatened  with  an  attack. 

In  conference  often  with  him  too,  and  with  his  Council, 
were  ingenious  men,  who  came  to  explain  their  contrivances 
for  aiding,  in  one  way  and  another,  the  little  marine  of  Con- 

*  She  was  struck  by  lightning  just  before  she  was  taken  from  Saybrook,  but 
did  not  receive  much  damage. 

t  In  the  same  month  he  received  a  request  from  the  Marine  Committee  at  Phil 
adelphia,  to  provide  sixty-four  cannon  for  a  frigate  then  building  in  New  Hamp 
shire,  and  another  building  in  Massachusetts.  "  Your  well-known  zeal  in  the 
common  cause,"  say  the  Committee  writing  him  on  the  subject — "gives  us  per 
fect  confidence  that  you  will  do  herein  what  will  most  contribute  to  promote  and 
expedite  the  public  service." 


282  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

necticut,  or  for  damaging  the  foe — Willard  from  Killing- 
worth,  for  example,  with  his  singular  plan  for  applying  the 
screw  to  weigh  off  vessels — and  Bushnell  from  Saybrook, 
with  his  famous  "American  Turtle,"*  and  torpedoes,  for 
blowing  up  hostile  ships. 

Bushnell,  particularly — a  well-educated,  scientific  man,  of 
remarkable  mechanical  ingenuity,  and  a  zealous  patriot — was 
warmly  encouraged  by  Trumbull.  He  received  him  at  Leb 
anon  before  his  Council — listened  with  great  interest  to  his 
explanation  of  his  submarine  explosive  machine — fully  ap 
proved  of  his  plan — and,  holding  out  to  him  "the  expecta 
tion  of  future  notice  and  reward,"  directed  him  "to  make 
every  necessary  experiment  about  it,"  and  wrote  to  Congress 
strongly  in  favor  of  its  adoption,  and  for  their  patronage  of 
the  inventor.  Again  he  bestowed  on  Bushnell  his  special 
attention,  when  the  latter,  attended  by  Colonel  Huntington, 
brought  him  a  specimen  of  his  new  torpedo — and  he  ordered 
the  officers,  agents,  and  commissaries  of  the  State  generally, 
to  assist  him  with  men,  boats,  powder,  lead,  and  everything 
necessary  for  his  purpose,  "without  stint." 

True  the  inventions — from  want  of  skill  in  operators,  mis 
directed  attachment  of  driving  screws,  from  the  vigilance  of 
the  enemy,  or  from  untoward  accidents  by  wind  or  tide — did 
not  fully  answer  public  expectation.  Yet  they  effected  much 
good  at  times  in  alarming  British  men  of  war,  and  causing 

*  "  Outwardly  this  machine  bore  some  resemblance  to  a  large  sea  turtle.  Hence 
the  origin  of  its  name.  In  the  head  there  was  an  opening,  sufficiently  large  to 
admit  a  man.  This  apartment  was  air  tight,  and  was  designed  to  be  supplied 
with  air  sufficient  to  support  life  for  half  an  hour.  At  the  bottom,  opposite  this 
entrance,  was  a  deposit  of  lead  for  ballast.  The  operator  sat  upright,  holding  an 
oar  for  rowing  forward  or  backward,  and  having  command  of  a  rudder  to  direct 
his  course  in  any  direction.  An  aperture  at  the  bottom,  with  its  valve,  admitted 
water,  for  the  purpose  of  descending,  while  two  brass  forcing  pumps  served  to 
eject  the  water,  when  necessary  to  rise  to  the  surface. 

"Behind  this  vessel,  and  above  the  rudder,  was  a  place  for  carrying  a  large 
powder  magazine.  This  was  made  of  two  pieces  of  oak  timber,  large  enough 
when  hollowed  out,  to  contain  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  powder,  with  the 
apparatus  used  for  firing  it,  and  was  secured  in  any  place,  where  it  was  designed 
to  act,  by  means  of  a  screw  turned  by  the  operator.  Within  the  magazine,  was  a 
piece  of  clockwork,  capable  of  running  twelve  hours,  and  so  arranged  as  to  be 
set  at  any  moment,  at  the  will  of  the  manager.  When  it  had  run  out  its  time,  it 
unpinioned  a  strong  lock,  resembling  a  gun-lock,  by  means  of  which  the  explo 
sion  was  produced." — Cutter's  Life  of  Gen.  Putnam,  p.  227. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIV. — TEUMBULL.  283 

them  to  avoid  the  coast  and  harbors  of  Connecticut — as  the 
British  frigate  Cerberus  found  one  day  to  her  cost,  when,  as 
she  lay  off  Nyantic  Bay — west  of  New  London — her  deck 
was  suddenly  strewn  with  the  bodies  of  men  prostrated  by  a 
torpedo,  exploding  with  tremendous  force,  which  some  of  the 
crew,  from  ignorant  curiosity,  had  drawn  up  from  the 
waves* — and  as  the  Eagle — the  flagship  of  Admiral  Lord 
Howe — in  New  York  harbor,  would  also  have  found  to  her 
terrible  detriment,  but  for  that  unfortunate  sweep  of  the  tide 
which  misdirected  the  driving  screw  of  one  of  Bushnell's 
Turtles  against  impenetrable  iron  plates  near  her  rudder. 
Still,  in  this  case,  the  magazine  of  the  machine,  bursting  at  a 
little  distance  from  the  ship — with  a  noise  stupendous  as  if 
produced  by  "a  bomb,  a  meteor,  a  water-spout,  or  an  earth 
quake,"  and  sending  "a  vast  column  of  water  to  an  amazing 
height" — drove  the  Eagle,  the  Asia,  the  Chatham,  and  all 
the  rest  of  the  British  fleet  that  lay  near  the  Battery  instantly 
down  the  Bay — not  again  from  Staten  Island  to  move  to 
wards  the  city,  until  the  morning  of  the  Long  Island  battle. 
Trumbull  never  forgot  the  inventor  of  this  fearful  machine — 
but  pursued  him  with  his  kindness  and  encouragement,  until, 
with  a  well-timed  and  warm-hearted  letterf  to  General  Wash 
ington,  he  introduced  him  to  a  permanent  and  honorable  post 
as  Captain  in  a  Continental  corps  of  Sappers  and  Miners. 

Among  the  naval  duties  of  Trumbull  this  year,  was  that, 
particularly,  of  stopping  provision  vessels  from  going  out  of 
any  port  in  the  State  through  the  Sound — save  in  special 
cases — lest  the  enemy  might  be  supplied.  It  devolved  on 
him  also  still  to  arrest  the  many  plundering  descents  made  on 
Connecticut  by  a  vile  set  of  tories  and  refugees,  from  Long 
Island,  in  those  little  piratical  boats  and  sloops  familiarly 
known  in  their  day  as  "  Shaving  Mills"  His  cruising  orders, 
to  meet  these  cases,  were  very  numerous,  and  were  gratefully 

*'"  A  line  was  one  day  seen  from  the  ship  floating  upon  the  water  at  a  little 
distance,  which  the  tender  of  the  ship  was  ordered  to  examine.  It  was  drawn 
up  with  great  caution,  and  found  to  be  150  fathoms  in  length,  and  to  have  a  ma 
chine  attached  to  the  end  of  it,  weighing  about  400  pounds.  This,  upon  being 
hauled  into  the  frigate,  exploded  on  the  deck,  and  as  was  currently  reported  at 
the  time,  killed  several  men." — Miss  Caulking"1  New  London,  p.  525. 

t  See  this  letter  in  a  note  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


284  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

acknowledged  by  the  New  York  Congress.  He  took  strong 
measures  also  to  prevent  that  illicit  contraband  trade — 
"  fraught  with  mischief,  misrule,  and  villainy" — in  which  sup 
plies  from  the  Main  were  sometimes  carried  over  to  Long 
Island,  and  there  exchanged  for  British  gold  and  goods — an 
occupation  odious  indeed — and  which  made  the  phrase  "Long 
Island  trader  "  everywhere  one  of  peculiar  opprobrium,  and 
exposed  the  guilty  party  to  the  contempt  and  indignation  of 
every  true  American. 

In  August,  particularly,  in  close  accord  with  General 
Washington — in  order  to  cause  a  diversion  to  the  enemy, 
harass  their  rear,  and  put  a  stop  to  their  excursions  upon  Long 
Island  for  provisions — he  concerted  an  expedition  across  the 
Sound,  of  which,  in  the  following  letter  to  the  Commander- 
in-chief,  August  thirty -first,  he  gives  an  account  himself. 

"  Sir.  Adjutant-General  Read's  letter,*  of  the.  24th  instant,  came  to 
hand  Tuesday  Morning,  the  27th  ;  yours,  of  the  same  date,  yesterday. 

"  On  receiving  the  former,  I  advised  with  my  Council.  We  concluded 
to  send  Benjamin  Huntington,  Esq.,  one  of  our  Council,  with  directions 
to  take  with  him  Major  Ely,  at  New  London,  an  officer  there  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  people  on  Long  Island,  to  proceed  there  and  consult 
and  agree  with  some  of  the  sure  friends  of  our  cause — with  secrecy,  as 
far  as  the  circumstances  would  admit — for  a  number  of  their  men,  as 
sured  friends,  and  well  acquainted  on  the  Island,  to  join  with  a  body 
from  this  State,  if  possible  to  accomplish  your  wishes,  to  cause  a  diver 
sion  to  the  enemy,  to  harass  them  on  their  rear,  and  to  prevent  their  ex 
cursions  in  pursuit  of  the  provisions  the  Island  affords.  I  hear  they 
sailed  for  the  Island  yesterday.  His  return  is  expected  the  beginning  of 
next  week. 

"  If  he  succeeds  according  to  our  hopes,  no  exertions  of  this  State,  I 
trust,  will  be  wanting,  at  this  critical  conjuncture,  to  harass  and  keep  the 
enemy  at  bay,  to  gain  time  and  every  advantage  the  case  may  admit  I 
shall  give  the  earliest  intelligence  of  our  proceedings,  that  you  may  co 
operate  with  our  designs.  *  * 

"  A  post  comes  in,  and  brings  the  letters,  copies  of  which  are  inclosed. 
I  now  expect  Mr.  Huntington's  speedy  return.  Have  sent  for  my  Coun 
cil.  My  own  thoughts  are  to  send  forward  four  or  five  of  the  companies 
now  stationed  at  New  London,  with  four  field-pieces,  I  hope  six  pieces, 
to  join  those  men  who  may  be  ready  for  the  service  on  Long  Island ;  four 
or  five  companies  to  follow  from  New  London  as  soon  as  they  can  be 

*  Bead  wrote  Trumbull  in  behalf  of  Washington,  as  his  private  Secretary. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  285 

marched  down ;  and  also  to  order  on  other  regiments  to  take  the  places 
of  such  as  are  removed  from  thence. 

"  I  am  inclined  to  think  we  shall  fall  upon  some  measure  similar  to 
what  is  mentioned.  No  delay  can  be  admitted  at  this  critical  moment 
Please  to  give  me  the  earliest  intelligence  how  we  may  best  serve  agre- 
ably  to  your  desires. 

"Shall  send  in  the  morning  this  intelligence  to  Gov.  Cooke,  of  Provi 
dence,  and  ask  his  assistance  in  the  best  way  he  shall  think  the  circum 
stances  of  -that  State  will  admit." 

Trumbull  made  every  preparation  to  carry  into  effect  that 
plan  which  in  this  letter  he  suggests.*  Governor  Cooke,  of 
Khode  Island,  made  ready  an  entire  brigade  in  that  quarter, 
and  two  galleys,  for  the  purpose  of  cooperation.  But  the 
disastrous  battle  of  Long  Island,  August  twenty-seventh, 
checked  and  postponed  awhile  the  undertaking.  Uncertain 
and  aggravated  accounts  of  the  evacuation  of  that  Island, 
and  of  imminent  danger  in  consequence  to  Ehode  Island 
from  the  ships  of  the  enemy,  reached  Governor  Cooke  at 
Providence,  and  led  him  to  stop  the  embarcation  of  the  bri 
gade  which  he  had  prepared.  The  same  cause,  and  reports 
besides  that  Long  Island  had  universally  gone  over  to  the 
enemy — led  Trumbull  also  to  defer  the  expedition  for  the 
present — except  so  far  as  assistance  to  the  inhabitants  in  that 
quarter  in  removing  their  stock  and  effects  is  concerned — to 
which  he  gave  attention.f 

But  though  thus  disappointed  as  to  an  immediate  diversion 
in  favor  of  Washington  and  his  army,  Trumbull  did  not 
relinquish  the  project  of  driving  the  enemy  both  from  Long 
Island,  and  the  Sound.  In  the  same  letter  in  which  he  com 
municated  to  "Washington  the  abandonment  of  the  August 
plan,  he  started  another.  "  I  have  it  in  contemplation,"  he 

*  "  We  have  ordered  10  or  15  hundred  men  to  go  on  L.  Island  to  give  a  diver 
sion,  defend  the  inhabitants,  and  secure  the  stock." — Governor's  letter  to  his  son 
Joseph,  Sep.  2nd. 

t  "  I  have  received  intelligence,"  he  wrote  to  Washington,  September  fifth — 
u  that  since  our  troops  retreated  from  the  west  end  of  Long  Island,  the  Militia 
have  disbanded  themselves,  laid  down  their  arms,  and  are  making  their  submis 
sion  to  General  Howe.  Two  companies  of  Continental  troops  that  were  sta 
tioned  there  are  arrived  at  Saybrook.  In  this  situation  we  cannot  nope  to  make 
a  diversion  there,  to  any  purpose,  with  what  force  we  can  throw  over.  We  can 
only  assist  such  as  choose  to  retire  from  Long  Island  in  getting  off  their  persons 
and  effects,  which  to  the  utmost  of  our  power  will  be  done." 


286  CHAP.     XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  If76. 

wrote — "  if  practicable,  to  procure  a  sufficient  naval  force  to 
clear  the  Sound  of  the  enemy's  ships  now  in  it,  and  have 
proposed  the  matter  to  Governor  Cooke,  and  requested  of 
him  to  join  their  force  with  ours,  and  ask  the  concurrence  of 
Commodore  Hopkins  with  such  part  of  the  Continental  fleet 
as  are  ready,  and  capable  to  act.  I  beg  leave  to  ask  your 
opinion  whether  a  plan  of  this  nature  be  practicable  and  use 
ful,  and,  in  case  it  should  be  attempted,  whether  a  number  of 
seamen  may  not  be  drafted  from  the  army  to  assist  in  the 
enterprise." 

Washington  warmly  approved  the  plan — -and  soon — upon 
fresh  advices  that  the  enemy  were  recruiting  a  large  number 
of  men,  with  great  success,  upon  Long  Island,  and  were  also 
collecting  there  large  quantities  of  stock — renewedly  urged 
it  upon  Trumbull's  attention,  and  promised  the  cooperation 
of  General  Mclntosh  and  General  Lincoln,  with  a  force  from 
his  own  army — for  the  purpose  of  suppressing,  if  possible, 
practices  so  deleterious  to  the  American  cause.  Trumbull, 
therefore,  "  put  everything  forward  "  for  the  expedition  pro 
posed,  "  fast  as  possible."  Besides  to  Khode  Island,  he  wrote 
also  to  Massachusetts  for  particular  aid  and  cooperation — for 
a  special  regiment  of  men,  and  for  whaleboats.* 

For  the  marine  force  to  be  employed,  in  addition  to  a  por 
tion  to  be  provided  by  Connecticut,  Trumbull  applied  partic 
ularly  to  Commodore  Hopkins  at  Ehode  Island — whom,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  year,  he  had  aided  to  fit  out — in  the 
harbor  of  New  London — the  first  naval  expedition  ever 
made  under  the  authority  of  Congress.f  The  Commodore, 

*  "  I  am  informed,"  he  said,  addressing  the  General  Assembly  of  Massachu 
setts—"  that  a  large  number  of  whaleboats  that  belong  to  the  Continent,  are  at 
or  near  Boston,  and  might  be  used  for  this  important  service.  We  have  but  very- 
few  with  us.  I  am  also  informed  that  a  regiment  is  ordered  from  you  to  Provi 
dence—to  replace  the  Continental  battalion  removed  from  the  State  of  Ehode 
Island — and  whether  your  regiment  could  not  come  in  the  whaleboats  to  Provi 
dence,  carrying  them  across  the  land  at  Buzzard's  Bay,  is,  I  apprehend,  worthy 
of  your  consideration,  and  to  be  executed  without  delay. 

"  We  are  equipping  what  naval  force  we  have,  with  all  possible  expedition. 
We  are  exerting  ourselves,  and  desirous  to  unite  our  whole  strength  with  the 
other  States  in  our  common  cause.  I  don't  doubt  of  your  utmost  attention,  and 
most  vigorous  exertions  therein." 

t  The  little  squadron  consisted  of  four  vessels — the  Alfred,  Columbus,  Andrea 
Doria,  and  Cabot— varying  in  armament  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  guns. 


1776. 


CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  287 


in  consonance  with,  the  Governor's  views,  and  much  to  his 
gratification,  pushed  on  his  preparations  rapidly. 

"Your  favor  of  the  5th  instant" — wrote  Trumbull  to  him,  October 
eleventh,  in  a  letter  which  develops  his  own  careful  foresight  and  indus 
try  in  the  scheme — "  came  safe  to  hand,  in  which  you  inform  me  that 
the  Alfred  and  Hampden  are  ready,  and  that  two  new  frigates,  you  ex 
pect,  will  be  ready  in  about  a  week.  I  hope  no  attention  or  diligence 
will  be  wanting  to  have  them  prepared  by  that  time,  and  shall  endeavor 
that  there  be  no  delay  as  to  ours,  though  I  am  necessitated  to  apply  to 
you,  or  your  State,  to  furnish  a  quantity  of  shot  for  our  ships.  We 
have  the  round,  but  double-headed,  chain  sliding,  and  star  shot  we  have 
none  ;  hope  you  can  supply  what  will  be  wanting  for  the  present.  We 
have  sent  to  our  furnace  for  them,  but  fear  it  will  be  impossible  to  have 
them  ready  at  New  London  by  the  time  they  may  be  wanted  for  the 
present  expedition,  but  may  be  ready  to  be  replaced,  if  necessary,  very 
soon  after.  The  size  of  the  cannon  for  which  wre  shall  want  them  is  nine- 
pounders.  I  understand  the  Columbus  is  now  in  port ;  if  so,  cannot  she 
join  your  squadron  ?  For  no  force  ought  to  be  omitted  which  human 
foresight  can  devise  to  render  our  ships  as  sure  as  may  be  at  this  critical 
time  with  our  army,  as  this  expedition,  if  successful,  may  much  discon 
cert  the  enemy." 

On  the  same  day  on  which  Trumbull  wrote  this  letter  to 
Commodore  Hopkins,  he  addressed  another — from  New- 
haven — to  General  Washington,  explaining  his  own  proceed 
ings  thus  far — giving  some  further  details  as  to  his  plan — 
and  again  soliciting  men  from  Washington's  army  to  aid  in 
the  enterprise. 

"  In  consequence  of  your  favor,"  he  proceeds — "  proposing  a  descent 
upon  Long  Island,  although  I  was  so  unhappy  as  not  to  be  able  to  meet 
Generals  Clinton  and  Lincoln  at  this  place,  as  requested,  I  applied  to  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island,  and  obtained  their  consent  and  orders,  that  Colo 
nel  Richmond,  and  such  part  of  his  battalion  as  shall  not  enlist  on  board 
the  Continental  vessels,  should  assist  in  the  enterprise.  Colonel  Rich 
mond  will  accordingly  begin  his  inarch  this  day  for  New-London,  and 
bring  with  him  the  whaleboats  collected  in  Massachusetts  Bay  and  Rhode 
Island,  to  the  number  of  between  eighty  and  ninety,  which,  it  is  appre 
hended,  will  be  of  great  use  to  the  troops  ordered  on  this  service,  espe 
cially  to  secure  and  assist  their  retreat,  should  it  be  attempted  to  be 
cut  off. 

"  I  have  this  day  conferred  with  Colonels  Mclntosh  and  Livingston  on 
the  subject.  They  inform  me  they  are  supplied  with  provisions  and  am 
munition  for  their  purpose,  and  only  want  such  a  number  of  water-craft, 


288  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

as,  with  the  whaleboats  divided  into  three  parts,  in  the  whole  may  be 
sufficient  to  transport  twelve  hundred  men,  as  he  means  each  division  to 
be  so  placed  at  the  inlets  to  the  Island,  as,  if  cut  off  from  one,  he  may 
resort  to  the  other  to  make  his  retreat  sure,  if  necessary.  These  I  have 
ordered  for  him,  and  they  will  be  provided  and  ready  without  delay. 

*  *     "  Our  naval  expedition  against  the  ships  of  the  enemy  in  the 
Sound  is  still  in  contemplation,  and  preparations  are  making  for  the  same 
as  fast  as  we  can.     Commodore  Hopkins  writes  me,  the  5th  instant,  that 
the  Alfred  and  Hampden  are  ready,  and  that  the  two  new  frigates  there 
would  be  ready  in  about  a  week,  if  they  can  be  manned,  neither  of  them 
having  more  than  half  their  compliment  at  that  time.     Our  ship  and  brig 
will,  we  trust,  be  ready  to  join  them,  and  when  they  are  equipped  it  is 
proposed  that  they  first  attack  the  two  frigates  that  infest  the  coast  and 
Sound,  if  they,  or  either  of  them,  shall  appear  in  their  way ;  otherwise 
they  will  proceed  directly  up  the  Sound,  and  give  the  best  account  they 
can  of  the  ships  this  side  Hell  Gate,  which  is  the  principal  object. 

"  I  am  now  informed  that  the  two  frigates  and  the  Alfred  are  manned 
from  Colonel  Richmond's  regiment,  which  I  hope  will  prove  true;  but,  if 
not,  am  in  hopes  they  may  be  completed  by  volunteers  from  Rhode 
Island  and  New-London  ;  but  if  they  should  still  fall  short  of  their  full 
compliment,  I  beg  leave  to  suggest  to  your  Excellency  whether  they 
could  not,  without  inconveniency,  be  filled  up  from  some  parts  of  your 
army.  *  *  *  Since  my  last  from  Commodore  Hopkins,  I  am  informed 
that  the  Columbus,  Captain  Whipple,  has  arrived  in  port  at  Rhode 
Island.  I  have  wrote  to  him  to  take  her  with  him,  which  will  make 
considerable  addition  to  his  force.  Please  to  afford  me  your  advice  and 
fullest  information.  I  cannot  but  flatter  myself  with  strong  hopes  of  ad 
vantages  to  be  derived  from  this  adventure  of  our  ships,  as  well  as  the 
expedition  to  Long  Island.  Secrecy  in  both  is  of  the  utmost  importance." 

But  the  "strong  hopes"  which  Trumbull  entertained  of 
success  in  the  expedition  which  he  so  carefully  fostered,  were 
destined,  in  great  part — as  in  the  August  plan  immediately 
preceding — to  disappointment.  Instead  of  the  fifteen  or 
eighteen  hundred  men  he  expected  for  the  service,  he  was 
unable  to  collect  more  than  half  that  number.  Such  was 
the  pressure  around  New  York  that  Washington  could  not 
spare  him  any  force.  It  was  found  impossible  also  either  to 
man  or  properly  equip  the  ships  at  Rhode  Island  intended 
for  this  expedition.  Seamen  there  were  wanting — shot  were 
wanting.*  Water-craft  too,  for  the  conveyance  of  troops 

*  "  No  sort  of  shot  are  to  be  had  in  this  State,"  wrote  Hopkins  from  Ehode 
Island  to  Trumbull,  October  fifteenth — "  there  is  no  encouragement  in  getting 
the  ships  manned." 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  289 

across  the  Sound,  failed.  Colonel  Richmond,  it  is  true, 
with  four  hundred  men,  and  fifty -four  whaleboats,  proceeded 
to  New  London — and  Livingston  collected  some  companies 
at  Say  brook — but  when  their  united  force,  in  obedience  to 
the  orders  of  Trumbull,  after  a  stormy  passage  upon  the 
Sound,  was  to  be  gathered  at  Newhaven,  but  twelve  whale- 
boats — with  as  many  men  only  as  each  could  carry — made 
their  appearance  at  the  point  of  rendezvous.  Without  coop 
eration  then,  either  from  the  fleet  under  Hopkins,  or  the 
army  under  Washington — and,  as  it  was  found,  with  not 
more  than  half  the  whaleboats  requisite  for  transporting  the 
men  that  were  collected,  across  the  Sound — the  expedition — 
though  carefully  concerted,  and  finally  arranged  in  every 
particular  by  Trumbull  and  the  commanders,  in  an  inter 
view  at  Newhaven — could  not  be  carried  into  effect  in  the 
form  in  which  it  was  originally  designed. 

Something,  however,  in  pursuance  of  the  public  service 
upon  Long  Island,  notwithstanding  the  failure  of  the  general 
plan,  was  accomplished,  by  part  of  the  force  which  the  occa 
sion  collected.  Several  companies  did  in  fact  go  over  to  the 
Island.  The  active,  spirited,  sanguine  Livingston,  was  there 
with  them.  Many  families,  with  their  stock  and  effects,  were 
successfully  brought  off  from  the  Island.  The  well-affected 
there  were  protected.  Many  of  the  hostile  militia  there  were 
disarmed.  Many  obnoxious  tories  were  taken  and  secured.* 
And,  more  than  all — a  fearful  attack  upon  Nor  walk  in  Con 
necticut,  which,  about  this  time,  had  been  projected  by  that 
famous  partisan  ranger,  in  the  employ  of  General  Howe, 
Major  Rogers — "that  scouter,"  as  Trumbull  calls  him, 
"skilled  in  waylaying  and  ambuscade" — was  diverted.  It 
was  to  have  been  made  by  a  battalion  of  tories  from  Hunt- 
ington,  and  was  to  have  taken  place  in  the  night  season — but 
the  activity  of  the  companies  sent  across  the  Sound  by 
Trumbull  frustrated  the  undertaking — and  Rogers  was 
pushed  into  extremities  which  soon  resulted,  at  other  hands, 
in  his  surprise  and  defeat  at  Mamaroneck. 

*  Like  Col.  Abram  Gardiner,  for  example — a  man  who  had  been  exceedingly 
active  in  administering  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  inhabitants  of  South  and 
East  Hampton — and  like  Zebadiah  Howell,  another  "infamous  abettor  of  the 
ministry,"  as  he  was  styled. 

25 


290  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBTJLL.  1776. 

While  all  this  was  doing  for  Long  Island,  and  fbr  the  Con 
necticut  service  upon  the  water,  Trumbull  was  also  busy 
with  troops  and  fortifications  upon  the  land — for  coast  de 
fence.  He  was  continually  raising  and  stationing  compa 
nies — now  in  May,  for  example,  one  entire  regiment— now 
in  November,  eight  regiments — and  now  in  December  again, 
the  quarter  part  of  five  regiments,  to  be  stationed  at  and 
about  New  London.  He  personally  inspected  most  of  the 
works  of  defence.  From  time  to  time  he  advanced  money 
to  complete  them,  and  for  the  support  of  men  and  troops 
employed  upon  them.  He  mounted  them  with  cannon  from 
Salisbury — supervised  them  through  committees,  whose  re 
ports  he  received  and  scrutinized — and  kept  up  an  alert  cor 
respondence  respecting  them  at  every  point — especially  with 
their  commanders,  with  "Washington,  and  with  Congress. 

The  works  at  New  London  received  •  in  particular  his 
attention.  The  harbor  there,  he  said,  "may  be  made  an 
asylum  for  the  Continental  fleet,  for  our  armed  vessels,  and 
other  Navigation." — "  Its  situation  and  natural  advantages," 
he  wrote  his  son  Joseph — "  to  render  it  a  place  for  defence, 
and  for  the  security  of  the  American  fleet,  are  at  the  least 
equal,  if  not  superior  to  any  on  the  continent.  When  at 
Philadelphia  you  may  have  an  opportunity  to  promote  it  as 
an  object  worthy  the  attention  of  Congress.  I  wish  it  may 
not  be  neglected  on  any  account."  And  he  sent  on  to  his 
son  a  little  box  containing  an  accurate  map  of  the  harbor.* 

The  preparations  thus  made  by  Connecticut,  under  the 
superintendence  of  her  Governor,  proved  to  be  of  extensive 
utility.  Their  importance  indeed  cannot  be  overestimated — 
crowded  as  the  Sound  was  with  British  cruisers  and  fleets, 

*  "  I  have  left  it  easy  to  open,"  he  wrote — "  that  you  may  observe  it,  and  show 
it  to  others  who  may  be  desirous  to  be  acquainted  with  it,  that  may  have  oppor 
tunity  to  influence  and  promote  its  befhg  fortified  at  the  continental  expense." 

"During  the  whole  war,"  says  Miss  Caulkins  in  her  History  of  New  London — 
"  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  could  never  lie  down  with  any  feeling  of  security 
that  they  might  not  be  roused  from  their  beds  by  the  alarm  bell  and  the  signal 
fire,  proclaiming  the  invader  at  hand.  There  was  indeed,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  war,  no  spoil  to  allure  an  enemy ;  but  the  harbor,  capacious,  accessible,  and 
secure,  would  furnish  a  fine  winter  refuge  for  their  ships,  and  it  would  be  a  vast 
benefit  to  their  cause  to  seal  up  the  State,  and  have  the  whole  Sound  to  them 
selves." 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  291 

spreading  consternation  along  the  coast.  "They  have  all 
just  arrived  at  Newport,"  reported  Colonel  Saltonstall  from 
New  London  to  Trumbull,  April  first — writing  of  the 
twenty-one  British  ships-of-war  then  on  their  way  towards 
New  York — and  "our  fortresses  are  deficient — we  want 
working  materials — the  present  danger  is  imminent." — "  In 
addition  to  your  present  forces,"  responded  Trumbull — "  de 
tach  one-third  of  the  present  regiment  of  militia — charge 
them  to  be  ready  for  service  at  a  minute's  warning. — How 
soon  the  enemy  may  enter  the  harbor,  make  the  attack,  and 
attempt  to  land,  is  uncertain.  Readiness  to  receive  them  is 
the  best  preventive  remedy."  And  readiness  in  this  case 
fortunately  caused  the  enemy — soon  augmented  to  a  force 
of  thirty  sail — to  pass  by  without  any  attempt  to  land  or 
attack. 

So  in  July,  when  one  hundred  and  thirty  sail  from  Hali 
fax  were  reported  as  on  their  way  to  New  York — so  again 
in  August,  when  a  British  fleet  made  a  plundering  descent, 
first  on  the  fated  Fisher's  Island,  and  next  at  Stamford — and 
so  in  numerous  similar  cases  of  menaced  invasion  of  Con 
necticut  from  the  water  side — menaced,  and  often  made  too 
in  the  night  season,  or  at  seemingly  obscure  points  for  land 
ing — Trumbull's  timely  preparations  warded  off  much,  nay 
almost  all  of  the  impending  danger. 

And  when,  particularly — at  the  beginning  of  December — 
that  hostile  fleet,  which,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  most 
alarmed  Connecticut — the  fleet  of  one  hundred  men-of-war 
and  transports — anchored  at  Black  Point — for  three  days — 
within  one  hour's  sail  of  New  London — looking  as  if  pre 
pared  to  "  sweep  the  foundation  of  the  town  from  its  moor 
ings,  and  filling  the  minds  of  the  inhabitants  with  astonish 
ment  and  dismay  as  from  hill-tops  and  house-tops  they  gazed 
on  the  distant  spectacle  " — the  anticipated  invasion  was  for 
tunately  escaped.  Trumbull,  upon  this  occasion,  instantly 
ordered  the  whole  of  the  militia  on  the  east  side  of  Connec 
ticut  River,  and  three  regiments  on  the  west  side,  to  march 
to  New  London — dispatched  letters  to  Washington  for  aid — 
and  removed  the  continental  and  colonial  property  then  at 
New  London  back  immediately  to  Norwich  for  security. 


292  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  me. 

And  on  a  Friday  morning,  the  fleet  hoisted  sail — about  mid 
day,  in  formidable  array,  in  abreast  of  New  London,  terri 
fied  the  inhabitants  for  awhile  with  momentary  expectation 
of  an  attack — but  soon  stood  out  again — anchored  for  the 
night  on  the  south  side  of  Fisher's  Island — and  thence  dis 
appeared.* 

The  little  marine  which  Trumbull  established  this  year — 
and  for  which  he  procured  Richard  Law  to  draw  up  a  naval 
code — did  not  go  unrewarded  with  success.  Many  of  the 
privateers  which  he  commissioned,  were  highly  fortunate. 
They  started  out  from  almost  every  port  in  the  State — made 
their  way  up  and  down  the  whole  American  coast — even 
south  to  the  West  India  isles,  and  east  to  Massachusetts  Bay, 
and  beyond — encountering — as  did  the  armed  vessels  of  the 
State  also — and  often  bringing  in  as  prizes,  British  merchant 
shipping  laden  with  supplies  for  the  army.  So  numerous 
were  their  prizes  in  August  of  this  year — and  such  were 
the  profits  of  their  cargoes,  as  sold  both  in  Connecticut,  and 
in  different  ports  to  the  eastward — particularly  in  Boston, 
where  Trumbull  established  Samuel  Elliot,  Junior,  a  highly 
efficient  man,  as  naval  agent  for  the  State — that  Jamaica 

*  The  following  are  notices,  from  Governor  Trumbull's  own  pen,  in  letters  to 
his  son  Joseph,  of  the  event  mentioned  in  the  text. 

Dec.  6th,  1776.  "  The  3rd  instant  11  sail  of  ships  appeared  off  New  London 
harbor — passed  up  the  Sound  as  far  as  Saybrook — were  joined  by  80  sail  that 
came  down — and  they  now  lie  across  the  Sound,  from  Nyantic  to  L.  Island. 
Whether  they  design  to  make  their  attack  on  New  London,  and  Newport,  or 
both,  remains  uncertain.  They  probably  wait  to  be  joined  by  more.  Orders 
are  given  out  to  13  of  our  militia  regiments  to  march  for  our  defence.  Intelli 
gence  is  sent  to  the  States  of  Massachusetts  and  Khode  Island — the  latter  is  in 
great  alarm — the  former  doubtless  will  be.  Have  wrote  to  Gen.  Washington  a 
state  of  facts — with  a  quere  whether  some  general  officers  ought  not  to  be  sent 
previous  to  the  coming  on  of  continental  troops,  to  take  command  whenever  the 
descent  is  made. — Would  it  not  be  well  that  some  most  experienced  be  sent — 
you  will  know  the  necessity  of  it." 

Dec.  8th,  1776.  "  The  British  fleex,  mentioned  in  my  last  appeared  off  New 
London  harbor — proceeded  to  Rhode  Island  at  9  o'clock.  This  morning  received 
intelligence  from  Gov.  Cooke  that  upwards  of  one  hundred  sail  and  transports 
entered  Narragansett  Bay,  and  were  steering  directly  for  Providence.  They  were 
seen  between  Canonicut  and  the  main  land.  Besides  these,  thirty  sail  were  com 
ing  into  the  harbor  of  New  York.  I  have  ordered  some  eastward  regiments  to 
their  assistance — and  sent  for  Col.  Champion  to  furnish  provisions.  Am  send 
ing  out  to  forward  raising  the  four  battalions  to  serve  till  loth  of  March. — Have 
sent  an  earnest  exhortation  to  the  soldiers." 


1776.  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  293 

rum,  an  article  of  frequent  capture,  was  reduced  to  the  com 
paratively  low  price  of  four  shillings  and  fourpence  per 
gallon,  and  sugar  to  five  dollars  per  hundred  pounds.* 

But  the  efforts  of  the  Connecticut  Marine  were  not  con 
fined  to  the  capture  of  merchant  vessels  alone.  The  Defence 
and  the  Spy — carefully  equipped  by  the  care  of  Governor 
Trumbull — frequently  encountered  British  men  of  war,  and 
the  former,  particularly,  signalized  herself  by  daring  enter- 
prize.  Once,  in  the  month  of  June,  her  commander  fell  in 
with  an  English  ship  and  brig  in  Nantucket  Road.  About 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  he  took  station  in  between 
them — cast  anchor — hailed  the  ship — and  receiving  for  an 
swer  "  From  Great  Britain,"  ordered  her  to  strike  her  colors 
to  America. 

u  What  brig  is  that?" — shouted  the  English  commander. 

"The  brig  Defence" — was  Captain  Harding's  reply.  "I 
do  not  want  to  kill  your  men — but  I  will  have  your  ship — 
Strike!" 

"Yes,  I'll  strike" — answered  his  opponent — and  immedi 
ately  fired  a  broadside  at  the  Defence — which  was  instantly 
returned — and  after  an  engagement  of  three  hours,  the  ship 
and  brig  both  yielded  to  the  Defence,  the  latter  losing  no 
men,  but  the  former  having  eighteen  killed — among  these 
the  British  commander  himself — and  several  wounded.  Two 
hundred  and  ten  prisoners — and  among  these  Colonel  Camp 
bell  of  General  Frazer's  regiment  of  Highlanders — rewarded 
the  attack.  Captain  Harding  at  once  communicated  his  suc 
cess  to  Governor  Trumbull — to  whom  it  gave  great  gratifica 
tion,  not  only  as  a  triumph  for  the  Connecticut  Navy,  but  also 
as  reflecting  lustre  on  a  man  who  was  his  favorite  both  as  a 
naval  commander  and  as  a  friend — and  of  whom  he  subse 
quently  spoke  in  a  letter  to  Congress,  as  "experienced,  brave, 

*  The  ship  John,  with  a  full  cargo  of  sugar  and  rum,  brought  in  by  the  De 
fence,  Capt.  Harding — the  schooner  Hannah  &  Elizabeth,  loaded  with  rum — the 
prize  brig  Annabella — a  ship  from  Jamaica,  sent  into  New  London  by  Capt. 
Harding,  and  loaded  with  three  hundred  and  six  hogsheads  of  sugar,  one  hund 
red  and  fifty  of  rum,  sixteen  bales  of  cotton,  a  quantity  of  coffee  and  mahogany, 
and  two  sea  turtles — and  a  Guineaman  taken  by  Capt.  Harding  at  the  same 
time — were  conspicuous  among  the  prizes  of  this  year.  And  their  cargoes  were 
of  great  use  in  supplying  the  wants  of  the  State.  At  the  particular  request  of 
Congress,  Trumbull,  in  August,  sent  a  vessel  to  St.  Eustatia  for  supplies. 


294  CHAP.    XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  1776 

intrepid,  cool  in  action,"  and  as  meriting  "proper  acknowl 
edgments  from  all  the  United  States." 

The  Governor  was  farther  gratified  this  year  by  the  arriv 
al — in  the  port  of  New  London — of  Commodore  Hopkins 
with  forty  cannon  and  fifteen  brass  mortars,  besides  other 
military  stores — the  first-fruits  of  the  first  American  Conti 
nental  Navy — which  Hopkins  had  captured  from  the  island 
of  Abacco  lying  near  New  Providence.  With  these  he  had 
seized  the  Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor,  and  one  Coun 
sellor  of  the  island,  and  seventy  odd  prisoners — together  also 
with  a  British  schooner,  a  Bermudian  sloop,  and  a  British 
bomb-brig,  laden  with  arms,  which  he  took  near  the  east  end 
of  Long  Island.  And  in  New  London,  to  the  delight  of 
Trumbull,  the  Commodore  deposited  his  valuable  prizes. 
The  cannon  and  stores  were,  by  orders  from  the  Governor, 
carefully  inventoried — and  he  transmitted  an  account  of 
them  to  Congress,  with  a  request  at  the  same  time  that  some 
of  the  cannon,  and  the  captured  sloop,  might  be  retained  for 
the  service  of  Connecticut — a  request  with  which  Congress 
promptly  complied. 


NOTE  KEFEKRED  TO  ON  PAGE  283. 

"I  suppose  your  Excellency,"  wrote  Trumbull  to  Washington,  May  29th, 
1779 — "is  not  wholly  unacquainted  with  the  character  of  Mr.  David  Bushnell, 
the  bearer.  He  has  had  a  liberal  education,  and  discovers  a  genius  capable  of 
great  improvement,  in  mathematical,  philosophic,  and  mechanical  literature. 
His  inventions  for  annoying  the  enemy's  shipping  are  new  and  ingenious,  and,  I 
trust,  founded  on  such  principles  as  would  insure  success.  The  vigilance  prac 
tised  in  guarding  the  shipping  has,  I  suppose,  been  the  only  means  of  preventing 
such  execution  as  would  have  been  attended  with  very  alarming  and  beneficial 
consequences.  He  has,  with  persevering  and  indefatigable  industry,  pursued  the 
object  with  very  little  prospect  of  any  other  reward  than  that  of  serving  his 
country. 

"Misfortune  and  accident  have  prevented  the  execution  of  this  design;  but 
there  is  reason  to  believe  the  explosion  of  one  of  his  machines,  taken  on  board 
one  of  the  enemy's  ships  some  time  since,  has  greatly  alarmed  their  marine,  and 
made  them  very  cautious  in  their  approaches  to  any  of  the  neighboring  shores. 

"  It  is  a  pity  that  so  promising  a  genius  should  not  be  encouraged.  I  under 
stand  an  establishment  of  miners  and  sappers  is  forming  under  your  Excellen 
cy's  direction,  and  would  therefore  take  the  liberty  to  propose  to  your  Excellency, 
whether  a  person  of  his  particular  genius  might  not  be  very  useful  in  that  de 
partment. 

"  If  you  should  not  have  filled,  and  probably  cannot  fill,  the  offices  with  gentle 
men  of  greater  merit  and  genius,  permit  me  to  recommend  Mr.  Bushnell  to  the 


1776.  CHAP.     XXIV. — TRUMBULL.  295 

office  of  Captain  in  that  service,  which,  from  his  abilities,  genius,  and  integrity, 
I  should  judge  him  capable  to  execute  with  honor  and  advantage.    The  Council 
of  this  State,  now  convened,  join  with  me  in  this  recommendation. 
"I  am,  with  very  high  respect  and  esteem, 

"Your  Excellency's  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

"JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

Mr.  Bushnell  died,  at  an  advanced  age,  in  the  State  of  Georgia.  He  left  a 
handsome  property,  which  was  brought  on  by  one  of  his  friends,  and  delivered 
to  the  children  of  his  deceased  brother  Ezra,  in  Connecticut.  Among  the  prop 
erty  was  "  some  curious  machinery,  partly  built,  which  had  been  viewed  by  sev 
eral  gentlemen,"  none  of  whom,  however,  it  .is  said,  could  determine  the  pur 
pose  to  which  it  was  to  be  applied. 

Upon  one  occasion  in  Connecticut,  in  promotion  of  his  scheme  for  annoying 
the  enemy's  shipping,  Bushnell  was  captured  by  the  enemy.  "Last  night," 
wrote  Gen.  Putnam  to  Washington,  May  7th,  1779,  from  Beading,  Conn. — "an 
other  party  landed  at  Middlesex,  near  Norwalk,  in  quest  of  one  Capt.  Selleck, 
who  happened  to  be  absent ;  but  a  Mr.  Webb,  late  a  lieutenant  in  the  train,  two 
of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  ingenious  Dr.  Bushndl,  fell  into  their  hands.  As  the 
last  mentioned  gentleman,  who  was  there  in  the  prosecution  of  his  unremitted 
endeavors  to  destroy  the  enemy's  shipping,  is  probably  known  to  very  few  peo 
ple,  it  is  possible  he  may  not  be  discovered  by  his  real  name  and  character,  and 
may  be  considered  of  less  consequence  than  he  really  is." 


CHAPTER    XXV. 
1776. 

and  the  Northern  Army.  His  letter  to  Washington  upon  the 
failure  of  the  Expedition  into  Canada.  He  urges  renewed  exertions 
for  the  defence  of  the  Northern  Frontier.  They  are  to  be  made.  His 
own  preparations  therefor.*  Distressed  condition  of  the  Northern 
Army  at  this  time.  Trumbull's  efforts  for  its  relief.  The  enemy 
about  to  descend,  in  great  force,  from  Canada,  and  occupy  the  whole 
country  south.  Trumbull,  therefore,  aids  to  form  a  lake  squadron 
ample  for  defence.  His  efforts,  in  other  respects,  to  reestablish  the 
Northern  Army.  The  testimony  here  of  General  Gates  to  his  conduct. 
Arnold's  defeat.  Trurnbull  communicates  the  news  to  the  States  ad 
jacent  to  Connecticut.  He  continues  to  refurnish  the  army.  Gen. 
Schuyler  warmly  acknowledges  his  services.  His  son  Col.  John  Trum 
bull  receives  the  American  prisoners  taken  at  the  defeat  of  Arnold.  A 
curious  conference,  involving  the  Governor,  between  Sir  Guy  Carleton 
and  Gen.  Waterbury.  Gen.  Gates  renews  has  thanks  to  Trumbull. 
Many  officers  of  the  Northern  Army  are  recommended  by  Trumbull  to 
rewards.  He  sympathizes  with  their  grievances,  and  gives  them  coun 
sel.  Case  of  Gen.  Schuyler  in  this  connection  Soothing  letters  to 
him  from  Trumbull 

WHILE  Trumbull  was  engaged,  as  has  now  been  seen,  with 
the  Main  Army  under  Washington,  and  with  the  defence  of 
Long  Island  Sound,  and  the  sea-coast  of  Connecticut — he  at 
the  same  time  kept  up  his  exertions  in  behalf  of  the  North 
ern  Army — a  department  in  which  we  turn  again  to  view 
him. 

In  July  this  Army — after  having  been,  to  the  extent  of  his 
ability,  reenforced  and  supplied  by  Trumbull,  in  the  months 
of  January,*  March,  April,  and  May — had  been  compelled 

*"Your  letters,"  wrote  Trumbull  to  Washington,  Jan.  21st,  1776— "of  the 
20th  and  21st  instant,  are  received.  I  thought  fit  this  morning  to  acquaint  Colo 
nel  Burrall,  appointed  to  command  the  regiment  destined  to  Canada  from  hence, 
that  a  month's  pay  will  be  advanced  to  officers  and  men  by  you.  This  additional 
encouragement  will  enliven  them  to  the  service.  *  *  A  month's  pay  was 
promised  the  men  by  my  proclamation.  *  *  The  men  in  that  quarter  are  well 
spirited  and  zealous,  but  have  yet  received  no  intelligence  of  the  progress  made 
in  the  business.  Shall  give  you  every  necessary  intelligence  as  it  comes  to  my 
knowledge.  Every  necessary  requisite  for  the  march  of  this  regiment  will  be 
provided  on  the  best  terms  in  my  power." 

"  The  battalion  raising  in  this  Colony,"  wrote  Trumbnll  again  to  Washington, 
Feb.  5th,  1776—"  to  march  to  the  assistance  of  our  friends  at  Canada,  are  enlisted 


1776.  CHAP.    XXV. — TEUMBULL.  297 

to  retreat  from  Quebec.  The  battle  of  the  Three  Rivers,  so 
disastrous  to  it,  had  been  fought — and  the  Americans  had 
evacuated  Canada — post  after  post  yielding  to  the  British 
force  which  followed  close  in  the  rear,  until — with  their  bag 
gage  only  saved,  and  military  stores — worn,  dispirited,  and 
sick  with  the  small  pox — they  retreated  to  Crown  Point — 
and  soon  to  Ticonderoga,  where  thev  inade  a  stand.  Hear 
Trumbull  now  upon  this  reverse. 

"  The  retreat  of  the  Northern  army,  and  its  present  situation " — he 
wrote,  July  fourth,  to  General  Washington,  in  a  letter  which  we  here 
quote  in  full — "have  spread  a  general  alarm.  By  intelligence  from 
Major-General  Schuyler,  received  last  evening,  I  have  reason  to  conclude 
that  they  are  now  at  Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga,  in  a  weak  state,  and 
under  the  necessity  of  an  immediate  reenforcement,  to  enable  them  to 
make  a  stand,  and  prevent  the  enemy  from  passing  the  Lake  and  pene 
trating  into  the  country.  The  prevalence  of  the  small  pox  among  them 
is  every  way  unhappy.  Our  people,  in  general,  have  not  had  that  dis-  • 
temper.  Fear  of  the  infection  operates  strongly  to  prevent  soldiers  from 
engaging  in  the  service,  and  the  battalions  ordered  to  be  raised  in  this 
Colony  fill  up  slowly ;  and  though  no  measures  be  taken  to  remove  the 
impediment,  may  not  the  army  be  soon  freed  from  that  infection  ?  Can 
the  reenforcements  be  kept  separate  from  the  infected  ?  Or  may  not  a 
detachment  be  made  from  the  troops  under  your  command,  and  the  mili 
tia  raising  in  the  several  Colonies,  and  ordered  to  New  York,  of  such 
men  as  have  had  the  small  pox,  to  be  replaced  by  the  troops  raising  for 
the  Northern  Department?  Could  any  expedient  be  fallen  upon,  that 
would  afford  probable  hopes  that  this  infection  may  be  avoided  ?  I  be 
lieve  our  battalions  would  soon  join  the  Northern  army.  I  shall  omit 
nothing  in  my  power  to  expedite  them. 

"  The  retreat  of  the  army  from  Canada  exposes  the  Northern  frontiers 
of  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  to  the  ravages  of  the  Indians,  who 
will  doubtless  be  spirited  up  to  fall  upon  them.  Some  of  the  settlements 
on  Onion  River,  I  am  informed  are  breaking  up  and  removing,  and  the 
whole  filled  with  the  most  disquieting  apprehensions.  Some  powder  and 
lead,  upon  application,  have  been  supplied  them  from  this  Colony ;  but 
the  settlers  there,  from  their  infant  state,  and  consequent  poverty,  are 
unable  to  devote  themselves  to  the  defence  of  the  frontiers,  unless  they 
should  be  enabled  to  hire  laborers  to  carry  on  the  business  of  their  farms 
in  their  absence.  I  could  therefore  wish,  that  your  Excellency  might  think 
proper  to  recommend  it  to  the  Continental  Congress,  to  order  a  battalion 

to  serve  until  the  1st  of  February  next,  with  bounty,  pay,  wages,  and  allowances, 
agreable  to  resolve  of  Congress,  sent  me  by  the  express  who  last  caine  to  you 
this  way." 


298  CHAP.     XXV. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

to  be  raised  and  stationed  there,  for  the  defence  of  those  settlements.  It 
would,  I  trust,  be  immediately  filled  up  with  a  hardy  race  of  men  in 
that  quarter,  well  adapted  to  repel  the  attacks  of  the  savages,  and  ready 
to  join  and  support  the  Northern  army,  upon  occasion,  and  at  all  times 
may  scour  the  woods,  and  furnish  intelligence  of  the  enemy's  motions. 

"  If  those  settlers  are  driven  back,  besides  the  loss  of  their  property, 
a  much  heavier  expense  will  fall  on  some  of  the  Colonies  for  the  support 
of  their  families,  than  the  charges  arising  from  the  raising  and  maintain 
ing  a  battalion  of  Continental  troops ;  and  we  shall  still  have  a  frontier 
to  defend. 

"  The  anxiety  of  the  friends  and  relations  of  many,  if  not  most,  of 
those  settlers  who  emigrated  from  this  Colony,  and  the  importance  of  the 
matter,  will,  I  trust,  be  my  sufficient  apology  for  wishing  to  engage  your 
influence  with  Congress  to  support  the  motion  I  judge  advisable  and 
shall  make,  to  have  a  battalion  raised  out  of,  and  stationed  on,  those 
frontiers. 

"By  a  letter  from  General  Schuyler,  of  the  1st  instant,  I  am  advised 
that  Generals  Schuyler,  Gates,  and  Arnold,  were  to  set  out  on  Tuesday 
morning.  I  trust  they  are  by  this  time  at  the  end  of  their  journey,  and 
hope  their  presence  may  have  a  happy  effect  towards  retrieving  affairs  in 
that  quarter.  I  am,  with  great  truth  and  regard,  Sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

But  with  the  failure  of  the  expedition  to  Canada,  did  not 
end  American  hope  and  exertion.  It  was,  universally, 
deemed  of  the  utmost  importance  to  defend  the  Northern 
Frontier — and  as  the  theatre  of  action,  by  the  retreat  of  the 
Americans,  "  approached  nearer  home,  the  scenes  assumed  a 
deeper  interest."  The  possession  of  Lakes  Champlain  and 
Greorge — the  highways  from  the  North  to  Albany — which 
might  lead  to  the  acquisition  of  Albany  by  the  enemy,  and 
so  to  a  free  cooperation  between  their  forces  at  the  North 
and  in  New  York,  and  to  a  fatal  severance,  therefore,  between 
the  eastern  and  the  middle  and  southern  States — was  to  be 
warmly  disputed.  The  British  army  must  at  all  events,  rea 
soned  every  American,  be  kept  back.  Busy  preparations, 
consequently,  during  the  whole  month  of  July,  were  made 
for  accomplishing  this  vital  object — and  into  all  these  prepa 
rations,  both  by  land  and  water,  Trumbull  entered  with  un- 
diminished  activity. 

And  first  as  regards  a  fleet  to  oppose  the  enemy  on  the 


1776.  CHAP.    XXV. — TRTJMBULL.  299 

Lakes.  For  this  purpose,  lie  immediately  organized  two 
companies  of  ship-carpenters — under  the  charge  respectively 
of  Job  Winslow*  and  Jonathan  Lester — and  sent  them  both 
on  to  General  Schuyler,  with  letters  commending  them  to  his 
care,  and  extolling  their  skill.  "They  will  march  next 
week,"  he  informed  Washington,  July  sixth — "and  carry 
their  tools  with  them  to  go  to  that  work  at  Crown  Point." 

Further  to  aid  the  operations  in  this  direction — at  an  ex 
pense — which  was  advanced — of  three  hundred  pounds — he 
sent  one  thousand  felling-axes  to  Schuyler,  upon  the  latter's 
request,  f  He  sent  also  to  the  Paymaster  of  the  Northern 
Department — his  own  son — the  sum  of  eighteen  hundred 
pounds  in  money — and  again  asked  for  old  gun  barrels,  locks, 
&c.,  which  he  intended  to  have  repaired,  and  fitted  up  into 
good  guns  and  bayonets  for  future  service.  At  the  same 
time  he  was  active  in  hastening  on  the  battalions  which  had 
been  ordered  for  the  North:): — and  in  urging  upon  Con- 
gress§ — as  he  had  already  done  upon  Washington — the  for 
mation  of  a  special  battalion  for  the  protection  of  the  front 
iers  of  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  against  British  and 
Indian  ravages. 

The  American  army,  during  the  period  just  now  under 
consideration,  was  in  a  most  distressful  condition — as  is  fa- 

*"Keceived,"  says,  July  1st,  Job  Winslow— a  head  carpenter  from  Connecti 
cut — in  a  paper  still  preserved — "of  the  Hon.  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Esq.,  Gov 
ernor  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  the  sum  of  fifty  pounds  lawful  money,  to  be 
used  for  advance  wages  to  myself  as  Head  Carpenter,  and  twenty-five  other  ship 
carpenters  to  go  under  me,  for  building  and  constructing  batteries,  vessels,  and 
other  buildings,  under  the  direction  of  Major  General  Schuyler,  or  any  persons 
at  his  direction,  at  Crown  Point,  Ticonderoga,  or  other  places  in  the  province  of 
New  York  or  Quebec."  A  similar  receipt  was  also  given  by  Jonathan  Lester  of 
Norwich,  another  approved  ship  builder,  who,  under  directions  from  the  Gov 
ernor,  organized  another  band  of  twenty-five  ship  carpenters  for  the  North. 

t"Your  Honor's  goodness,  and  the  dispatch  with  which  everything  comes 
from  you,"  responded  Schuyler  at  this  time — "will  expose  you  to  much  trouble 
and  many  applications,  but  as  I  know  where  your  consolation  lies,  I  do  not  hesi 
tate  to  beg  your  assistance  on  this  occasion." 

{"The  troops  from  this  State,  destined  for  the  northward,"  he  wrote  Wash 
ington,  August  fifth — "are  marched  to  Bennington,  and  from  thence  to  Skenes- 
borough." 

§  "The  retreat  of  our  army  from  Canada,"  he  wrote  Congress,  July  fifth,  has 
"  created  great  consternation"  in  the  New  Hampshire  Grants.  " May  I  not  ven 
ture  to  suggest,"  he  adds,  "the  expediency  of  raising  a  battalion  of  troops,  in 
the  pay  of  the  Continent,  upon  those  Grants." 


300  CHAP.    XXV. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

miliar  history — from  the  ravages  of  the  small  pox,  want  of 
harmony,  and  from  insubordination.  Of  this  Governor 
Trumbull  was  kept  accurately  informed,  and  at  no  time, 
therefore,  were  his  services  more  useful,  or  bestowed  with 
more  anxiety.  His  son — Colonel  John  Trumbull — then  ad 
jutant  to  General  Gates  at  the  North — often  wrote  him 
minutely  about  the  condition  of  the  army.  "My  first  duty," 
he  told  his  father — as  he  repeats  in  his  "Keminiscences  of 
his  own  time" — "after  my  arrival  at  Crown  Point,  was  to 
procure  an  accurate  return  of  the  number  and  condition  of 
the  troops.  I  found  them  dispersed,  some  few  in  tents,  some 
in  sheds,  and  some  under  the  shelter  of  miserable  brush  huts, 
so  totally  disorganized  by  the  death  or  sickness  of  officers, 
that  the  distinction  of  regiments  and  corps  was  in  a  great 
degree  lost;  so  that  I  was  driven  to  the  necessity  of 
great  personal  examination,  and  I  can  truly  say  that  I  did 
not  look  into  a  tent  or  hut  in  which  I  did  not  find  either 
a  dead  or  dying  man.  I  can  scarcely  imagine  any  more 
disastrous  scene,  except  the  retreat  of  Bonaparte  from 
Moscow."* 

Of  all  this — and  of  the  state  of  the  Northern  Army  in 
every  particular — Trumbull  informed  Congress — in  a  letter 
bearing  date  July  twenty-sixth.f  But  Congress  could  not  at 
the  moment  furnish  the  necessary  succor.  Neither  could 
General  Washington.  It  is  a  state  of  things,  wrote  the  latter 
to  the  Governor,  "calling  aloud  for  the  most  vigorous  exer 
tions" — but  "we,"  at  New- York,  he  added,  "can  afford  no 
relief."  Upon  Trumbull,  therefore,  mainly,  devolved  this 
task  of  relief.  He  consequently  counselled  with  General 
Schuyler  about  the  construction  of  hospitals  for  the  sick, 
and  sent  on  to  the  North  stores  of  clothing,  and  provisions, 
and  medicines.  He  sent  also  Major  John  Ely — an  eminent 
physician  and  surgeon — to  do  all  in  his  power  to  contribute 
to  the  health  of  the  army — and  with  Doctor  Ely  he  sent 

*"May  Heaven  grant,"  wrote  Schuyler  also  to  Trumbull  about  this  time — 
"that  when  our  posterity  relate  to  each  other  the  pain  of  the  struggle,  they  may 
feel  and  reflect  on  the  blessings  of  the  event ! " 

t  This  letter  was  addressed  to  his  son-in-law,  William  Williams— then  a  Mem 
ber  of  the  Continental  Congress — and  was  read  to  this  Body  for  their  own  partic 
ular  information  and  action  in  the  premises. 


1776.  CHAP.     XXV. — TRUMBULL.  301 

Peter  Granger — a  French  neutral  and  an  excellent  nurse — to 
take  care  of  those  sick  with  the  small  pox.* 

Nor  did  Trumbull  forget  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  promote 
that  subordination  and  harmony  among  the  Northern  troops, 
about  the  want  of  which  so  much  and  just  complaint  was 
made  at  this  time.  He  had  been  particularly  requested  by 
Schuyler  and  others  to  use  his  influence  upon  this  matter, 
and  "  aid  in  eradicating  colonial  distinctions  in  the  army  "- 
and  he  complied  fully  with  the  request.  He  appealed  to  the 
troops  from  Connecticut  on  the  subject,  "  with  all  the  earnest 
ness  the  nature  and  importance  of  the  subject  required. "f 
He  appealed  to  Grates;): — and  he  addressed  his  two  sons,  then 
connected  with  the  army,  and  others  of  influence. 

"I  am  sorry  to  find  so  many  supersed eases,  jealousies,  and  uneasi 
nesses,"  he  wrote,  for  example,  to  his  son  Jonathan,  July  eighteenth — 
"  but  at  a  time  when  our  all  is  at  stake,  'tis  best  to  bear  and  forbear — to 
settle  points  of  honors  and  rewards  at  a  more  convenient  season.  If  we 
fail  through  neglects  occasioned  by  rank  and  pay,  it  will  be  too  late  to 
retrieve  the  dishonor,  and  we  shall  then  have  to  lament  the  bitter  fruits 
of  pride  and  covetousness.  If  we  succeed,  we  may  at  leisure  settle 
merits,  honors,  and  rewards.  §  Eumanum  est  err  are — Will  not  the  mag- 

*"This  disease,"  he  wrote  to  Congress,  "is  a  more  terrible  enemy  than  the 
British  troops,  and  strikes  a  greater  dread  into  our  men  who  have  never  had  it." 
And,  consulting  how  best  to  counterbalance  this  great  impediment  to  the  recruit 
ing  service  in  Connecticut,  he  inquired  of  this  Body  if  some  of  the  New- York  or 
Jersey  battalions,  which  had,  generally,  passed  through  with  that  distemper, 
might  not  take  the  place  of  some  of  the  Connecticut  troops.  "  This,"  he  added, 
would  "  greatly  facilitate  the  filling  up  of  our  regiments." 

t"I  have,"  he  says,  writing  Schuyler,  July  thirty-first — "agreable  to  your 
request,  recommended  to  the  troops  of  this  government  to  cultivate  harmony  and 
a  good  understanding  with  the  troops  from  other  States,  as  well  as  among  them 
selves,  and  have  pressed  it  upon  them  with  all  the  earnestness  the  nature  and 
importance  of  the  subject  requires.  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  find  anything  I 
have  done,  or  can  do,  may  contribute  towards  eradicating  the  evil." 

%  "  Why  is  it  not  best,"  he  wrote  Gates — repeating  the  suggestions  he  had  al 
ready  made  to  the  General  Congress — "and  even  just,  that  each  command  the 
same  body  of  men  as  expected,  without  respect  to  the  place  where — Gen.  Gates 
above,  and  Gen.  Schuyler  below  ?  The  good  of  the  general  service  is  the  great 
object.  I  wish  to  cast  in  my  mite  toward  that  end." 

§  Trumbull' s  opinion  on  the  subject  of  army  promotions,  is  worth  quoting 
here — because  he  places  them,  not  on  the  basis  of  mere  seniority  in  commission, 
but  on  the  substantial  basis  of  merit.  Writing  to  his  son  Joseph,  he  says: 
"Promotions  made  in  exact  succession,  which  some  challenge,  would  soon  ruin 
our  army.  Honor  in  that  way  would  soon  be  lost,  and  Quixotism  supply  its 
place.  Others,  not  ourselves,  ought  to  judge  of  our  merit,  bravery,  and  fitness. 
26 


302  CHAP.    XXV. — TKTJMBULL.  1176. 

nanimity  and  generosity  of  the  northern  generals  prevent  altercations 
between  them?  Congress  can  find  them  honorable  employment. — Is  it 
best  for  you  to  fall  through  the  back  door  ? — Is  it  not  best  to  catch  before 
the  fall?"* 

Thus,  one  way  and  another — in  quarters  of  highest  influ 
ence — did  Trumbull  exert  himself  to  restore  harmony  in  the 
Northern  Department — and  at  a  time  too  when  this  harmony 
was  of  most  vital  importance.  For  now — in  August — the 
enemy,  with  incredible  exertion,  had  prepared  a  large  naval 
armament  to  seize  possession  of  the  lakes — and,  it  was  re 
ported,  had  a  force  of  eight  thousand  men,  with  which  to 
descend — drive  the  Americans  before  them — and  occupy,  as 
they  advanced,  the  whole  country  to  the  south.  The  control 
of  the  lakes  was,  of  course,  indispensable  to  their  plan. 
Every  nerve,  therefore,  was  strained  by  our  army  to  form 
an  ample  lake  squadron  for  itself,  by  which  to  prevent  this 
result — and  in  this  effort,  as  usual,  Trumbull  participated. 

Schuyler  sent  to  him  for  five  captains  to  command  the 
armed  vessels  on  Lake  Champlain.  Trumbull  immediately 
procured  them.  He  raised  also  some  crews  of  seamen, f  and 
sent  these  on — and  with  these,  additional  land  troops  also — 
and  with  all,  fresh  clothing,  tents,  camp  kettles,  axes,  medi 
cines,  and  various  other  important  articles.^:  Of  these  pro 
ceedings  he  gave  due  notice,  from  time  to  time,  to  General 
Gates — much  to  the  joy  and  encouragement  of  the  latter — 
to  whom  he  often,  with  pious  zeal,  expressed  the  hope  that 
"  the  Great  Ruler  of  all  would  grant  that  the  event  might 

A  person  may  be  fit  for  the  post  given  him,  and  altogether  unfit  for  the 
next." 

*  "Is  there  no  Achan  among  us? " — he  wrote  to  his  son  Joseph — "is  not  our 
failure  in  Canada  owing  to  the  political  manoeuvres  of  secret  enemies — internal- 
hypocritical,  crafty  malignants — who  subtilely  have  occasioned  procrastination. 

Some  speak  very  freely  of .  I  fear  the  resentments  of  an  injured  people. 

I  wish  the  best.  Purgations  are  sometimes  very  healthy  to  the  human  body, 
altho'  they  occasion  some  gripings." 

t  General  Arnold,  July  30th,  with  the  approbation  of  Gates,  applied  to  him 
for  three  hundred. 

t  Upon  this  occasion,  Trumbull — without  waiting  directions  from  Congress- 
ordered  all  the  clothing  which  had  been  purchased,  under  its  autTiority,  in  Con 
necticut,  to  be  immediately  forwarded — and  besides — to  purchase  more,  and 
tents  also — issued  an  order,  in  favor  of  J.  Fitch  of  Newhaven,  for  three  hund 
red  pounds. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXV. — TRUMBULL.  303 

correspond  with  the  justice  of  our  cause  " — and  to  whom  also, 
with  a  noble  humanity,  he  often  spoke  of  the  sick — those 
particularly  in  the  hospital  of  St.  George — asking  that  both 
the  invalids  for  whom  there  was  a  prospect  of  recovery,  and 
those  who  probably  never  would  regain  their  health,  should 
all  be  sent  home.  "  I  flatter  myself,"  he  wrote — that  some 
lives  may  be  saved,  and  at  the  same  time  the  zeal  and 
strength  of  the  army  not  be  diminished." — "  I  am  happy  to 
hear,"  he  added — uthat  the  army  begins  to  emerge  from  the 
state  of  distress  and  dejection  that  succeeded  their  retreat 
from  Canada."* 

"  His  Excellency  " — wrote  Gates  to  Washington  of  Trum- 
bull  at  this  time — "  has,  from  the  beginning  of  the  misfor 
tunes  of  this  Army,  done  everything  in  his  power,  to  rees 
tablish  it  in  health  and  power. — Too  much  cannot  be  said  in 
his  praise ." — "I  am  obliged,"  responded  Trumbull  to  Gates, 
with  characteristic  modesty — "  for  the  kind  mention  you  are 
pleased  to  make  of  my  exertions — which  shall  not  be  want 
ing — and  I  shall  esteem  myself  happy  if  any  endeavors  of 
mine  can  serve  the  just  and  glorious  cause  in  which  we  are 
engaged." 

Everything  now — in  September — at  Ticonderoga  and  vi 
cinity — looked  promising.  The  whole  summit  was  crowned 
with  redoubts  and  batteries — all  manned,  on  both  sides  the 
lake.  The  fleet,  under  Generals  Arnold  and  Waterbury — 
consisting  of  a  brig,  several  gallies  and  gunboats,  mounting 
altogether  more  than  one  hundred  guns — proceeded  down 
the  lake  to  look  for  the  enemy.  The  hopes  of  Governor 
Trumbull,  and  of  all  Americans,  were  high  and  flattering  as 
to  the  result. 

But  these  hopes  were  destined  to  disappointment.  On  the 
eleventh  of  October  the  two  fleets  met — engaged — and  Ar 
nold  was  defeated  with  great  loss.  Most  of  his  vessels  were 

*  To  his  son  Joseph,  Aug.  24th,  he  writes  as  follows :  "  The  army  at  the  north 
ward  is  strengthening  fast.  Carpenters,  sea  captains,  rigging,  and  duck,  with 
£2200  value  in  various  kinds  of  clothing,  and  1000  felling-axes,  are  forwarded  to 
them.  The  men  begin  to  appear  in  good  spirits.  The  armed  force  on  the  lake 
is  become  formidable.  I  trust  they  will  command  the  lake  this  season.  May 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  God  of  our  armies,  be  in  the  midst  of  both — that  at 
New  York,  and  the  Northward — and  give  success  and  victory  1 " 


304  CHAP.    XXV. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

either  taken  or  destroyed,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
who  got  on  shore,  or  in  a  few  gunboats  struggled  back  to 
Ticonderoga — after  quite  a  smart  action  on  the  twelfth — 
their  crews,  with  General  Waterbury,  remained  prisoners  of 
war.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  this  engagement  the  only  gal 
ley  saved  was  the  Trumbull,  commanded  by  Captain  Wig- 
glesworth. 

The  news  was  at  once  transmitted  to  the  Governor  by 
General  Schuyler — and  Trumbull  in  turn  communicated  it 
to  the  Governors  of  adjacent  States — still,  in  spite  of  defeat, 
with  words  of  encouragement  and  hope — and  he  proceeded 
himself,  with  his  accustomed  activity,  to  replenish  the  army. 

"Please  let  me  know,"  he  wrote  Gates,  but  four  days  after 
the  disaster — "  let  me  know  by  the  return  of  this  post  the 
situation  you  are  in,  and  whatever  is  needful,  in  our  power 
to  supply,  that  we  may  forward  the  same."  And  on  went 
again,  tents,  clothing,  provisions,  medicines,  shingle  nails, 
two  hundred  iron  spades  and  shovels,  and  some  new  compa 
nies  of  militia — together  with  a  particular  request  from 
Trumbull  for  the  names  of  such  officers  in  the  old  as  were 
willing  to  serve  in  the  new  Northern  Army — then  to  be  or 
ganized — and  were  fit  for  service.  "  The  first  of  the  militia 
have  just  arrived,"  wrote  Schuyler  to  him  from  Saratoga, 
October  twenty-first.  "Give  them  double  bounty,"  said 
Trumbull  in  reply.  "  The  sufferings  of  the  army  last  year 
in  the  northern  department,  render  this  necessary.  To  pre 
vent  as  far  as  possible  every  occasion  of  complaints  of  a  sim 
ilar  nature  this  year,  seems  as  well  to  be  dictated  by  sound 
policy  as  by  justice  to  the  soldiers." — "Your  attentions  to 
supply  the  army,"  answered  Schuyler — "merit  the  warmest 
acknowledgments  of  every  friend  of  his  country.  You  have 
mine  most  unfeignedly." 

Though  winter  was  approaching,  with  its  expected  abate 
ment  of  sickness  in  the  army,  and  the  Northern  Campaign 
must  of  necessity  soon  close — still  solid  preparations  for 
another  were,  in  the  view  of  Trumbull,  then  to  be  made. 
He  was  full  of  hope.  "I  am  glad,"  he  said,  again  address 
ing  Gates — "  that  there  is  so  near  a  prospect  of  our  troops 
being  relieved,  by  the  approaching  season,  from  the  predom- 


1776.  CHAP.     XXV.— TRUMBULL.  305 

inant  plague  of  the  Lake,  which  it  seems  is  inevitable,  and 
must  be  endured — with  this  only  gleam  of  comfort,  that  our 
enemy's  end  of  the  ship  will  sink  first" 

That  enemy — it  must  be  conceded — was  as  much  to  be 
dreaded  through  the  humanity  and  policy  of  its  commander — 
Sir  Guy  Carl  ton — as  through  the  force  of  its  arms.  So  kind 
was  this  officer's  treatment  of  the  prisoners  who  fell  into  his 
hands,  after  the  engagement  on  the  lake,  that  he  laid  them 
all  under  the  deepest  obligations  of  gratitude.  It  fell  to  the 
lot  of  Governor  Trumbull's  son  John,  adjutant  to  Gates,  to 
receive  them  from  Captain  Craig. 

"  The  usual  civilities,"  writes  the  son  upon  this  subject — "  passed  be 
tween  Sir  James  and  me,  and  I  received  the  prisoners.  All  were  warm 
in  their  acknowledgments  of  the  kindness  with  which  they  had  been 
treated,  and  which  appeared  to  me  to  have  made  a  very  dangerous  im 
pression.  I  therefore  placed  the  boats  containing  the  prisoners  under 
the  guns  of  a  battery,  and  gave  orders  that  no  one  should  be  permitted 
to  land,  and  no  intercourse  take  place  with  the  troops  on  shore,  until 
orders  should  be  received  from  Gen.  Gates.  I  hurried  to  make  my  re 
port  to  him,  and  suggested  the  danger  of  permitting  those  men  to  have 
any  intercourse  with  our  troops; — accordingly  they  were  ordered  to 
proceed  to  Skenesborough,  on  their  way  home,  and  they  went  forward 
that  night,  without  being  permitted  to  land." 

Conspicuous  among  the  prisoners  that  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Carleton — as  we  have  noted — was  General  Waterbury,  of 
Connecticut — between  whom  and  the  former  an  incident 
occurred  of  much  interest  as  involving,  in  the  view  of  an 
enemy,  Governor  Trumbull's  authority  in  his  public  acts. 
Carleton  particularly  invited  Waterbury  on  board  his  own 
ship — the  Royal  Charlotte — and  down  into  the  cabin — where 
he  asked  the  latter  to  show  him  his  commission.  Waterbury 
handed  it  to  him — and  Carleton,  observing  that  it  was  signed 
by  Governor  Trumbull  of  Connecticut,  at  once  held  out  his 
hand,  and  said  he — "  General  Waterbury,  I  am  happy  to  take 
you  by  the  hand,  now  that  I  see  you  are  not  serving  under  a 
commission  and  orders  of  the  rebel  Congress,  but  of  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull.  You  are  acting  under  a  legitimate  and 
acknowledged  authority.  He  is  responsible  for  the  abuse  he 

has  made  of  that  authority.     That  which  is  a  high  crime  in 
26* 


306  CHAP.    XXV. — TRUMBULL. 


1776. 


him,  is  but  an  error  in  you ;  it  was  your  duty  to  obey  him, 
your  legitimate  superior." 

Soon  after  the  defeat  of  Arnold  on  the  lake,  the  Campaign 
of  1776,  at  the  North,  was  closed.  But  though  closed,  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  still  continued,  from  time  to  time,  to  furnish 
supplies  for  that  quarter,  when  needed.  It  seems  that  in  this 
respect  his  patience  was  exhaustless — his  zeal  at  all  times 
unwearied — and  his  success  remarkable.  "Well,  therefore, 
might  General  Gates  renew  to  him,  as  he  did,  his  thanks.  "I 
have  a  thousand  obligations  to  you  for  your  attention  and 
care  of  the  army  in  this  department,"  he  said.  "  The  Con 
gress  have  in  some  instances  forgot  us ;  but  they  are  excus 
able  in  the  vast  demand  that  has  been  made  upon  them  nearer 
home.  Medicines,  which  with  clothing  you  are  forwarding 
to  us,  are  articles  in  the  utmost  request.  How  much  we  are 
obliged  to  you  for  your  regard  of  us,  I  think  my  masters  will 
tell  you  also — they  acknowledge  that.  You  make  me  happy 
in  acquainting  me  that  camp  equipage  is  coming  for  your 
regiments.  All  things  conspire  to  make  me  believe  that 
America  will  be  free !  " 

Ere,  in  connection  with  Trumbull,  we  quite  drop  the  cur 
tain  for  the  year  1776  upon  the  Northern  Campaign,  one 
thing  important  remains  to  be  mentioned.  It  is  the  circum 
stance  that  he  was  often  applied  to  in  behalf  of  numerous 
officers  at  the  North,  both  to  recommend  them,  in  the  way 
of  appointments  and  rewards,  to  the  attention  of  others — 
particularly  to  Washington  and  the  Continental  Congress — - 
and  to  sympathize  and  counsel  with  them  in  what  they 
deemed  their  grievances — a  duty  which  he  always  discharged 
with  ready  kindness,  and  exemplary  regard  to  what  he 
thought  the  justice  of  the  case.  Among  such  applicants  for 
his  interest  with  Congress,  were,  particularly,  General  Water- 
bury,  and  Captain  Noah  Phelps — the  last,  one  of  the  heroes 
at  the  capture  of  Fort  Ticonderoga  by  Ethan  Allen — both  of 
whom  he  warmly  recommended  as  "worthy  of  the  kind 
notice  and  regard  of  the  country."  And  conspicuous  among 
those  with  whose  discontent  he  was  made  specially  acquainted, 
was  General  Philip  Schuyler  himself.  His  case  deserves  par 
ticular  mention. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXV.— TRUMBULL.  307 

The  feelings  of  this  officer  had  been  wounded  by  what  he 
deemed  a  supersedeas  of  himself — a  senior  in  command — 
through  the  appointment,  by  Congress,  of  General  Grates  to 
the  head  of  the  Northern  Army.  He  had  other  causes  too 
of  discontent.  Unpleasant  rumors  in  regard  to  his  capacity 
and  conduct  had  been  circulated — and  to  Trumbull,  there 
fore,  early  in  August,  he  poured  out  his  complaints. 

"  Your  assiduous  attention,"  responded  Trumbull — "  to  the  great  con 
cerns  of  the  public  at  this  important  period,  is,  in  the  minds  of  the  con 
siderate,  a  most  undissembled  declaration  of  your  hearty  attachment  to 
the  United  States  of  America.  Whatever  reports  may  have  been  spread 
by  the  disaffected,  or  opinions  held  by  the  mistaken  or  ill-informed,  I  hope 
neither  your  character  nor  the  cause  of  our  country  will  eventually  suffer 
thereby.  Your  painful  industry  and  substantial  services  to  the  public, 
cannot  fail  to  remove  all  jealousy  from  the  well-affected.  As  to  Tories, 
no  very  good  offices  to  one  in  your  place  can  be  expected  from  them.  I 
flatter  myself  that  no  misrepresentations  of  theirs  will  have  credit  enough 
in  this  State  greatly  to  wound  your  character,  or  prevent  your  usefulness. 
It  requires  the  wisdom  of  a  Solomon  and  the  patience  of  a  Job  to  endure 
traduction,  or  regard  a  slander  with  the  contempt  it  deserves.  I  heartily 
wish  the  injury  may  not  give  too  much  anxiety  to  a  mind  possessed  of  a 
conscious  rectitude  of  intention." 

Whatever  effect  this  letter  may  have  had  in  soothing  the 
feelings  of  Schuyler,  "  the  line  of  conduct  which  Congress 
held  with  him,"  he  wrote  to  Trumbull — "  would  put  it  out 
of  his  power  to  continue  in  any  office  where  the  appointment 
must  come  immediately  from  them."  So  he  determined  to 
resign  his  command — did  so — and  informed  Trumbull  of  the 
fact,  and  that  he  should  publish  a  narrative  in  defence  of  his 
conduct. 

"  That  you  have  sent  Congress  a  resignation  of  your  command,"  re 
sponded  Trumbull — who,  from  his  long  and  close  association  with  Schuy 
ler,  entertained  an  idea  of  his  ability  and  patriotism,  which  was  not  in 
harmony  with  that  at  the  time  entertained  in  Connecticut,  or  in  New 
England  generally — "  that  you  are  obliged  to  vindicate  your  character  by 
publishing  a  narrative  of  your  conduct — are  matters  I  cannot  hear  of  but 
with  deep  concern.  I  make  no  doubt  of  your  ability  to  justify  yourself, 
yet  fear  the  consequences  of  such  an  appeal,  at  this  time  especially.  I 
wish  to  see  your  character  stand  as  fair  with  the  world  as  it  does  with  me, 
but  cannot  wish  that  Congress  should  accept  your  resignation — that  your 


308  CHAP.    XXV. — TRUMBULL.  17T6. 

ability  and  zeal  should  be  lost  to  the  country  when  she  most  needs  them, 
or  that  matters  of  so  much  delicacy  and  importance  as  those  which  have 
passed  through  your  hands,  and  have  been  under  your  direction,  should 
be  laid  open  to  the  world,  when  our  enemies  may  derive  such  advantages 
from  the  discovery,  and  our  friends  be  discouraged  and  disheartened. 
May  I  prevail  with  you  to  suspend  your  publication  a  little  while  ?  Per 
haps  your  character  may  be  vindicated  from  the  aspersions  you  consider 
it  to  labor  under,  from  another  quarter,  and  in  a  manner  more  honorable 
to  you,  and  less  unhappy  to  the  country.  Your  resolution  to  continue  to 
love  and  serve  your  country  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  in  a  private 
station,  does  you  much  honor,  and  corresponds  with  the  idea  I  have 
entertained  of  your  patriotism ;  but  I  flatter  myself  I  shall  yet  continue 
to  see  you  fill  and  adorn  a  sphere  of  greater  extent  and  usefulness." 

Thus  with  words  of  kindness — with,  prudent  counsel — 
with  his  country  on  his  heart — as  upon  every  occasion,  to 
all,  where  his  advice  was  sought — did  Trumbull  soothe  his 
co-patriot  and  friend,  General  Schuyler. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 
1776. 

AN  alarm  from  Rhode  Island.  The  enemy  seize  Newport.  The  Connec 
ticut  measures  for  defence,  and  the  Governor's  cares  and  duties.  The 
prisoners  of  this  year.  The  Mayor  of  Albany,  the  Mayor  of  New  Tork, 
Governor  Brown  of  New  Providence,  and  Governor  Franklin  of  New 
Jersey,  conspicuous  among  them.  Trum"bull  charged  specially  with 
their  custody.  Case  of  Franklin  particularly  described.  Other  prison 
ers — where  from — where  confined.  Connecticut  is  overburthened  with 
them.  Trumbull  writes  the  New  Tork  Congress  on  the  subject.  His 
letter.  The  care  taken  of  them  in  Connecticut  Trumbull's  treat 
ment  of  them  illustrated.  He  was  eminently  humane  His  duties 
and  conduct  in  promoting  their  exchange. 

WE  have  followed  Governor  Trumbull  now  in  his  connec 
tions  with  the  Revolutionary  Struggle,  north  near  Canada — • 
and  upon  the  west  and  south,  on  the  seashore  and  the  Sound, 
near  Connecticut — almost  all  around,  and  close  upon  the 
boundaries  of  the  State  at  whose  helm  he  stood.  And  we 
have  reach  the  closing  month  of  1776.  But  we  have  not  yet 
reached  the  close  of  Trumbull's  labors  during  this  eventful 
year.  For  as  this  year  drew  to  its  end — dark  with  the  dis 
appointment  of  American  hopes — gloomy  as  if  the  winter  of 
Liberty  was  coming  with  the  winter  of  the  seasons — fresh 
alarm  broke  out  from  a  new  direction,  also  adjoining  Connec 
ticut — from  the  east — from  the  hitherto  untouched  and  com 
paratively  secure  quarter  of  Ehode  Island. 

December  ninth,  the  Governor  and  Council  heard  that  a 
large  British  fleet  was  pushing  up  Narragansett  Bay,  towards 
Newport  and  Providence.  It  was  the  same  which  had  been 
seen,  December  sixth — their  u  design  unknown  " — at  anchor 
off  New  London  harbor.  It  was  that  which  General  Howe — 
hoping  to  keep  the  forces  of  New  England  occupied  at  home, 
and  so  to  prevent  their  rendering  any  aid  to  Washington  in 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania — had  sent,  bearing  about  four 
thousand  troops  under  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  to  make  a  diver 
sion  to  the  eastward.  Governor  Trumbull  at  once  ordered 
the  eastern  regiments  of  Connecticut  to  march  to  Rhode 


310  CHAP.    XXVI. — TKUMBULL.  1776. 

Island  for  its  defence.  But  the  enemy  soon  landed — at  New 
port — on  a  Sabbath  Day — meeting  with  little  or  no  resist 
ance — and  from  this  point  Clinton,  defended  and  aided  by 
the  strong  fleet  under  Sir  Peter  Parker,  threatened  the  inva 
sion  of  all  the  adjoining  States. 

It  was  a  crisis  of  imminent  peril.  The  General  Assembly 
was  informed  of  it,  and  four  members  from  the  Governor's 
Council — Eliphalet  Dyer,  Kichard  Law,  Nathaniel  "Wales, 
Junior,  and  Titus  Hosmer — were  sent  to  Providence,  to  con 
sult — December  twenty-third — with  Committees  from  the 
other  New  England  States,  and  report  measures  for  "mutual 
and  immediate  defence  and  safety."*  These  gentlemen  re 
ported  ten  hundred  and  ninety-two  men  as  the  quota  of 
troops  to  be  raised  by  Connecticut  for  the  emergency — and 
the  Governor  and  Council  were  empowered  to  raise  them — 
particularly  from  Colonel  Ely's  battalion — and  send  them  to 
the  scene  of  danger  in  the  "most  speedy  way."  And  the 
Governor  besides,  was  directed  to  state  to  the  Continental 
Congress  the  "reasons  and  necessity"  of  the  meeting  of  the 
New  England  Committees  at  Providence,  and  transmit  a  copy 
of  their  proceedings — which  he  did. 

His  Proclamation  for  raising  the  men  assigned,  was  at  once 
issued.  They  were  to  join  the  army  under  General  Spencer 
at  Providence.  So  he  directed.  He  sent  for  the  captains 
who  were  to  serve — commissioned  them — and  pressed  them 
to  proceed  with  their  enlistments.  He  instructed  Commissa 
ries  to  provide  and  transport  to  Rhode  Island,  pork,  flour, 
and  other  supplies.  He  ordered  Major  Ebenezer  Backus, 
with  troops  of  Lighthorse,  to  march  to  the  exposed  quarter. 
He  employed  couriers  for  this  quarter,  and  affixed  their 
stages.  He  did  everything,  in  short,  which  the  occasion  de 
manded,  with  promptness — and  though — for  reasons  which 
will  fall  under  our  observation  the  next  year — the  expedition 
proved  in  the  end  a  failure,  so  far  as  the  expulsion  of  the 

*Dec.  21, 1776.  "Col.  Dyer,  Messrs.  Law,  Wales,  and  Hosmer  are  setting  out 
as  Commissioners  to  meet  with  such  as  may  be  appointed  in  the  N.  E.  States  at 
Providence,  the  beginning  of  the  week,  to  consult  on  raising  an  army  for  their 
defence  till  they  can  receive  instructions  and  directions  from  Congress. — The 
enemy  possess  Ehode  Island — lie  still  there  for  the  present." — Governor's  letter  to 
his  son  Joseph. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXVI. — TRUMBULL.  311 

enemy  from  Newport  is  concerned — yet  Connecticut,  in  the 
emergency,  under  the  guidance  of  her  Chief  Magistrate,  did 
all  that  could  be  expected  from  her  patriotism  and  her  re 
sources. 

This — for  the  east — was  the  fifth  large  draught  of  men, 
for  actual  service  in  different  quarters,  which  had  been  made 
upon  this  State  during  the  present  year.  That  first  one,  from 
the  western  section  of  the  State,  which  was  marched  for  the 
defence  of  New  York — that  second,  for  the  defence  of  New 
London  and  Long  Island — that  third,  from  the  eastern  sec 
tion  of  the  State,  for  Westchester  County — that  fourth,  from 
the  extreme  western  section,  again  for  the  defence  of  the 
western  border — and  now  this  fifth  and  last,  in  the  last  month 
of  the  year,  for  Rhode  Island — kept  the  hands  of  Governor 
Trumbull,  so  far  as  relates  to  troops  merely,  to  their  organ 
ization  and  supply  alone,  pressingly  full  of  business. 

Through  the  exertions  of  these,  and  the  troops  of  other 
States,  upon  the  land — through  the  effective  vigilance  of 
Revolutionary  Committees,  and  bands  of  the  Sons  of  Liber 
ty — and  through  the  bravery  of  Americans  upon  the  water — 
many  prisoners  were  taken  during  the  year  with  which  we 
are  concerned.  Indeed  they  multiplied  exceedingly  on  the 
hands  of  the  State — so  much  so  that  it  early  became  neces 
sary  to  appoint  a  Commissary,*  and  a  special  Committee,  to 
aid  in  their  charge.  These  appointments,  however,  did  not 
relieve  the  Governor  from  various  duties  respecting  them. 
For  as  Chief  Magistrate  he  superintended  them  all — received 
applications  both  from  themselves,  and  from  those  who,  in 
a  subordinate  capacity,  overlooked  them — and  was  himself, 
in  many  instances,  specially  charged  with  their  custody. 

Conspicuous  among  those  thus  entrusted  to  his  special 
keeping,  were  a  Mayor  of  Albany,  whose  name  we  do  not  find 
given — David  Matthews,  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York — 
Montford  Brown,  Governor  of  New  Providence — and  Gov 
ernor  Franklin  of  New  Jersey,  a  natural  son  of  the  illustri 
ous  Benjamin  Franklin. 

Matthews,  was  taken  first  to  Litchfield  jail,f  and  thence  to 

*  Epaphras  Bull,  of  Hartford,  was  first  appointed. 
f  While  at  Litchfield,  he  was  under  the  care  of  Capt.  Moses  Seymour. 


312  CHAP.    XXVI. — TKUMBULL.  1776. 

Hartford,  where  lie  was  closely  watched.  Brown — who,  with 
many  others,  as  has  been  heretofore  narrated,  had  been  cap 
tured  by  Admiral  Hopkins — was  brought  to  Windham 
County  jail — where  Governor  Trumbull  gave  him  his  parole, 
and  treated  him  with  great  kindness,  until,  in  September,  he 
delivered  him  up— at  the  same  time  with  the  turbulent  Gov 
ernor  Skene — to  General  Washington — to  be  exchanged,  the 
one  for  Lord  Stirling,  and  the  other  for  a  Mr.  LovelL* 
Franklin — as  remarkable  for  his  rank  toryism  as  was  his 
father  for  his  distinguished  patriotism — was  by  far  the  most 
prominent  of  the  four  prisoners  to  whom  we  have  now 
alluded,  and  his  case  deserves  particular  notice. 

On  the  Fourth  of  July  1776— the  very  day  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence — he  was  brought  into  Connecticut — 
escorted  by  a  guard  of  which  Thomas  Kenny  was  Chief  Offi 
cer — having  been  seized  by  a  Convention  of  his  own  Prov 
ince  as  a  virulent  enemy  of  the  Colonies,  and  by  this  Conven 
tion  consigned  to  Governor  Trumbull,  who  was  desired  to 
take  his  parole,  and  if  he  refused  to  give  it,  then  to  treat  him 
according  to  the  Eesolutions  of  Congress  respecting  prisoners. 

A  parole  was  accordingly  prepared.  Franklin  urged  the 
Governor  to  alter  it,  so  that  he  might  have  liberty  to  return 
to  New-Jersey.  This  was  refused.  He  then  asked  that  he 
might  go  to  Stratford.  This  also  was  refused.  He  then  sent 
word  to  the  Governor  that  he  might  do  with  him  as  he 
pleased — and  signing  his  parole,  he  was  removed  to  Wai  ling- 
ford — from  which  place,  however,  after  about  two  weeks,  he 
was  permitted — still  on  parole — to  go  to  Middletown.  After 
remaining  at  this  last  place  several  months,  he  wrote,  again 
asking  to  return  to  his  family  in  New-Jersey — a  privilege,  he 
said,  which  had  been  allowed  to  other  gentlemen  who  had 
been  sent  to  Connecticut  as  tories — and  he  remonstrated,  "in 
terms  more  sharp  than  decent,"  against  Trumbull's  neglect 
in  not  answering  a  former  letter  which  he  had  written  him. 
But  this  re-application  was  refused. 

Subsequently,  an  order  reached  Trumbull  from  Congress, 

*Sep.  27, 1776.  "Gov.  Brown  is  to  be  exchanged  for  Ld.  Stirling,  and  Gov. 
Skene  for  Mr.  Lovell,  and  the  two  Governors  are  to  set  out  from  Middletown 
next  Tuesday  noon." — Governor's  letter  to  his  son  Joseph. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXVI. — THUMB  TILL.  313 

directing  his  confinement  without  pen,  ink,  or  paper.  "  He 
has" — said  the  Resolutions  of  Congress  respecting  him — 
"  sedulously  employed  himself,"  since  his  removal  to  Con 
necticut,  "in  dispersing  among  the  inhabitants  the  protec 
tions  of  Lord  Howe  and  Gen.  Howe — styled  King's  Com 
missioners  for  granting  pardons,  &c., — and  otherwise  aided 
and  abetted  the  enemies  of  the  U.  States."  And  the  Gov 
ernor  was  requested  not  only  to  confine  him  in  the  manner 
stated,  but  to  allow  no  person  or  persons  to  have  access  to 
him,  save  such  as  he  himself  should  properly  license  for  that 
purpose.  Trumbull,  therefore,  had  him  forthwith  conveyed, 
by  the  Sheriff  of  Hartford  County,  to  Litchfield  jail — where, 
in  the  keeping  of  Lynd  Lord,  and  under  a  special  guard — at 
an  expense,  for  a  little  over  a  year,  of  above  one  hundred 
pounds — he  was  closely  watched — not,  however,  without  his 
securing,  now  and  then,  a  chance  to  hold  treasonable  inter 
course.* 

When  taken  from  New  Jersey,  he  had  possessed  himself 
of  a  chest  containing  important  State  records.  Governor 
Livingston  of  New  Jersey,  therefore,  wrote  Trumbull,  wish 
ing  the  State  authorities  of  Connecticut  to  interpose,  and 
cause  Franklin^— and  his  servant  Thomas,  who  was  suspected 
of  being  privy  to  the  concealment — to  be  examined  on  oath 
respecting  it.  This  was  done,  through  Matthew  Talcott,  ap 
pointed  by  the  General  Assembly  for  the  purpose — with 
what  result,  however,  we  do  not  ascertain. 

Such  was  one  notorious  offender,  with  whose  custody  the 
Governor  of  Connecticut  was  charged  the  present  year — one 
whom  the  Journals  of  the  day  heralded  as  "exceedingly 
busy  in  perplexing  the  cause  of  liberty,"  and  whose  princi 
ples,  connections,  abilities,  and  address,  rendered  him  a  most 
dangerous  enemy. 

But  besides  the  prisoners  now  mentioned,  very  many 
others,  as  already  suggested,  were  sent  this  year  to  the 
charge  of  Trumbull.  Washington,  while  encamped  in  the 
City  of  New- York  and  vicinity,  consigned  them  in  great 
numbers.  Trumbull  confined  these  chiefly  at  Litchfield  and 

*  As  once  with  a  Capt.  Camp — against  whom  Newhaven  complained  to  the 
General  Assembly  for  holding  such  intercourse. 
27 


814  CHAP.    XXVI. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

Norwich.  Once,  a  party  of  twenty -two — taken  at  one  time, 
in  July,  on  board  a  barge  of  the  British  fleet,  as  they  were 
sounding  a  channel  below  New- York — were  sent.  Trumbull 
confined  these  at  Farmington.  The  Albany  Committee  also 
sent  large  numbers — in  August,  particularly,  very  many- 
disaffected  persons  chiefly — some  of  whom  were  confined  in 
the  jail  at  New-London,  and  some  were  placed  at  East  Had- 
dam,  under  their  parole  of  honor  to  continue  there,  and  not 
to  do  or  say  anything  in  prejudice  of  the  United  States,  or 
their  acts  or  resolves,  on  penalty  of  close  confinement.* 
Many  prisoners  also  were  sent  from  Massachusetts — some 
from  Rhode  Island — many  from  Long  Island — and  quite  a 
number  from  the  Northern  Army.  They  were  distributed— 
besides  in  the  towns  already  mentioned — also  in  Hartford, 
Simsbury,  Salisbury,  Durham,  Middletown,  Glastenbury, 
Saybrook,  New-London,  Preston,  Windham,  Colchester,  and 
elsewhere.  The  jails  and  secure  places  in  Connecticut  were 
in  fact — as  Governor  Trumbull  said — even  by  August,  so 
"filled"  that  it  was  "difficult"  to  find  room  for  more — and 
they  so  tasked  his  care,  and  that  of  the  State,  that  we  find 
him  at  this  time  addressing  the  New-York  Provincial  Con 
gress  in  the  following  terms  :— 

"Enclosed,"  he  writes,  August  tenth — "is  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  a 
Committee  at  Albany,  by  Ensign  John  Fiske,  who  escorted  under  guard 
from  Albany  twenty -three  prisoners  represented  to  be  inimical  to  the 
rights  of  these  States,  to  be  secured  and  taken  care  of.  The  jails  here 
are  so  filled  that  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  proper  place  of  security  for  this 
additional  number.  For  the  present  they  are  ordered  to  the  jail  at  New- 
London,  and  I  shall  expect  soon  a  resolve  from  your  Convention  in  what 
manner  you  will  have  them  treated,  and  how,  or  by  what  means  sup 
ported. 

"  The  Mayor  of  Albany,  and  five  others  sent  with  him  by  the  Com 
mittee  of  that  city  some  time  ago,  are  at  Hartford.  Those  sent  by  your 
body  under  the  care  of  Mr.  De  Peyster,  are  imprisoned  at  Hartford,  Nor 
wich,  and  Litchfield. 

"  The  present  necessity,  attention  to  the  service  of  the  U.  States,  and 
real  affection  for  our  sister  State  of  New-York,  under  the  present  calami 
ties  of  a  siege  and  invasion,  induce  us  to  receive  such  troublesome  and 

*  The  Albany  prisoners  were  afterwards  sent  to  Preston — where  some  of  them 
were  allowed  to  labor  for  their  own  support,  under  the  inspection  of  a  Commit 
tee — and  others,  as  being  "  particularly  dangerous,"  were  strictly  confined. 


1776.  CHAP.     XXVI. — TRUMBULL.  315 

inimical  men  into  our  care  and  custody.  We  wish  to  have  them  re 
moved,  and  to  be  released  from  the  trouble  they  occasion,  as  early  as  is 
convenient." 

The  prisoners  sent  to  Connecticut — be  it  written  to  the 
credit  of  this  State,  of  Trumbull,  and  of  his  agents  in  the 
matter — received  the  best  treatment  consistent  with  their 
situation.  The  Governor  was  eminently  humane  in  all  that 
he  did  concerning  them.  He  received  their  applications  with 
attention,  and  whenever  he  could — consistently  with  se 
curity  to  the  great  cause  with  which  he  was  identified— 
granted  their  prayer. 

Did  John  Rapalji,  for  example,  who  was  confined  at  Nor 
wich,  and  destitute  of  clothing,  ask  to  return  to  Long  Island 
to  procure  it  ?  Upon  giving  his  parole  to  be  back  again 
within  two  weeks,  and  to  do  naught  against  the  States,  the 
Governor  not  only  allowed  him  to  go,  and  bring  back  neces 
saries  for  himself,  but  also  for  such  other  of  his  fellow-pris 
oners  as  he  could. 

Did  Alexander  Campbell,  William  Pemberton,  and  eight 
others,  again,  ask  a  similar  permission  for  the  same  purpose? 
Under  the  care  of  a  Committee  to  attend  them,  and  under 
their  parole  faithfully  to  return,  they  had  leave  to  go. 

Did  Duncan  Stewart,  the  English  Collector  for  the  port  of 
New-London — where,  with  no  other  restraint  than  that  of 
being  forbidden  to  leave  town  without  permission  from  the 
Governor,  he  resided — ask  to  visit  New-York  ?  Leave  was 
freely  given — to  stay  three  months — and  soon  to  depart 
again,  with  a  passport  from  the  Governor's  own  hands,  to 
take  all  his  family  and  effects,  and  sail  for  England.* 

Thus  kind  was  Trumbull  in  numerous  other  cases.     And 

*  u  The  populace  took  umbrage  at  the  courtesies  extended  to  the  English  Col 
lector.  At  one  time,  when  some  English  goods  were  brought  from  New-York 
for  the  use  of  his  family,  the  mob  at  first  would  not  permit  them  to  be  landed, 
and  afterwards  seized  and  made  a  bonfire  of  them.  The  ringleaders  in  this  out 
rage  were  arrested  and  lodged  in  jail ;  the  jail  doors  were  broken  down,  and 
they  were  released,  nor  were  the  authorities  in  sufficient  force  to  attempt  a  re 
commitment.  It  was  indeed  a  stirring  season,  and  the  restraints  of  law  and 
order  were  weak  as  flax.  It  is  however  gratifying  to  know  that  Mr.  Stewart  was 
allowed  to  leave  the  place  with  his  family,  without  any  demonstration  of  personal 
disrespect.  He  departed  in  July,  1777." — Miss  Caulking1  History  of  N.  London, 
p.  511-12. 


316  CHAP.    XXVI. — TRUMBULL.  1776. 

the  State  Commissary  and  Committee  for  prisoners,  were 
from  time  to  time  enjoined  by  him  to  make  suitable  provis 
ion  for  them  all.  They  were  directed  to  send  to  him — certi 
fied  under  oath — true  accounts  of  their  numbers,  of  their 
manner  of  treatment,  of  the  resources  for  their  support,  and 
of  the  conduct  of  the  captives — in  order  that  he  might  him 
self  see  that  they  were  used  with  justice  and  humanity — or 
if  otherwise,  might  rectify  any  error  or  abuse,  or  report  the 
same  to  his  Council,  or  to  the  General  Assembly,  for  their 
correction  or  reproof.  Conduct  this  how  strikingly  in  con 
trast  with  that  of  the  enemy  towards  American  prisoners — 
who  were  left — alas,  almost  habitually — in  hunger,  in  cold, 
in  nakedness — without  medicines,  without  care — alone  in 
dungeons,  or  crowded  into  heaps — to  die  like  beasts !  And 
all  this  humanity,  on  the  part  of  Trumbull,  was  ever  exer 
cised  in  consistency  with  the  proper  security  of  captives — 
for  wherever  particular  vigilance  was  required,  there  he  was 
sure  to  employ  it.* 

He  had  much  also  to  do,  in  relation  to  prisoners,  in  pro 
moting  their  exchange — now  in  person,  and  now  by  giving 
directions  to  various  agents  and  Committees  appointed  by 
the  Legislature  in  the  matter — particularly  to  Shaw,  the 
Naval  Agent  at  New-London.f  His  correspondence  with 
Washington,  with  Congress,  with  New- York  and  Massachu 
setts,  was  extensive  on  this  subject.  Cartels  for  the  redemp 
tion  of  prisoners,  bearing  his  communications  and  his  mes 
sengers,  frequently  passed  in  and  out  from  the  harbors  of 
Connecticut — particularly  between  New-London  and  New- 
York,  and  New-London  and  Newport — and  the  sad  condi 
tion  of  many  of  the  returned  American  captives  frequently 
called  for  an  application  both  of  his  commiseration  and  his 

*  As  once  at  Hartford,  for  example,  when — upon  information  that  the  prisoners 
there  had  intercourse  with  tories  from  without  the  jail — he  ordered  additional 
guards,  and  a  yard,  with  pickets  or  plank,  to  be  erected  around  the  jail  in  the 
best  and  most  prudent  manner— and  as  once  again,  upon  a  similar  occasion,  when 
he  doubled  the  guards  around  Newgate  Prison. 

t  Exchanges  were  particularly  numerous  in  the  marine  department — as  the 
batch  of  prisoners  taken  from  on  board  the  ships  John,  Clarendon,  and  Sally,  by 
American  cruisers,  and,  in  December,  exchanged  at  New-London,  under  the  di 
rection  of  Trumbull,  illustrates. 


1776.  CHAP.    XXVI. — TRUMBULL.  317 

bounty.  Ethan  Allen,  incarcerated  with  eighteen  others — 
taken  near  Montreal — in  the  common  jail  at  Halifax — for 
whose  release  Trumbull  wrote  pressing  letters  to  Washing 
ton,  to  Congress,  and  to  the  "  Commanding  Officer  at  Bos 
ton,"  praying  their  "seasonable  and  friendly  interposition" 
for  the  speedy  exchange  of  this  distinguished  captive  and 
his  companions — never  forgot  the  compassionate  attention. 
His  brother  Levi,  who  was  sent  on  by  Connecticut  to  visit 
him  in  jail — with  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  in  his 
pocket,  from  the  Treasury  of  the  State,  for  the  relief  of 
these  prisoners — told  Ethan  of  the  Governor's  heedfulness, 
and  it  rejoiced  his  heart. 

27* 


C  HAPTE  R    X  XVII. 
1777. 

TBUMBULL  opens  the  year  -with  a  Proclamation  for  a  Fast.  He  devotes 
himself  to  recruiting  the  Continental  Army.  The  system  of  additional 
"bounty  in  this  connection,  and  aletterfrom  him  on  the  subject.  Press 
ing  requisitions  from  Washington  for  more  troops.  Trumbull  re 
sponds — and  how.  Menaced  devastation  from,  the  enemy.  Trumbull 
prepares.  Danbury  laid  in  ashes.  Measures  taken  by  him  in  conse 
quence.  His  Proclamation  against  home  depredators.  He  guards 
against  similar  attacks,  and  for  the  present  successfully.  Gallant 
expedition  of  Col.  Meigs  to  Sag  Harbor,  and  report  of  the  same  to 
the  Governor.  He  perseveres  in  his  plans  for  home  defence.  Sends 
a  Company  of  Rangers  to  the  seashore.  His  labors  in  the  department 
of  supplies.  Connecticut  the  PROVISION  STATE. 

IN  harmony  with  his  own  deep  sense  of  dependence  on 
an  all-wise  Euler  of  the  Universe — in  accordance  with  his 
view  of  national  calamity  as  the  result  of  "ill-deserts,"  of  an 
undue  general  forgetfulness  of  God  and  all  his  mercies — and 
from  a  hope  that  through  a  public  acknowledgment  of  trans 
gression,  by  penitence  and  by  prayer,  the  People  might  pro 
pitiate  anew  the  favor  of  Heaven — Governor  Trumbull 
opened  to  Connecticut  the  eventful  year  of  1777,  by  a  Proc 
lamation  for  a  Public  Fast.  It  was  his  desire  and  direction — 
as  in  the  document  he  proceeds  to  promulgate — that '  the 
Great  Father  of  all  should  be  supplicated  "  to  animate  the 
whole  body"  of  his  fellow-citizens  "to  rise  in  the  cause  of 
their  oppressed,  bleeding  country,  to  a  zeal  and  exertions 
proportioned  to  its  vast  magnitude  and  importance."* 

*  The  Proclamation  bears  date  January  eleventh,  1777.  "  Fervent  and  united 
supplications,"  he  proceeds  to  say,  should  be  offered  up  "  for  the  United  States 
of  America — for  their  Representatives  in  General  Congress  assembled,  that  lie 
would  bless  and  honor  them  as  Instruments,  under  his  own  divine  direction  and 
counsel,  of  guiding  and  conducting  the  People  through  all  the  struggles  and 
convulsions  which  attend  the  great  controversy  in  which  they  are  engaged,  and 
bringing  them  into  a  settled  and  confirmed  state  of  government,  peace,  and 
safety ;  that  he  would  abundantly  bless  the  people  and  rulers  of  each  particular 
State,  and  increase,  strengthen,  and  perfect  the  general  union  of  the  whole ;  that 
the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  of  the  United  States  may  be  the  care  of 
divine  Providence,  and  under  divine  direction ;  that  all  our  officers  and  soldiers 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  319 

The  year  at  whose  threshold  we  now  stand,  so  far  as  lead 
ing  military  events  are  concerned,  was  marked  by  skir 
mishes  in  the  Jerseys — by  expeditions  of  the  enemy  up  the 
North  River,  and  into  Connecticut — by  the  expedition  of 
Colonel  Meigs  to  Sag  Harbor — by  the  continued  presence  of 
the  foe  in  Rhode  Island — by  the  movement  of  the  British 
fleet  up  the  Chesapeake — the  Battle  of  Brandywine — the 
occupation  by  the  enemy  of  Philadelphia — the  attacks  upon 
Fort  Mifflin  and  Red  Bank — by  the  Battle  of  Saratoga — 
and  by  the  British  capture  of  Forts  Montgomery  and  Clinton 
on  the  North  River — events  with  all  of  which  Trumbull  was 
more  or  less  connected — but  particularly  with  those  which 
occurred  at  the  North. 

The  winter  and  spring  of  this  year,  as  is  well  known — 
although  in  the  plan  of  Washington  intended  as  a  period  of 
active  effort  to  break  up  and  disperse  the  enemy — was  yet 
spent  mainly  in  making  preparations  for  the  campaign  that 
followed — particularly  in  recruiting  the  Continental  Army, 
which  at  the  close  of  1776 — from  the  expiration  of  enlist 
ments,  a  general  aversion  to  service  induced  by  the  misfor 
tunes  of  the  year  which  had  passed,  and  the  seemingly  over 
whelming  force  of  the  enemy — was  thinned  down  to  almost 
a  shadow.  Trumbull's  attention,  therefore,  at  this  time,  was 
specially  bestowed  on  the  recruiting  service — and  on  this 
subject  he  was  soon  engaged  in  correspondence  with  Con 
gress,  with  General  Washington,  and  with  General  Heath, 
General  Greene,  and  others. 

One  of  his  letters  upon  this  matter  deserves  to  be  quoted 
here  in  full — because,  especially,  it  vindicates  the  step  taken 
at  this  time  by  Connecticut,  and  by  the  New  England  States 
generally,  of  granting  an  additional  bounty  to  their  quotas 
of  the  Continental  Army — vindicates  it  against  an  objection, 

may  be  blessed  with  the  presence  and  fear  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts  and  the  God  of 
armies,  and  all  our  enterprises  by  sea  and  land,  in  defence  and  for  the  protection 
of  our  country,  be  greatly  succeeded ;  and  that  God  in  infinite  wisdom  and  good 
ness,  would  bring  great  and  lasting  good  to  his  people  out  of  the  evils  and 
troubles  of  the  present  day,  and  in  his  own  due  time,  restore  peace,  and  cause 
truth,  righteousness  and  charity  to  prevail  in  this  whole  land ;  break  every  yoke 
of  the  oppressor,  and  let  the  oppressed  go  free ;  bless  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
with  light  and  liberty,  and  fill  the  world  with  the  knowledge  and  glory  of  his 
great  name." 


320  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  1777. 

quite  extensively  indulged — and  made  both  by  Washington 
and  by  Congress — that  it  would  produce  discontent  and  dis 
order  in  the  army.  The  letter — bearing  date  February 
twenty -first — was  addressed  to  the  Commander-in-chief,  and 
proceeds  as  follows : — 

"We  have  now  granted  to  our  proportion  of  the  sixteen  battalions  the 
additional  bounty  of  thirty-three  dollars  and  one-third,  estimating  that 
proportion  at  one  thousand  men.  In  making  this  estimate,  we  are  gov 
erned  by  the  proportion  which  the  quota  assigned  by  Congress  to  this 
State  bears  to  the  whole  number  to  be  raised,  namely,  as  eight  is  to 
eighty-eight  This  I  trust  will  put  the  officers  you  have  appointed  in 
this  State  upon  an  equal  footing  with  those  of  the  eight  regiments 
allowed  to  us  before,  and  remove  every  impediment  in  the  way  of  raising 
these  men. 

"  I  am  not  insensible  that  the  step  taken  by  the  New  England  States, 
of  granting  an  additional  bounty  to  their  quotas  of  the  Continental  army, 
is  objected  to,  as  tending  to  produce  discontent  and  disorder  in  the  army. 
You  will,  therefore,  permit  me  to  state  the  reasons  which  have  prevailed 
to  induce  the  giving  it,  and  the  manner  in  which  this  State  hath  been 
drawn  into  it. 

"  The  length  and  severity  of  our  winters  in  this  climate  are  such,  that 
a  soldier  can  neither  clothe  or  support  himself,  or  a  family,  so  cheaply  as 
he  can  at  any  time  in  a  southern  climate.  Many,  indeed  most  of  our 
soldiers,  have  small  families  at  home  dependent,  in  a  good  measure,  upon 
the  savings  they  can  make  out  of  their  wages  for  subsistence,  wrhich  must 
always  be  the  case  while  most  of  our  youth  marry  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  or  thereabouts.  The  almost  total  interruption  of  commerce,  and 
the  scarcity  of  materials  for  manufacturers,  have  and  must  still  greatly 
increase  the  prices  of  clothing  and  other  articles,  while  the  demand  for 
all  kinds  of  provisions  for  the  army  has  likewise  rendered  every  necessa 
ry  article  of  subsistence  much  dearer  than  at  the  commencement  of  hos 
tilities.  At  that  time  the  wages  given  to  a  common  laborer  were  about 
forty  shillings  per  month ;  now  ten  dollars  are  rather  less  than  a  medium, 
and  all  articles  of  produce  are  risen  in  proportion.  Add  that  the  seaman 
is  offered  twenty  dollars  per  month,  and  tradesmen  and  artificers  in  propor 
tion.  Neither  is  this  chargeable  to  any  ill  principle,  but  the  necessary 
consequence  of  drawing  off  so  many  of  our  men  into  the  service.  When 
these  facts  are  considered,  it  was  thought  to  be  very  apparent,  that  a 
New  England  soldier  cannot,  and  in  justice  ought  not  to  serve  upon  the 
same  pay  and  allowances  that  were  given  in  1775,  or  that  one  from  the 
Southern  States,  where  his  expense  for  clothing  and  subsistence  for  him 
self  and  family  is  so  much  less,  now  can.  Our  people  in  general  are  so 
fully  persuaded  of  this  difference,  it  is  alleged  that  it  would  be  fruitless, 
as  well  as  unjust,  to  attempt  to  engage  them  upon  it,  and  vain  to  expect 
success  in  the  attempt. 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  321 

"  These  considerations  induced  the  Massachusetts  Assembly,  in  Octo 
ber,  to  offer  an  additional  monthly  pay.  The  Assembly  of  this  State 
who  had  before  rejected  "the  measure  when  proposed  by  some  of  their 
own  members,  followed  their  lead,  and  offered  the  same  additional  pay  ; 
but  when  they  were  advised  of  the  disapprobation  of  Congress,  and  had 
your  Excellency's  objections  laid  before  them,  they  cheerfully  retracted, 
and  determined  to  trust  to  the  bounties  and  pay  of  Congress,  with  some 
encouragement  in  furnishing  them  with  necessaries  at  prime  cost,  to  in 
duce  them  to  enlist.  In  the  meantime,  all  the  other  New  England  States 
offered  large  additional  bounties;  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire, 
sixty-six  dollars  and  two-thirds ;  Rhode  Island,  twenty  dollars.  It  was 
soon  evident  that  these  bounties  would  entice  a  great  part  of  our  men  into 
the  service  of  the  States  contiguous  to  us  on  the  east  and  north,  which, 
beside  the  obstruction  which  would  thence  arise  to  the  filling  up  our  own 
battalions,  would  be  highly  prejudicial  to  the  agriculture  of  this  State, 
and,  in  effect,  to  the  general  service,  as  the  army  must  still  depend,  for  a 
considerable  part  of  its  subsistence,  on  this  State. 

"•  In  this  situation  the  matter  rested  until  the  enemy  took  possession 
of  Newport.  It  then  became  necessary  to  provide  for  the  immediate  de 
fence  of  the  New  England  States,  and  Commissioners  met  at  Providence 
to  concert  proper  measures  for  that  purpose.  They  immediately  agreed 
to  raise  an  army  of  six  thousand  men  for  a  temporary  defence,  until  the 
Continental  army  might  be  raised. 

%'  Sensible  that  an  attempt  to  raise  a  separate  army  for  their  own 
defence,  must  effectually  obstruct  the  raising  a  Continental  army,  and 
otherwise  be  liable  to  great  objections,  they  considered  raising  the  Con 
tinental  battalions  speedily,  as  the  only  sure  means  of  defence  against  the 
enemy,  should  they  fall  upon  any  of  these  States ;  and  proceeded  to  de 
liberate  upon  proper  measures  for  this  purpose. 

"  The  rapid  increase  of  the  prices  for  the  necessaries  of  life  operates 
strongly  to  discourage  soldiers  from  enlisting.  These  they  attempt  to 
limit  by  recommending  prices  to  be  affixed  by  law,  beyond  which  they 
might  not  rise,  by  recommending  that  a  stop  be  put  to  emitting  further 
bills  of  credit,  and  measures  be  taken  to  reduce  the  quantity  now  circu 
lating. 

"  The  number  of  men  employed  on  board  privateers  and  merchant 
vessels,  formed  another  obstacle  to  raising  an  army.  They  recommend 
ed  an  embargo  upon  all  privateers  and  merchant  vessels,  except  those 
sent  after  necessaries  by  permit,  until  the  army  was  raised. 

"The  bounties  offered  by  other  States  were  alleged  as  an  impediment 
to  raising  the  quota  for  the  army  in  this  State  and  Rhode  Island.  The 
Commissioners  from  this  State  strongly  urged,  that  the  additional  boun 
ties  should  be  withdrawn,  and  encouragement,  by  supplying  necessaries 
at  a  certain  price,  be  substituted  in  their  place.  In  this  they  were  over 
ruled  ;  and  then,  sensible  of  the  mischief  that  might  arise  from  the  great 
bounties  given  by  the  other  States,  they  consented,  in  case  Massachu- 


322  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  1777. 

setts  and  New  Hampshire  would  reduce  their  bounty  to  thirty- 
three  dollars  and  one-third,  to  recommend  to  the  State  to  give  the  same 
bounty  to  our  soldiers,  which  was  agreed  to,  and  recommended 
accordingly. 

"  Our  Assembly,  with  reluctance,  for  the  sake  of  uniformity,  and  to 
avoid  what  they  considered  as  a  greater  evil,  acceded  to  the  recommend 
ation,  and  offered  the  proposed  bounty. 

"  I  must  leave  the  other  New  England  States  to  give  their  reasons  for 
the  measures  they  have  adopted,  and  only  add,  that  it  is  my  wish  and 
desire  that  all  jealousies  and  occasions  of  disunion,  and  animosity  of  the 
several  States,  may  be  avoided  and  laid  aside.  It  is  not  wonderful,  that 
diversity  of  sentiment  happens  at  a  time  that  government  is  so  far  con 
vulsed  and  unhinged.  It  is  necessary,  as  far  as  possible,  to  become  all 
things  to  all  men,  and  not  suffer  our  enemies  to  avail  themselves  of  any 
discord  or  disunion  among  these  States.  I  am,  Sir,  with  great  truth  and 
respect,  your  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

As  concerns  the  Main  Army  now,  under  Washington — to 
which  first,  in  connection  with  Trumbull,  we  direct  the 
Eeader's  attention — it  is  to  be  noted  that  it  was  the  policy  of 
the  Commander-in-chief,  just  at  this  time,  to  divert  the  forces 
of  the  enemy  from  Philadelphia.  In  January,  therefore,  he 
requested  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  to  place  the  quota  of 
troops  to  be  then  raised  in  his  State,  eastward  of  New  York — a 
request  with  which  the  latter  readily  complied.  He  proceed 
ed  to  collect  one  thousand  men  for  the  purpose — which  was 
the  proportion  for  Connecticut  in  sixteen  regiments  that  were 
to  be  levied  in  the  United  States. 

Early  in  March  again — when  great  apprehension  existed 
that  the  enemy  would  move  up  the  North  Eiver — a  pressing 
requisition  from  Washington  for  two  thousand  more  men — 
to  be  marched  to  Peekskill — reached  Trumbull.  "  I  am 
persuaded,"  said  Washington  upon  this  occasion — "  from  the 
readiness  with  which  you  have  ever  complied  with  all  my 
demands,  that  you  will  exert  yourself  in  forwarding  the 
above-mentioned  number  of  men,  upon  my  bare  request. — 
The  enemy  must  be  ignorant  of  our  numbers  and  situation, 
or  they  would  never  suffer  us  to  remain  unmolested ;  and  I 
almost  tax  myself  with  imprudence  in  committing  the  secret 
to  paper ;  not  that  I  distrust  you,  of  whose  inviolable  attach 
ment  I  have  had  so  many  proofs,  but  for  fear  the  letter 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  323 

should  by  any  accident  fall  into  other  hands  than  those 
for  which  it  is  intended." 

Trumbull  immediately  applied  himself  to  fulfil  this  last 
request  from  Washington.  He  issued  a  Proclamation  for 
the  purpose — directing  proportionate  detachments  of  men 
from  ten  Connecticut  regiments.  He  sent  special  letters  of 
instruction  to  the  field-officers  concerned — and  at  the  same 
time,  with  his  Council,  took  active  measures  for  filling  up 
the  regular  quotas  from  the  State  for  the  Continental  Army. 
Committees  of  aid  were  raised  in  each  town — and  by  order 
of  his  Council,  the  Governor  himself  stimulated  their  exer 
tion,  to  the  utmost — earnestly  recommending  "the  virtuous 
sons"  of  Connecticut — all,  "without  delay — to  offer  them 
selves  for  the  service  of  God  and  their  country,  in  the  right 
eous  cause,  and  to  prevent  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  the  fre 
quent  rotation  of  men  from  the  militia,"  whereby,  he  affirmed, 
"the  husbandry  and  manufactures  were  so  much  injured."* 

Nor  did  the  exertions  of  Trumbull  at  this  time  in  the  re 
cruiting  service  stop  here.  The  calls  for  fresh  troops  becom 
ing  incessant,  and  little  progress,  for  reasons  already  assigned, 
being  made  in  filling  up  the  Continental  battalions — the  Gov 
ernor  and  Council,  April  twelfth — for  the  purpose  of  hasten 
ing  the  completion  of  an  army — issued  a  joint  Proclamation. 
It  is  a  long,  and  in  parts,  an  eloquent  document — evidently 
written  by  the  Governor  himself — in  which  it  is  urged,  that 
the  time  swiftly  approaches,  nay  has  almost  arrived,  when, 
without  more  vigorous  and  successful  efforts,  all  will  be  lost — 

*  "  Not  unmindful,"  as  says  the  Record  of  his  own,  and  of  the  proceedings  of 
his  Council  at  the  time — "not  unmindful  of  the  difficulties  which  might  be  oc 
casioned  by  calling  away  so  many  men  at  that  busy  season  of  the  year,  yet  they 
[the  Governor  and  Council,]  considered  the  unspeakable  importance  of  the  cause ; 
that  the  biirthen  lay  equally  on  all  the  States  ;  that  the  contest  in  all  probability 
would  be  short,  if  the  people  would  be  true  to  themselves ;  that  the  war  would 
have  been  closed  even  before  that  time,  if  our  exertions  had  been  equal  to  the 
strength  which  God  had  given  the  country  for  defence ;  that  the  blessings  con 
tended  for  were  what  the  Almighty  had  bestowed  upon  us,  with  full  confidence 
that  we  would  continue  our  faithful  endeavors ;  that  future  generations  would  be 
established  in  the  best  and  highest  civil  and  religious  liberty,  or  bound  by  the 
most  galling  yoke  of  wretched  slavery,  according  to  our  conduct  and  exertions 
for  liberty  for  a  very  short  time  longer;  and  that  in  the  highest  probability,  had 
the  army  been  once  filled,  the  country  would  have  had  no  farther  occasion  to 
have  called  for  the  militia,  but  could  have  made  an  effectual  stand  against  all  the 
efforts  of  the  enemy,  with  a  fair  prospect  of  a  speedy  termination  of  the  war." 


324  CHAP.     XXVII. — TKUMBULL. 

and  that  the  great  laws  of  reason,  virtue,  and  self-preserva 
tion,  call  aloud  for  universal  attention  to  the  matter  of  enlist 
ments — which,  it  is  added,  cannot  longer  be  neglected  "with 
out  a  dismal  certain  prospect,  if  constant  rotations  of  the 
militia  and  husbandmen  must  be  called  off,  of  being  devoured 
by  famine  fn 

Well  might  the  Proclamation  thus  appear — for  at  this  time 
the  enemy  were  making  active  preparations  for  their  burning 
and  plundering  expeditions  up  the  North  Kiver  to  Peeks- 
kill — up  the  Sound,  for  Danbury,  and  wherever  else  along 
the  Connecticut  coast  they  might  find  magazines  of  military 
stores,  or  property  of  any  description,  to  seize  or  destroy. 
The  whole  western  frontier  of  the  State  was  reported  by 
General  Silliman  to  the  Governor,  as  being  in  consternation 
on  account  of  expected  hostile  attacks. 

Kaise  your  own  brigade  for  defence  then,  in  that  quarter, 
wrote  back  Trumbull — watch  the  enemy  most  vigilantly — 
give  me  the  earliest  intelligence  of  every  alarming  appear 
ance  in  your  department.  And  he  proceeded  himself  to  re 
new  his  own  orders  to  the  guards  all  along  the  coast  to  be  on 
the  alert.  He  sent  new  cannon,  and  powder,  and  shot,  for 
Stamford.  He  raised  a  new  company  of  artillery  for  Fair- 
field.  He  ordered  Colonel  Latimer,  with  a  fresh  troop  of 
two  hundred  men,  to  take  post  at  New  London.  He  mount 
ed  six  new  field  pieces  at  this  point,  and  in  Groton — and 
with  his  Council,  personally  inspected  the  fortifications  at 
both  these  places.  In  short,  as  in  previous  years,  the  Gov 
ernor  made  all  possible  preparation  to  ward  off  the  depreda 
tions  that  were  threatened. 

But  spite  of  every  precaution,  an  incursion  came — and,  for 
the  first  time,  the  foot  of  a  foreign  invader  pressed  the  soil 
of  old  Connecticut.  On  the  morning  of  April  the  twenty- 
fifth,  the  pestilent  Tryon  of  New  York — who  had  now  add 
ed  to  his  other  titles  that  of  a  Major  General  in  the  British 
service — attracted  by  the  fact  that  Danbury  had  become  a 
large  depot  for  military  stores — and  thirsting  to  avenge  him 
self  on  a  State  which  more  than  any  other — through  its  mili 
tia  especially  under  Wooster,  and  its  dashing  volunteers  un 
der  Captain  Sears — had  vexed  the  repose  of*  his  administra- 


1777.  CHAP.     XXVII. — TEUMBULL.  325 

tion< — disembarked,  from  an  imposing  naval  armament  of 
twenty-six  sail,  two  thousand  men  on  Cedar  Point,  the  eastern 
jaw  of  the  river  of  Saugatuc.  The  time  he  had  chosen  for 
his  enterprise  was,  for  him,  most  opportune.  Large  numbers 
of  the  male  population  of  Fairfield  County  were  away  de 
fending  the  soil  of  other  States.  And  without  serious  oppo 
sition,  therefore,  at  first — signalizing  his  march  by  scattering 
alarm  among  defenceless  women  and  children,  and  by  batter 
ing  a  church  at  Eeading  on  the  Ridge  with  volleys  of  can 
ister  and  grape — on  Saturday,  at  about  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon — with  a  proud  array  of  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artil 
lery — he  entered  the  fair  town  which  his  vengeance  had 
doomed  to  destruction. 

The  excesses  which  "characterize  an  unmerciful  and  exas 
perated  enemy,"  soon  followed.  Night  fell  upon  his  soldiers 
in  the  fumes  of  a  debauch — drunken,  most  of  them,  on  the 
stores  they  had  found  of  "rebel  rum" — lurching  as  they 
walked,  or  clinging  to  fences  or  trees,  or  lying  imbruted  and 
sprawling  in  streets  and  door-ways. 

Early  in  the  morning — morning  too  of  the  hallowed  day — "  while  it 
was  yet  dark,  the  signal  is  given,  and  on  a  sudden,  a  livid  and  unnatural 
glare  chases  night  from  the  sky.  The  torch  is  carried  from  house  to 
house,  and  from  store  to  store.  From  the  sacred  recesses  of  home,  from 
the  roofs  that  guard  the  hard-earned  savings  of  a  frugal  people,  the  fire 
breaks  upon  the  surrounding  darkness,  and  joins  in  the  general  havoc 
of  the  element.  The  aspiring  tongues  of  flame  climb  and  curl  around 
the  spire  of  the  Congregational  Church,  until  it  totters  and  falls  into  the 
burning  mass.  The  sun,  as  it  rises,  looks  only  upon  the  flickering  em 
bers  of  a  once  smiling  village,  save  where,  here  and  there,  a  solitary 
house  stood  unscathed,  but  branded  with  the  indelible  stigma,*  of  har 
boring  only  traitors  to  freedom.  By  the  cold  light  of  early  dawn,  is 
seen,  not  the  stealthy  savage,  but  the  disciplined  army  of  a  Christian 
king,  stealing  away  from  the  desolation  they  had  caused,  and  from  the 
avenger  on  their  heels,  while  the  aged  and  the  young,  the  sick,  the  help 
less,  and  the  infirm,  gather  round  the  smouldering  ashes,  for  that  warmth, 
which  is  all  that  is  left  of  the  comforts  of  home."t 

Nineteen  dwelling  houses,  the  Congregational  Church, 
twenty-two  stores  and  barns,  with  all  their  contents,  sixteen 

*  A  white  cross,  conspicuously  painted  on  every  tory's  dwelling,  and  outbuild 
ings,  and  on  the  Episcopal  Church. 
fHon.  H.  C.  Deming's  Oration  on  Gen.  David  Wooster. 
28 


326  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL. 

hundred  tents,  more  than  one  thousand  barrels  of  flour,  two 
thousand  bushels  of  grain,  several  hundred  barrels  of  beef, 
and  more  than  three  thousand  barrels  of  pork,  fell  a  prey  to 
the  devouring  element.  And  the  glutted  foe — vainly,  though 
bravely  opposed,  on  their  return  march,  by  seven  hundred 
undisciplined  militia,  under  the  intrepid,  but  death -doomed 
Wooster,  and  under  Silliman  and  Arnold — superior  numbers, 
and  their  own  resistless  showers  of  grape  and  small  shot, 
protecting  their  way — gained  in  safety  the  refuge  of  their 
ships. 

It  was  on  the  evening  of  the  very  day  on  which  Danbury 
was  thus  set  on  fire  by  the  British  troops  that  Trumbull,  by 
express,  received  news  of  the  startling  event.  There  he  was 
at  the  time — at  Lebanon — sitting  with  his  Council  on  the 
Lord's  Day — as  frequently,  during  the  war,  he  was  obliged 
to  do.  All  the  day  before,  he  had  been  exceedingly  busy. 
He  had  been  preparing  and  sending  letters  on  to  Boston  and 
New  Hampshire,  pressing  the  authorities  there  to  hasten  their 
troops  forward  to  General  Gates  at  the  North.  He  had  been 
arranging  for  a  guard  of  "four  men,  each  night,  two  at  a 
time,"  for  the  important  foundry  at  Salisbury.  He  had 
been  writing  instructions  to  the  naval  agent  of  Connecticut 
at  Boston,  Mr.  Elliot,  in  regard  to  Connecticut  prizes — three 
valuable  ones,  which  one  of  his  own  commissioned  naval 
officers — Captain  Smedley  of  the  brig  Defence — had  then 
recently  taken,  and  carried  into  ports  at  the  east.  The  day 
following,  he  doubtless  thought,  while  thus  engaged — was  to 
bring  him  relief  from  labors  like  these,  and  the  grateful 
repose  of  pious  devotion.  But  War  knows  no  Sabbaths. 
The  evening  of  Saturday  found  a  panting  post-rider  at  his 
door  with  the  report  that  Tryon  had  just  landed  at  Cedar 
Point,  and  that  other  ships  of  the  enemy  were  making  their 
predatory  way  up  the  North  Eiver.  And  now,  Sunday  eve 
ning — Danbury,  he  heard,  was  in  ashes.* 

*  "  Amidst  this  scene  of  fear  and  sympathy,  of  hurry  and  flight,  a  Mrs.  Clark, 
wife  of  Capt.  James  Clark,  a  woman  of  singular  fortitude,  remained  after  the 
inhabitants  had  retired,  to  dispose  of  her  family  and  secure  her  goods,  and  was 
in  fact  the  last  whig  female  that  left  the  town  upon  the  entrance  of  the  enemy." 
(From  "  Eemarks  upon  the  British  Expedition  to  Danbury,"  by  Elisha  D.  Whit- 
tlesey,  in  the  New  York  Historical  Society's  Collections,  2d  Series,  Vol.  II.,  Part 
I.,  p.  230.) 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  327 

To  the  new  and  perilous  crisis,  therefore,  he  turned  at 
once,  and  met  it  with  anxious  consultation,  and  ready  expe 
dients.  He  ordered  General  Huntington  on  to  the  scene  of 
danger.  He  armed  him  with  power  to  collect  the  militia  in 
the  western  quarter  of  the  State,  and  to  hurry  up  the  Conti 
nental  troops.  Apprehending  that  the  enemy  might  sud 
denly  change  their  point  of  attack  from  the  western  to  the 
eastern  parts  of  the  State,  he  instructed  the  Colonels  of  four 
eastern  regiments  to  hold  their  companies  in  readiness  "to 
act  on  the  most  sudden  alarm" — and  at  the  same  time 
ordered  stores,  for  every  emergency,  to  be  provided  in  all  the 
towns  of  the  State. 

The  measures  thus  taken  fortunately  warded  off  any  im 
mediate  renewal  of  aggressions  upon  Connecticut.  Tryon, 
dreading  the  alarm  his  expedition  had  created — after  lying 
for  awhile  at  his  anchorage  in  the  harbor  of  Huntington, 
Long  Island — returned  to  New  York — and  Governor  Trum- 
bull,  from  rendering  military  support  to  those  who  had  suf 
fered  by  the  wanton  incursion  of  the  British  General,  turned 
to  aid  them  in  a  new  form. 

Many  tories  at  Danbury,  and  even  certain  parties  among 
the  American  troops  there — low,  unprincipled  militia-men 
and  others — taking  advantage  of  the  general  confusion  and 
alarm,  plundered  the  distressed  inhabitants  of  such  goods 
and  effects  as  chance,  or  the  neglect  of  the  enemy  had  left 
them — and  to  such  an  extent  as  to  call  loudly  for  the  inter 
ference  of  the  power  of  the  State.  This  power  was  promptly 
applied — and  in  the  shape  of  a  public  Proclamation  from 
Trumbull  himself — who — after  reciting  the  outrage,  and 
launching  against  it  his  loudest  rebuke — commanded  every 
offender,  and  every  person  who  had  either  found  or  taken 
any  effects  of  the  sufferers,  straightway  to  make  restitution — 
under  penalty,  for  neglect  or  disobedience,  of  suffering  the 
full  pains  of  the  laws  against  theft  and  larceny.  And  he 
empowered  the  Civil  Authority  and  Selectmen  of  towns,  and 
Grand  Juries,  to  take  the  most  vigilant  measures  for  carrying 
this  his  command  into  effect.  They  were  to  call  before  them 
all  suspected  persons  whomsoever — and  examine  them — and 
the  same  report  to  the  Governor — in  order  that — as  his  Proc- 


328  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  lilt. 

lamation  concludes — "justice  may  be  done  against  such 
high-handed  offenders — that  all  may  be  made  to  know 
that  the  persons  and  properties  of  all  the  inhabitants  of 
this  State,  whatever  their  character  or  denominations  may 
be,  all  shall  be  protected  against  such  daring  violations 
thereof." 

The  interval  which  succeeded  the  Danbury  Alarm — 
down  to  the  time  when  Washington  marched  with  his 
main  army  southward  towards  Philadelphia — both  so  far 
as  regards  the  defence  of  the  western  frontiers  of  Connec 
ticut,  and  of  its  sea-coast — was  occupied  by  Trumbull  in 
a  manner  quite  similar  to  that  which  we  have  already 
described. 

So  far  as  troops  are  concerned,  he  had  to  raise  two  new  bat 
talions,  of  seven  hundred  and  twenty-eight  men  each — one 
new  company  of  Kangers,  consisting  of  ninety  men,  which 
the  General  Assembly  placed  under  his  own  particular  direc 
tion — and  one  new  company  of  Artillery-men.  All  of  these 
he  had,  of  course,  to  supply — to  distribute  at  various  points, 
or  keep  in  readiness  every  moment  for  action. 

As  a  renewed  attack  upon  Connecticut,  or  its  neighbor 
hood — or  up  the  North  Kiver — was  a  matter  of  daily  expecta 
tion,  he  ordered  General  Silliman's  brigade,  and  one-fourth 
of  General  Ward's,  to  be  prepared  for  an  instantaneous  march 
to  the  western  border.  He  directed  Colonel  Ely  to  gather 
the  residue  of  his  regiment  at  New  London — Colonel  Enos 
to  gather  his  own  soon  as  possible  at  Newhaven — and 
Colonel  Douglas  to  be  ready  with  the  companies  of  his  bri 
gade  to  march  to  any  place  attacked.  He  sent  one-quarter  of 
seven  regiments  of  militia  and  of  the  Alarm  List,  to  man  the 
forts  of  New  London  and  Groton.  He  detained  four  hund 
red  Continental  troops  under  General  Parsons  to  defend 
Greenwich  and  the  adjacent  country.  He  provided  addi 
tional  cannon,  round  shot,  grape  shot,  powder — of  which  he 
made  large  collections — ammunition-carts,  draught  horses, 
tools,  utensils,  and  provisions,  for  the  fortifications,  soldiers, 
and  guards  along  the  whole  sea-line  and  western  line  of  the 
State.  He  gave  orders  continually  to  artificers,  paymasters, 
muster-masters,  and  commissaries  in  every  direction.  He 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  329 

sent  instructions  constantly  to  the  chief  commanding  officers 
throughout  the  State.* 

And  well  was  Trumbull  rewarded  for  this  his  extraordi 
nary  activity  of  preparation — for  during  the  whole  interval 
with  which  we  are  now  concerned,  he  kept  the  enemy  at  bay. 
They  had  no  opportunity  to  penetrate  Connecticut.  On  the 
other  hand,  they  found  themselves,  on  one  brilliant  occasion, 
attacked  and  overpowered  by  some  of  the  forces  that  Trum 
bull  had  raised.  We  refer  to  the  gallant  expedition  of 
Colonel  Meigs  from  Sachem's  Head  to  Sag  Harbor.  How 
must  the  Governor's  heart  have  thrilled  with  satisfaction, 
when — in  the  beginning  of  June — he  read  the  following  let 
ter — dated  Newhaven,  May  thirtieth — from  General  Parsons! 

"  I  sincerely  congratulate  your  Honor,"  proceeds  the  General — "  on 
the  success  of  our  arms  on  Long  Island.  Col.  Meigs  left  Sachem's  Head 
on  Friday,  at  1  o'clock,  P.  M.,  with  a  detachment  of  160  men,  officers 
included,  and  landed  within  three  miles  of  Sag  Harbor,  about  one  at 
night ;  and  having  made  the  proper  arrangement  for  attacking  the  en 
emy  in  five  different  places,  proceeded  in  the  greatest  order  and  silence 
within  twenty  rods  of  the  enemy,  when  they  rushed  on  with  fixed  bayo 
nets,  upon  the  different  barracks,  guards,  and  quarters  of  the  enemy ; 
while  Capt.  Troop,  with  a  party  under  his  command,  at  the  same  time, 
took  possession  of  the  wharves  and  vessels  lying  there.  The  alarm  soon 
became  general,  and  an  incessant  fire  of  grape  and  round  shot  was  kept 
up  from  an  armed  schooner  of  twelve  guns,  which  lay  within  150  yards 
of  the  wharves,  for  near  an  hour ;  notwithstanding  which,  the  party 

*  Here  is  a  specimen  of  his  instructions  in  one  instance  to  a  commanding  offi 
cer.  We  give  it  but  as  one  out  of  hundreds  of  similar  communications. 

"  You  will  take  care,"  he  wrote  Colonel  Ely  at  New  London,  July  eighteenth — 
"that  the  men  are  kept  clean,  and  to  duty.  *  *  You  will  take  care  and  pre 
vent  all  kinds  of  embezzlements  and  abuses  of  arms,  ordnance  stores,  tools,  and 
iitensils  owned  by  the  public.  *  *  You  will  take  care  that  the  military  offi 
cers  and  the  matrosses  attend,  and  do  faithfully  their  duty,  and  from  time  to  time 
give  information  and  all  needful  intelligence  to  this  Board.  You  will  attend  to 
the  services  to  be  performed  by  every  part  of  your  regiment ;  to  see  them  duly 
ordered  and  performed,  and  direct  advice  to  be  given  you  in  case  of  the  appearance 
of  an  enemy,  or  an  attack ;  you  will  put  all  in  proper  posture  of  defence,  and  on 
every  necessary  occasion  forward  intelligence  to  me,  and  make  needful  alarms. 
You  will  give  the  necessary  orders  for  preventing  the  landing  of  the  enemy.  You 
will,  as  soon  as  may  be,  send  me  a  return  of  your  regiment,  in  due  form.  And 
you  will  attend  and  obey  all  orders  you  may  receive  from  me,  or  other  your  su 
perior  officers.  You  are  also  to  take  care,  and  make  all  proper  enquiry  of  all 
such  vessels,  boats,  &c. ,  as  pass  the  fort,  and  attend  to  the  law  and  the  orders 
which  may  be  further  given  for  your  direction." 


330  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  1777. 

burnt  all  the  vessels  at  the  wharf,  killed  and  captured  all  the  men  who 
belonged  to  them,  destroyed  about  one  hundred  tons  of  hay,  large  quan 
tities  of  grain,  ten  hogsheads  of  rum,  and  other  West  India  goods,  and 
secured  all  the  soldiers  who  were  stationed  there ;  the  prisoners  are  about 
ninety,  among  whom  are  Mr.  Chew  and  Mr.  Bell.  I  have  the  satisfac 
tion  of  being  informed  that  the  officers  and  men,  without  exception,  be 
haved  with  the  greatest  order  and  bravery,  and  not  a  man  on  our  side 
either  killed  or  wounded. 

44  Eleven  vessels,  great  and  small,  were  destroyed  in  the  above  affair, 
and  the  prisoners  taken  were  about  one-third  seamen — the  others  gener 
ally  American  recruits,  and  sent  to  Hartford."* 

The  residue  of  the  year  1777 — so  far  as  the  Home  Defence 
which  we  have  now  under  consideration,  is  concerned,  was 
spent  by  Trumbull  in  services  such  in  the  main  as  those  that 
have  now  been  described.  Save  in  his  addition,  in  Septem 
ber,  to  the  troops  on  the  seashore,  of  the  new  company  of 
Kangers  ordered  in  May — under  Peter  Griffing,  whom  he 
commissioned  as  commander — and  save  also  exertions  which 
he  made,  during  the  fall,  to  fill  up  the  two  battalions,  of 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-eight  men  each,  that  had  been 
specially  ordered  for  the  defence  of  the  State — nothing 
occurred  in  this  department  to  vary  his  former  routine  of 
duties. 

As  regards  supplies — during  the  whole  of  the  year  1777 — 
notwithstanding  the  removal  of  the  Main  Army  under  Wash 
ington  from  Connecticut  and  vicinity  to  a  new  region  around 
Philadelphia,  whence  it  might  have  been  expected  to  have 
drawn  its  support — Trumbull  seems  to  have  been  equally 
laborious  as  in  the  two  preceding  years.  Embargoes  and 
permits,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  provisions  of  various 
sorts,  were  quite  as  numerous  this  year  as  before — the  latter, 
even  more  so.  He  gave  them  for  the  transportation  of  West 
India  goods  to  the  army  in  New  York,  and  of  sugar,  rum, 
tea,  and  coffee,  to  the  army  in  New  Jersey.  He  gave  them 

*  As  a  mark  of  their  approbation  of  the  conduct  of  Colonel  Meigs  upon  this 
occasion,  "  Congress,"  says  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  4<  directed  a  sword  to  be  pre 
sented  to  him,  and  passed  a  resolution  expressive  of  the  high  sense  entertained 
of  his  merit,  and  of  the  prudence,  activity,  and  valor,  displayed  by  himself  and 
his  party,  in  this  expedition." — He  moved  in  it  "  with  such  uncommon  celerity, 
as  to  have  transported  his  men,  by  land  and  water,  ninety  miles  in  twenty-five 
hours." 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVII. — TRUMBULL.  331 

for  flax  to  be  carried  into  Massachusetts,  and  made  into 
clothes  for  the  American  troops.  He  gave  them  for  vessels 
to  go  out  with  produce  to  the  West  Indies,  and  return  loaded 
with  salt  and  munitions  of  war.*  It  was  his  policy  to  keep 
the  State  stocked  with  the  various  articles  necessary  for  sub 
sistence — and  he  succeeded — so  that  he  was  not  only  able  to 
provide,  to  a  great  extent,  for  the  American  army,  but  also 
for  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  other  States,  when  they  were 
in  want — as  he  did,  upon  several  occasions,  for  some  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  for  the  inhabitants  also  of  Kan- 
tucket.  Connecticut,  under  his  wise  administration  of  its 
resources,  became  known  throughout  the  War  of  the  Eevo- 
lution,  as  emphatically  "the  PKO VISION  STATE!  " 

*  He  gave  them  for  numerous  transport  wagons,  that  with  grain,  butter,  cheese, 
pork,  and  beef,  were  destined  for  various  points  in  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey, 
and  even  distant  Pennsylvania.  Once,  on  account  of  a  deficiency  in  flour,  he 
sent  the  Spy,  Capt.  Niles,  to  Virginia  to  procure  it — and  once  to  Bedford  for 
goods. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 
1777. 

hears  that  the  British  fleet  has  sailed  southward,  hut  may 
speedily  return.  His  preparations  in  consequence.  Himself  and 
Rhode  Island  military  affairs.  Military  affairs  at  the  North.  Trum- 
"bull  continues  to  strengthen  the  army  there.  An  interview  "between 
him  and  a  deputation  of  Oneida  warriors — whom  he  conciliates  with  a 
"talk,"  and  with  presents.  Burgoyne's  unchecked  progress  south 
wards.  Defeat  of  General  St.  Clair.  The  shock  to  the  American 
people  in  consequence.  Trumtmll  expresses  his  own  hitter  disap 
pointment  in  letters  to  his  son  in  law  Williams.  These  letters. 
Notwithstanding  defeat,  he  is  still  active  to  reenforce  the  army.  The 
tide  turns  Battle  of  Saratoga,  and  triumph  of  the  American  arms. 
Joy  of  Trumhull.  He  participates  in  a  solemn  Thanksgiving  in  the 
Church  at  Hartford. 

WHEN  the  British  fleet,  in  August,  had  sailed  southward, 
and  it  was  apprehended  that  its  movement  was  only  a 
decoy — that,  taking  advantage  of  Washington's  march  with 
the  Main  Army  towards  Philadelphia,  it  would  return,  and 
attack  the  posts  in  the  Highlands,  on  the  North  River,  and 
perhaps  Connecticut  again — Trumbull  was  informed  of  the 
exigency,  and  called  upon  for  more  troops,  by  an  Express 
which  reached  him  at  Lebanon.* 

At  this  time  a  Convention  of  New  England  Committees 
happened  to  be  sitting  at  Springfield — and  availing  himself, 
therefore,  of  so  large  and  authoritative  an  Assembly,  Trum 
bull  at  once  informed  its  members  of  the  communication 
he  had  received,  and  asked  their  advice  and  cooperation. 
He  asked  also  for  ammunition.  And  when  informed — 

*  "  You  may  think  it  not  necessary  to  keep  a  party  at  the  White  Plains,  but, 
unless  we  do,  the  inhabitants  will  be  ruined ;  their  grass,  grain,  and  cattle  will 
all  be  taken  off  by  the  enemy.  There  are  seven  hundred  militia  at  the  forts 
and  different  posts,  whose  time  is  out  to-day,  and  must  be  discharged.  I  have 
advised  with  General  Clinton  in  respect  to  calling  in  the  militia,  and  concluded 
that  one  thousand  should  be  called  for  immediately,  five  hundred  from  Connecti 
cut,  and  five  hundred  from  this  State ;  and  an  express  was  immediately  sent  off 
to  Governor  Trumbull,  requesting  them  to  be  sent  without  delay." — Gen.  Putnam 
to  Washington,  July  31, 1777. 


CHAP.    XXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  333 

as  lie  was,  immediately,  by  General  Silliman,  and  General 
Oliver  Wolcott — that,  upon  his  intelligence,  they  had 
ordered  detachments  of  men  to  Peekskill,  he  wrote 
them  letters  highly  approving  of  their  conduct,  and  sent 
a  whole  wagon-load  of  flints  on  after  the  troops  to 
"Woodbury. 

At  the  same  time  he  ordered  General  Erastus  Wolcott  to 
draft  four  hundred  additional  men  from  his  own  brigade,  and 
send  them  to  the  same  point  on  horseback — and  to  the  same 
point,  in  September,  he  ordered  three  hundred  more  from  the 
same  General's  brigade,  and  three  hundred  from  General 
Ward's  command.  In  November  again — collecting  two 
hundred  additional  men  from  each  of  the  brigades  of  Generals 
Silliman,  Oliver  Wolcott,  and  Ward — and  augmenting  this 
force  with  the  entire  regiment  of  Colonel  Ely- — and  providing 
them  all  with  tents,  and  with  six  hundred  new  camp  kettles 
from  the  furnace  at  Salisbury — he  sent  the  whole  body  on  to 
Peekskill — to  cooperate  with  the  troops  already  there  under 
General  Putnam,  for  the  defence  of  Connecticut  and  "  these 
United  States." 

His  consultations  with  his  Council,  just  at  this  juncture, 
were  very  constant.  Dispatches  flew  from  his  Office  at  Leba 
non  to  Putnam,  to  Washington,  and  to  Congress — and  from 
the  same  point  also  to  Providence  and  Boston — with  each 
particular  of  important  news,  as  from  time  to  time,  from 
the  westward,  it  reached  his  own  door.*  -  Up  nearly  to  Sep 
tember — ere  the  destination  of  Howe's  army  was  certainly 
known — it  was  a  period  indeed  of  intense  anxiety  to  all 
New  England — and  to  no  man  in  this  region  probably 
as  much  so,  considering  the  peculiar  exertion  he  was  called 
upon  to  make,  as  to  Trumbull.  It  must,  therefore,  to  his 
mind  in  particular  have  been  "a  moment  of  great  relief, 
when,  August  twenty-second,  Washington  wrote — "  the 
enemy's  fleet  have  entered  Chesapeake.  There  is  not  the 
least  danger  of  Howe's  going  to  New  England.  Forward 
this  account  to  Goy.  Trumbull,  to  be  by  him  sent  on  to  the 
eastward." 

*  "  Spent  the  day  in  preparing  letters,  and  sending  expresses  " — is  a  frequent 
entry  upon  the  Records  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  at  this  period. 


334  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TKUMBULL.  1777. 

And  the  Eastward,  at  this  time,  was  also  again  a  point  of 
anxiety  and  labor  for  the  Governor  of  Connecticut.  The 
enemy  still  lay  at  Newport.  The  plan  was  to  dislodge  them, 
and  to  this  plan  Trumbull  applied  his  usual  energies.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  year  he  consulted  with  his  Council  about  it. 
He  commissioned  Captains  of  companies  for  the  purpose. 
General  Spencer  came  once  and  again  to  visit  him  in  person 
at  Lebanon,  seeking  further  aid  of  men  and  means — and  was 
authorized,  in  case  he  could  procure  cooperation  from  Massa 
chusetts,  to  call  upon  a  number  of  officers  in  the  eastern  part 
of  Connecticut,  for  additional  troops. 

In  the  spring,  Governor  Trumbull  sent  him  five  companies 
of  militia,  and  one  thousand  pounds. 

As  the  autumn  approached,  he  sent  him,  first,  fifty -three 
men  more — then  a  lieutenant  and  twenty -four  privates,  with 
wrought  iron  field  pieces,  and  suitable  horses  and  harnesses, 
from  Norwich — and  next,  in  October,  renewed  the  order 
for  Colonel  Ely's  regiment  to  join  him,  and  sent  teams 
to  transport  the  baggage  of  the  regiment,  and  continental 
stores. 

And  when — near  the  close  of  1777 — the  Governor  and 
Council  of  War  of  Khode  Island  informed  him  of  the  great 
danger  to  Providence  from  the  hostile  ships  of  war  then  at 
Newport,  and  of  the  daily  expectation  of  an  attack  upon 
this  town — Trumbull,  upon  the  emergency,  crowned  his 
labors  for  the  year  for  Khode  Island,  by  ordering  five  hund 
red  additional  men,  from  the  first  and  fifth  brigades  of  Con 
necticut,  to  be  marched,  without  delay,  to  the  point  of 
danger. 

But  the  expedition  proved  a  failure.  There  was  not  force 
enough  in  Ehode  Island  to  dislodge  the  enemy.  General 
Spencer,  it  is  true,  proposed  to  assail  the  foe  at  Newport,  by 
a  landing  at  Rowland's  ferry — on  a  point  of  land  which  pro 
jects  from  the  island — and  he  erected  a  battery  upon  high 
grounds  on  the  opposite  shore.  Do  not  make  the  attempt 
without  the  strongest  probability  of  success,  was,  however, 
his  direction  from  General  Washington — "  it  is  right  not  to 
risk  a  miscarriage."  So  the  attempt,  under  the  circumstances, 
with  an  inferior  force,  and  one  composed  too,  chiefly,  of 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TKUMBULL.  335 

raw  militia — was  abandoned,  as  too  hazardous.  It  was  a 
disappointment  to  Trumbull.  The  gentlemen,*  however, 
whom,  in  November,  at  the  request  of  General  Spencer,  he 
commissioned — with  others  from  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island — to  inquire  into  the  reasons  of  the  failure  of  the  ex 
pedition,  reported  extenuating  causes,  and  Trumbull  acqui 
esced. 

Better  success  awaited  his  hopes  and  labors  in  another 
quarter — the  Department  of  the  North — to  which  now  we 
again  turn  the  Reader's  attention — a  department  where,  it 
will  be  remembered,  Trumbull  took  at  all  times  the  in- 
tensest  interest,  and  which,  therefore,  we  shall  look  at  some 
what  closely. 

The  termination  of  the  Campaign  of  1776  in  this  quarter, 
saw  the  American  army,  by  the  expiration  of  enlistments, 
almost  dissolved.  Hardly  troops  enough  were  left  there  to 
keep  up  an  appearance  even  of  garrisons  in  the  forts.  They 
were  so  weak  that  serious  apprehensions  were  entertained 
that  the  enemy,  in  case  Lake  Champlain  should  be  frozen 
over,  would  cross  the  ice,  and  carry  Ticonderoga  by  a  coup 
de  main.  Schuyler,  to  be  sure — who  had  now,  on  the  resig 
nation  of  Gates,  accepted  the  chief  command — was  busy 
during  the  winter  in  making  arrangements  for  the  defence 
of  Lake  George,  and  in  preparing  generally  for  the  ensuing 
campaign.  But  the  business  of  recruiting  went  on  very 
slowly.  Spring  had  far  advanced,  and  still  but  a  very  small 
force  had  been  collected — a  small  fraction  only  of  the  fifteen 
thousand  men,  whom,  in  his  plan  for  the  campaign,  he 
required. 

The  British,  on  the  other  hand,  were  exceedingly  active. 
Burgoyne  had  passed  the  winter  in  England — where  a  plan 
for  penetrating  to  the  Hudson  from  Canada  by  way  of  the 
Lakes — one  portion  of  the  enemy  by  this  route,  and  another, 
to  cooperate  and  ultimately  join  it,  by  way  of  Oswego  and 
the  Mohawk  River — was  completely  arranged  by  himself 

*  These  Commissioners  were,  Gen.  Jabez  Huntington,  Brigadier  Gen.  E.  Wol- 
cott,  and  Nathaniel  Wales,  Jr.,  who  repaired  to  Providence  for  the  investigation. 
Trumbull  subsequently  transmitted  the  doings  of  this  Court  of  Inquiry,  with  an 
accompanying  letter,  to  Congress,  and  this  Body  referred  the  whole  matter  over 
to  a  Committee. 


336  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1777. 

and  the  British.  Ministry.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan, 
troops  embarked  from  England  in  the  spring  soon  as  it 
was  practicable  to  sail  up  the  St.  Lawrence.  Colonel  St. 
Leger,  with  a  party  composed  of  new-raised  Canadians, 
American  tories,  a  few  Europeans,  and  a  powerful  body 
of  Indians,  marched  for  Oswego.  And  General  Burgoyne 
in  person — in  full  force  in  May  on  the  river  Boquet,  on 
the  western  bank  of  Lake  Champlain — soon  advanced  on 
both  sides  this  lake,  until,  July  first,  his  van  appeared 
within  three  miles  of  Ticonderoga,  and  threw  up  works 
of  defence — the  van  of  a  formidable  army  indeed,  which — 
furnished  abundantly  with  every  military  equipment,  and 
commanded  by  officers  of  the  first  reputation,  and  with 
a  train  of  artillery  the  most  powerful  ever  annexed  to 
such  an  army — prepared  for  an  immediate  attack  upon 
the  Fort. 

But  about  three  thousand  men  at  this  time  garrisoned  the 
Fort — and  these,  through  the  industry  of  Schuyler,  had 
been  supplied  with  necessary  stores,  without  calling  much 
for  aid  except  in  the  adjoining  country  of  New-York,  New- 
Hampshire,  and  Massachusetts. 

Governor  Trumbull,  therefore,  had  not,  as  in  the  two  pre 
ceding  years,  been  overburdened  with  duty  for  the  Northern 
Department.  Still  both  in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1777, 
he  had  done  something  for  it — for  it  was  never  out  of  his 
mind.  Early  as  February,  he  had  received  a  letter  from 
Schuyler,  which  expressed  very  strong  expectation  of  a 
speedy  attack  on  Ticonderoga,  and  pressed  for  men  and  sup 
plies.  In  April  he  received  another,  to  the  same  effect,  from 
General  Gates,  with  a  request  that  he  would  communicate 
the  information  to  Massachusetts,  and  New-Hampshire,  and 
urge  on  their  preparations.  In  June  he  received  other  let 
ters  of  similar  purport,  from  Colonel  Burrall,  General  Poor, 
and  General  Fellows.  To  all  these  communications  he  paid 
attention,  and  sent  on  men,  more  or  less,  to  reenforce  the 
army — at  one  time  drafting  one-half  of  Colonel  Burrall's 
regiment  for  the  purpose,  and  equipping  them  fully  to 
march,  all  or  a  part,  as  the  exigency  of  the  case  might 
require. 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TKUMBULL.  337 

Nor,  prior  to  the  appearance  of  Burgoyne's  army  before 
Ticonderoga,  did  he  forget  to  aid  the  service  at  the  North  by 
continuing  to  exert  a  favorable  influence  upon  the  Indians 
of  the  Six  Nations — particularly  the  Oneidas — in  detaching 
them  from  the  British,  and  allying  them  to  American  inter 
ests.  He  was  familiar  with  all  their  conferences  and  treaties 
hitherto,  with  Schuyler,  and  with  others — and  now,  in  March 
of  the  present  year,  himself  and  his  Council  were  visited  by 
a  deputation  of  their  warriors  from  Oneida,  accompanied  by 
Mr.  Kirtland — and  "they  held  a  long  talk"  together — just 
as  in  January  the  Governor  had  done  with  fifteen  of  the 
Chagnawaga  Chiefs.* 

These  warriors  were  travelling  through  the  States  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  information  regarding  the  war,  and  of 
reporting  to  the  Six  Nations.  Governor  Trumbull  received 
them  with  great  hospitality.  He  repeatedly  met  them  before 
his  Council.  He  listened  to  their  speeches,  and  made  appro 
priate  replies — and  after  thoroughly  conciliating  their  friend 
ship  and  good  wishes  in  behalf  of  the  American  cause,  dis 
missed  them,  with  handsome  presents — among  other  things, 
with  a  finished  gun,  gun-lock,  belt,  and  strings! — to  pursue 
their  journey.  Kayendalongueva — Williamko,  head  war 
rior — Thaghnegtotis,  pine  splinter — Hendrake,  second  war 
rior — Shaleslago,  blazing  spear — Quedd,  alias  Peter — Yegh- 
leytitzi,  alias  Joseph — Thaghlaghquisene,  alias  William — 
and  Yolonghyagewea,  clear  sky — left  Lebanon  highly  de 
lighted,  and  carried  back  to  their  Indian  allies  most  favorable 
reports  both  of  the  "  Chief"  of  Connecticut,  and  of  New- 
England  generally. 

June  30.  "  Advice  was  received  from  Gen.  Schuyler,"  say  the  Pro 
ceedings  of  the  Council  of  Safety  at  this  date — "  that  the  British  fleet 
and  army  had  advanced  as  far  as  Crown  Point,  and  that  a  strong  party 

*  "  On  the  15th  instant  there  came  15  of  the  Chagnawaga  chiefs  or  great  men, 
to  see  my  father,  and  are  now  on  their  way  to  camp  " — says  David  Trumbull  in  a 
letter  from  Lebanon,  Jan.  14, 1777,  to  his  brother  Joseph. 

fThe  gun,  which  was  a  beautiful  article,  costing  twenty-three  dollars,  was  pro 
cured  by  Colonel  Elderkin — and  the  Governor's  son-in-law,  Col.  Huntington, 
furnished  the  lock,  which  was  of  very  curious  and  elaborate  construction.  They 
were  both  manufactured  in  Connecticut,  and  were  presented  avowedly  as  speci 
mens  of  American  manufacture. 
29 


338  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TRUMBULL. 

had  gone  by  way  of  the  Creek,  for  the  purpose  of  falling  in  between 
Ticonderoga  and  Skenesborough — and  that  another  detachment  had 
marched  on  the  west  side  of  Lake  George,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  cut  off 
Lake  George,  &c.,  and  requested  that  the  militia  might  be  ordered  to 
march  soon  as  possible  to  their  assistance,  and  rendezvous  either  at  Fort 
Edward  or  Fort  Ann." 

Here  commenced  with  the  Governor  again  active  duties  for 
the  Northern  Department.  He  immediately  made  General 
Wolcott  aware  of  the  impending  danger,  and  instructed  him 
to  hold  his  whole  brigade  in  readiness  for  service — to  draft  by 
rotation  one-half  of  it — and  upon  such  information  as  he 
should  receive,  to  march  for  the  assistance  of  the  Northern 
army,  or  for  the  relief  of  any  place  attacked,  either  on  the 
North  River,  or  at  the  Northward.  And  at  the  same  time 
he  sent  to  Wolcott  a  team  loaded  with  powder,  lead,  and 
flints,  and  directed  him  to  procure  from  Salisbury  a  load  of 
cannon  shot. 

But  the  reenforcements  from  Connecticut,  as  well  as  those 
from  other  States,  came  all  too '  late  for  General  St.  Clair. 
On  the  fifth  of  July,  in  the  night,  with  all  his  troops,  his  in 
valids,  and  stores — believing  that  he  could  not  withstand  the 
superior  force  of  the  enemy — he  evacuated  Ticonderoga,  and 
Mount  Independence.  And,  taking  his  way — a  portion  of 
his  troops  through  Castleton  by  land,  and  a  portion  by  water 
to  Skenesborough — amid  disaster  after  disaster,  at  Castle- 
ton — at  Skenesborough — at  Fort  Ann — and  in  every  direc 
tion  in  the  neighborhood  of  these  places — with  total  loss  of 
his  military  stores — without  baggage — badly  armed,  and 
thoroughly  dispirited  by  defeat — he  at  last  joined  General 
Schuyler  at  Fort  Edward. 

This  was  a  terrible  shock  to  the  whole  American  people. 
The  necessity  for  evacuating  Ticonderoga  could  not  be  un 
derstood,  and  the  act  was  almost  universally,  in  the  first  im 
pulses  of  disappointment  and  passion,  condemned  as  one  of 
cowardice,  or  treachery,  or  of  both.  There  was  the  fort 
there — with  a  garrison  reported  by  Schuyler  as  consisting  of 
no  less  than  five  thousand  men — a  force  not  inferior,  it  was 
supposed,  to  that  of  the  invading  army — with  a  supply  of 
provisions  and  military  stores  understood  to  be  most  ample — 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  839 

with  fortifications,  the  key  to  the  whole  western  country,  upon 
which  a  vast  quantity  of  money  and  labor  had  been  ex 
pended — with  a  train  of  artillery  consisting  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  pieces — there  was  this  fort,  thus  complete 
and  deemed  invulnerable,  abandoned  without  a  siege — with 
all  its  stores  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy — and  its  fly 
ing  army  attacked,  defeated,  and  dispersed,  by  an  ostenta 
tious,  galling,  and  triumphant  foe !  Astonishment  seized  the 
minds  of  all  men — but  upon  no  one  did  the  blow  fall  with 
more  stunning  effect  than  upon  the  energetic  Governor  of 
Connecticut,  who  had  so  long,  with  warmest  anticipations  of 
success,  nursed  the  defence  of  the  North.  With  Washing 
ton,  and  as  Washington  expressed  himself  at  the  time,  he 
felt  it  to  be  "an  event  of  chagrin  and  surprise  not  apper 
taining  nor  within  the  compass  of  his  reasoning."  And  in 
a  letter,  July  fourteenth,  to  his  son-in-law  Williams,  he  gave 
vent  to  his  feelings  in  language  of  patriotic  regret  and 
remonstrance. 

"  There  must  be  some  very  material  circumstances,"  he  wrote — "  in 
addition  to  what  I  now  know,  before  I  can  conceive  the  necessity,  that  a 
garrison,  well  filled  with  provisions,  ammunition,  and  military  stores, 
with  above  one  hundred  cannon  &c.,  and  between  three  and  four  thousand 
men — I  believe  more,  for  Col.  Robinson,  with  six  or  seven  hundred  men, 
went  in  with  militia  just  before  this  evacuation — should  be  abandoned — 
at  the  appearance  of  an  enemy.  I  say  the  appearance  only,  because  I 
don't  learn  that  a  gun  had  been  fired,  save  by  some  scouting  parties  &c. 
But  Heaven  hath  so  decreed — it  must  be  so.  God  will  save  us  in  the 
way  that  seems  good  to  him.  The  future  kind  interposition  of  Provi 
dence  is  my  support.  *  *  Hath  not  some  internal  enemy  had  a  hand 
in  this?  Will  not  their  mischief  and  spite  recoil  on  their  guilty  heads? '' 

Trumbull,  it  will  be  observed,  more  than  hints  his  appre 
hension  that  some  treachery  had  been  at  work  in  causing  the 
evacuation  of  Ticonderoga.  But  hear  him  again  on  the  same 
subject,  and  after  Burgoyne,  having  forced  our  troops  from 
Ticonderoga,  had  driven  them  also  from  Skenesborough  and 
Fort  Ann — had  charged  their  rear  guard  under  Colonel  War 
ner,  and  dispersed  it  with  a  loss  to  the  latter  of  three  hund 
red  men — and  was  advancing  in  triumph  upon  a  foe,  which, 
now  but  the  shadow  of  an  army,  fled  before  him  leaving  the 


340  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TRUMBULL. 

whole  country  open  to  his  approach.  In  a  letter  at  this  time, 
July  twenty-sixth,  also  to  Williams — in  a  strain  of  almost 
fiery  rebuke — under  the  information  which  he  then  possessed, 
he  denounces  the  whole  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  Ameri 
cans  as  a  most  unjustifiable  disappointment  of  the  hopes  of 
the  country,  and  pointedly  lays  the  blame  where  he  thinks  it 
belongs. 

"  The  deplorable  situation  of  our  affairs  at  the  North,"  he  proceeds — 
"loudly  calls  for  immediate  attention,  and  most  spirited  measures. 
Should  there  be  any  delay  of  a  public  enquiry,  the  consequences  may  be 
very  serious. 

"  The  idea  of  treachery  seems  to  be  more  generally  adopted.  Some 
indeed  assign  political  reasons  for  permitting  the  enemy  to  come  down 
upon  the  Grants — none  attempt  an  excuse  for  evacuating  the  Northern 
Posts.  All  reprobate  the  measure.  I  believe  but  very  few  will  under 
take  to  account  for  it  even  upon  principles  of  cowardice,  and  indeed  the 
whole  conduct  seems  to  carry  with  it  the  evident  marks  of  deliberate 
intention. 

"  'Tis  said  the  Council  of  War  [in  Ticonderoga]  were  unanimous  in 
opinion.  If  the  Posts  were  not  tenable,  why  was  not  this  discovered  be 
fore  an  appearance  of  the  enemy  ?  Why  all  the  cannon,  ordnance,  stores, 
tents,  clothing,  provisions,  &c.,  &c.,  hurried  up  into  this  place?  Why 
that  drove  of  cattle  suffered  to  come  and  remain  there  after  the  Council 
had  determined  on  flight,  and  before  an  actual  evacuation  ?  Why  was 
no  part  of  the  provision,  stores,  &c.,  sent  away  or  destroyed,  but  all  pre 
served,  and  left  for  the  enemy's  use  ?  To  what  purpose  is  the  Adjutant 
General's  account  of  numbers  but  about  half  so  high  as  the  Quarter  Mas 
ter's  Return  ?  Why  is  the  flight  performed  with  such  disorder  and  con 
fusion  as  to  prevent  every  proper  precaution  being  taken,  and  the  rear 
guard  left  at  so  great  a  distance  from  the  main  body  in  the  rapid  retreat, 
and  all  the  feeble  in  the  army  left  to  fall  back  upon  the  rear  guard,  as  if 
on  purpose  to  retard  their  march,  and  no  succor  afforded  them  when  ac 
tually  attacked  by  the  enemy  ? 

"  The  officers  of  lower  rank  and  soldiers  were  all  in  high  spirits,  and 
impatient  for  battle — why  then  were  they  hurried  off  in  such  seeming 
premeditated  disorder  at  only  the  distant  approach  of  the  enemy,  when 
succors  were  known  to  be  coming  to  their  relief?  What  makes  the  dif 
ferent  accounts  between  the  General  and  Commissary  in  the  quantity  of 
provisions?  Why  should  the  reasons  of  all  this  mysterious  conduct  be 
concealed  from  public  view,  at  a  time  when  it  is  most  important  for  them 
to  be  known — and  some  feeble  excuses  attempted  to  be  thrown  out  before 
there  was  time  for  an  external  accusation  ?  Nothing  short  of  the  most 
spirited  and  vigorous  measures  upon  this  occasion  can  maintain  and  pre- 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  341 

serve  the  complete  and  full  confidence  of  the  people.  Some  are  disposed 
to  say,  as  Joab  did  to  David,  'tis  not  probable  our  men  will  submit  to  be 
commanded  by  these  officers — nothing  short  of  a  recall  of  them,  and  an 
immediate  examination  into  the  matter,  to  be  made  public,  will  give  sat 
isfaction.  Such  officers  must  be  immediately  placed  in  that  Department 
as  the  people  have  entire  confidence  in." 

Notwithstanding  the  severe  disappointment  which  Tram- 
bull  thus  strongly  expresses,  he  jet  set  himself  immediately 
to  work — during  the  months  of  August  and  September — to 
aid,  so  far  as  it  was  in  his  power,  in  repairing  the  damages  at 
the  North,  and  placing  the  army  there  in  a  situation  to  com 
pete  with  the  enemy. 

Ten  thousand  men  were  wanted  for  this  purpose.  Towards 
completing  this  number — besides  some  Connecticut  troops 
which  he  forwarded  from  the  Continental  Army  at  Peeks- 
kill — Trumbull  sent  on  to  Gates  between  three  and  four 
hundred  of  the  militia  of  General  Wolcott's  brigade,  includ 
ing  twenty -five  Light  Horsemen,  and  a  few  of  the  thirteenth 
regiment  of  Volunteers.  He  detached  also  one-half  of  the 
troops  of  Lighthorse  in  the  State,  not  then  in  service  else 
where,  and  superintended  the  raising  of  other  troops.  In  the 
whole,  two  entire  regiments — to  be  held  in  service  two 
months  from  the  time  of  joining  the  army,  and  consisting, 
all  told,  of  about  two  thousand  men — were  raised  and 
marched  by  him  to  repulse  the  progress  of  the  enemy  at  the 
North. 

They  were  fully  armed  and  equipped — his  son  David  super 
intending  the  repair  of  old  fire  arms  brought  from  Albany, 
in  part  for  their  service,  and  James  Bull  collecting  for  them 
cattle  and  other  stock.  Everything  in  the  way  of  pay, 
bounty,  allowances,  and  refreshments,  was  completely  ar 
ranged — the  Governor  holding  frequent  consultations  with 
his  Council  on  this  matter,  and  upon  the  situation  of  affairs 
generally  at  the  north — corresponding  often  with  the  officers 
there — transmitting  intelligence  from  them  to  the  States  at 
the  East,  and  stimulating  exertions  in  that  direction — and  in 
all  respects  meeting  the  wishes  of  General  "Washington  that 
he  should  "  put  forth  new  exertions  proportioned  to  the  exi 
gency  of  the  times,"  and  "  by  a  spirited  opposition  check  the 


342  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1777. 

progress  of  Burgoyne's  arms."  So  that  now — the  prepara 
tions  completed — with  the  Father  of  his  Country — from  u  a 
dark  and  gloomy  aspect "  in  the  past,  he  looked  forward  "  to 
a  fortunate  and  happy  change." 

This  change  soon  came.  That  remediless  accumulation  of 
dangers  and  difficulties  upon  the  head  of  Burgoyne,  by  which 
at  last  he  was  rendered  utterly  unable  to  retreat  save  by 
crossing  the  Hudson  in  the  face  of  a  most  formidable  foe,  that 
was  posted  all  along  the  opposite  shore — his  consequent 
abandonment  of  such  a  purpose  as  impracticable,  and  his  des 
perate  determination  to  make  one  more  trial  of  strength  with 
his  adversary — that  eventful  trial,  the  Battle  of  Saratoga — 
the  successful  attack  on  the  British  right — the  equally  suc 
cessful  one  on  the  British  left — and  that  general  assault, 
under  a  tremendous  fire  of  grape  shot  and  musketry,  upon 
all  the  British  works  in  front,  which  finally  compelled  the 
foe  to  give  way — to  retreat,  to  sadden,  despair,  capitulate,  to 
ground  their  arms — and  surrender — about  seven  thousand 
men,  their  entire  army — as  prisoners  of  war — with  seven 
thousand  stand  of  arms — with  clothing  for  seven  thousand 
recruits — with  an  immense  train  of  artillery,  and  a  large  and 
valuable  amount  of  military  stores  of  every  description — all 
these  stirring  facts  are  familiar  to  the  reader  of  history. 
They  lifted  the  long  past  of  American  struggle  at  the  North 
out  from  the  pit,  and  up  to  the  mountain  top.  They  crowned 
it  with  interminable  glory.  The  wand  of  British  invincibil 
ity  was  broken.  America  looked  like  a  giant,  that  snapping, 
as  withes,  each  cord  of  constraint  with  which  British  tyranny 
had  attempted  to  bind  its  stalwart  limbs,  was  prepared  to 
stalk  out  upon  the  platform  of  colossal  life,  and  take  its 
place — free,  prosperous,  and  happy — proudly  and  forever — 
among  the  Independent  Nations  of  the  earth. 

Upon  the  heart  of  no  man  did  the  news  of  the  splendid 
victory  at  Saratoga  fall  with  more  thrilling  effect,  than  upon 
that  of  Governor  Trumbull  of  Connecticut.  No  Chief  Mag 
istrate  of  any  State  received  a  memorializing  share  of  Bur 
goyne's  captured  artillery  with  fonder  exultation.*  Few 

*  "  Half  a  mile  this  side  of  Litchfield  [Conn.]  I  remarked  on  the  right  a  bar 
rack  surrounded  by  palisades,  which  appeared  to  me  like  a  guard  house.    I  ap- 


1777.  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TBUMBULL.  343 

men  did  the  event  so  profoundly  penetrate  with  sentiments 
of  pious  thankfulness,  and  gratitude  to  God.  He  was  pre 
pared  somewhat  for  the  event — for  his  confidence  was  high. 

"  This  Aurora  Borealis,"  he  wrote  to  Washington,  soon  as 
he  heard  of  the  Battle  of  Stillwater,  and  the  retirement  of 
the  enemy  back  towards  Saratoga  from  this  place — uthis 
Aurora  Borealis,  I  hope,  may  not  only  dispel  the  gloom,  and 
establish  our  affairs  in  that  quarter,  but  be  the  forerunner  of 
success  and  victory  in  every  other  department."  His  first 
intelligence  that  the  light  he  saw  was  no  delusion — no  meteor 
to  flash  and  then  expire — was  verbal.  It  came  to  him,  but 
reliably,  as  it  passed  everywhere,  current  upon  every  tongue. 

"  How  interesting — how  important  the  victory  1 " — he  ex 
claimed,  writing  to  his  son  at  the  North.  "  Give  to  General 
Gates  my  hearty  compliments  and  congratulations  on  his 
success.  Yery  conspicuous  is  the  hand  of  the  Lord  in  bring 
ing  it  about.  To  him  be  all  the  glory  and  praise  ascribed. 
Let  us  trust  and  wait  on  him  for  his  salvation  and  success  in 
other  departments  I " 

"  May  we  praise  " — he  wrote  to  "William  Williams — after 
announcing  to  him  the  triumph,  and  his  momentary  expect 
ation  of  receiving,  by  express,  all  the  particulars  concerning 
it — "  may  we  praise  the  name  of  the  Lord  that  has  caused  us 
to  know  his  hand  and  might,  that  his  name  is  the  Lord — it  is 
marvellous  in  our  eyes  1  May  we  rejoice  with  thanksgiving 
for  this  success  and  salvation.  May  we  likewise  rejoice  in 
hope  that  he  will  give  us  success  and  victory  over  our  ene 
mies  in  their  other  enterprises  against  us.  The  Assembly 
have  desired  the  ministers  of  this  town  [Hartford]  to  meet  at 
the  House  of  worship  to  celebrate  the  praises  of  the  Lord  of 
Hosts." 

Thus  with  patriotic  fervor,  and  deep  religious  sensibility, 
did  Governor  Trumbull  rejoice  over  an  event  the  most  mo 
mentous  of  all  which  had  yet  signalized  the  American  arms. 
And  no  doubt — when  with  the  General  Assembly  of  Con 
necticut,  and  the  ministers  and  people  in  the  Capital  City  of 

proached  it,  and  saw  in  this  small  enclosure  ten  pieces  of  brass  cannon,  a  mortar, 
and  a  swivel.  This  I  heard  was  a  part  of  Burgoyne's  artillery ,  which  fell  to  the 
share  of  the  State  of  Connecticut." — Marquis  de  Ckastellux. 


344  CHAP.    XXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1777. 

the  State,  lie  met,  as  was  proposed,  at  the  House  of  God — no 
doubt  his  prayers  upon  this  occasion  went  up  to  the  great 
Benefactor  of  his  country  loaded  more  deeply  with  thanks 
giving,  and  more  beautified  with  hope,  and  confidence  for  the 
future,  than  those  of  any  other  worshiper,  who — within  the 
walls  of  the  Centre  Church  at  Hartford — gave  ear  to  the 
Eeverend  Mr.  Williams,*  as  in  an  appropriate  discourse  this 
worthy  Divine  memorialized  the  exceeding  victory,  and 
uttered  to  the  Fountain  of  Mercy,  and  Father  of  Light,  the 
language  of  souls  o'erfraught  with  gratitude,  and  feeding  on 
substantial  bliss. 

*  Of  East  Hartford,  Connecticut. 


C  HAPTE  R    XXIX. 
1777. 

TRUMBULL  in  the  naval  sphere.  The  Sound,  as  usual,  infested  with 
hostile  ships.  His  powers,  duties,  and  labors  as  Chief  Naval  Officer  of 
the  State.  Prizes  this  year — their  number  and  value.  Trumbull  in 
this  connection.  Maritime  losses  this  year  small — maritime  gains  large. 
Prisoners  this  year — numerous  as  usual — some  specified.  Trumbull 
in  this  connection  again.  Their  exchange  exacts  much  labor.  Sad 
state  of  many  Americans  whom  he  released.  His  remonstrances  in 
behalf  of  such.  Tories  and  malignants  in  Connecticut.  Their  detec 
tion  and  treatment  by  Trumbull.  His  care  for  sick  soldiers.  His  care 
for  the  farming  interests  of  the  soldier.  He  rotates  agricultural  with 
military  labor. 

ANOTHER  sphere  of  duty  remains  to  be  described  ere  we 
close  the  account  of  Trumbull's  labors,  in  the  department  of 
defence,  for  the  year  on  which  we  now  dwell.  We  allude  to 
the  naval  sphere. 

Long  Island  Sound  was,  as  usual,  this  year  crowded  with 
vessels  of  the  enemy.  They  had  their  places  of  rendezvous, 
as  in  previous  times,  upon  the  Long  Island  coast — at  Sag 
Harbor  particularly — at  Oyster  Bay — Gardiner's  Bay — and  at 
Huntington  Bay,  distant  not  more  than  eight  or  nine  miles 
from  the  islands  of  Norwalk — and  from  these  nesting  points 
they  came  out  frequently  to  annoy,  distress,  and  plunder  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Connecticut  Main.  They  came  both  by 
day  and  night,  to  seize  property,  take  prisoners,  abuse  women 
and  children,  fire  houses — chiefly  those  that  were  solitary 
and  defenceless — and  to  create  general  consternation.  The 
newspapers  of  the  day  are  filled  with  notices  of  their  hostile 
appearance,  the  present  year,  upon  and  off  the  Connecticut 
coast.* 

*  Thus  in  January,  first  nine  British  ships,  then  ten  and  two  brigs,  and  next 
twenty -one  sail  of  the  enemy's  ships,  passed  New  London  harbor  up  and  down 
the  Sound.  In  February,  the  Niger — a  ship-of-war  of  thirty-six  guns — lay  at  the 
west  end  of  Fisher's  Island.  In  March,  first  a  British  frigate,  and  two  or  three 
tenders,  appeared  in  New  Haven  harbor— next  eleven  sail  of  men-of-war  and 
transports  appeared  at  the  west  end  of  Fisher's  Island — came  to  anchor — landed 
troops,  and  carried  off  much  valuable  stock— and  next  twenty  ships,  ready  for 


346  CHAP.    XXIX. — TRUMBULL. 

Governor  Trumbull,  therefore,  very  often  assembled  his 
Council  to  consult  upon  matters  relating  to  the  enemy's  ships 
and  cruisers — urged  naval  preparations  for  the  State  at 
large — gave  constant  orders  to  the  Connecticut  Marine,  and 
commissioned  privateers.  He  had  much  to  do  also,  as  in 
former  years,  in  fitting  out  the  various  armed  vessels  of  the 
State — and  besides  this,  in  the  course  of  the  year  he  was 
called  upon  to  overlook  the  construction  of  two  frigates  for 
the  United  States — one  of  thirty-six,  and  the  other  of  twenty- 
eight  guns.* 

plunder,  lay  at  anchor  in  Gardiner's  Bay.  Besides,  two  were  seen  coming 
through  Plumb-Gut,  and  one  passed  New  London  to  the  Eastward.  In  April, 
about  thirty  sail,  British  men-of-war  and  transports,  passed  New  London,  and 
one  large  ship  went  down,  and  another  went  up  the  Sound.  In  May,  first  a  con 
siderable  number  of  ships  and  other  vessels,  with  some  flat-bottomed  boats,  ap 
peared  off  Stamford — next  about  twenty  hostile  ships,  soon  again  one  brig,  two 
schooners,  and  four  sloops  belonging  to  the  enemy,  went  up  the  Sound  past  New 
London.  In  June,  first  two  ships  and  a  sloop  passed  New  London — and  next  a 
party  of  men  from  three  British  ships  landed  at  Sachem's  Head,  in  Guilford, 
burned  a  large  dwelling  house,  owned  by  Mr.  Leete,  and  two  barns,  and  carried 
off  several  cattle,  calves,  and  sheep.  In  July,  in  the  night,  a  number  of  the 
British  landed  four  miles  west  of  Norwalk,  and  took  off  over  forty  head  of  cattle, 
and  the  next  night  attempted,  but  unsuccessfully,  to  land  east  of  this  town — and 
on  one  Sabbath  Day,  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  twenty-three  sail  of 
British  ships  appeared  off  New  London  harbor,  and  so  excited  the  fears  of  the 
inhabitants  of  New  London,  that  alarm  guns  were  fired,  and  the  troops  got  under 
arms.  In  August,  seven  sail  of  British  ships  passed  New  London — next  three 
appeared  in  the  Sound  several  days— and  next,  one  Monday  morning,  the  British 
Swan,  and  three  tenders,  came  to  off  Milford  Farms,  landed  about  forty  men, 
attempted  to  seize  cattle,  broke  the  windows  and  doors  of  Mr.  Merwin's  house, 
and  destroyed  his  beds  and  furniture — but  upon  the  assembling  of  the  people, 
they  retired  with  great  precipitation.  In  September,  first  eight  sail  of  shipping 
went  down  the  Sound — then  near  thirty  sail  were  seen  under  Long  Island  shore, 
taking  in  wood — and  next  a  fleet  of  twenty-one  sail  came  out  of  Gardiner's  Bay, 
and  went  down  the  Sound.  In  October,  a  fleet  of  twenty  sail  went  up  the 
Sound— and  in  November,  a  frigate  and  three  other  vessels  went  down  the  Sound. 
*  Early  in  February,  by  Eesolution  of  Congress,  himself  and  his  Council  were 
empowered  to  determine  at  what  places  in  Connecticut  two  frigates  should  be 
built— one  of  thirty-six,  and  the  other  of  twenty-eight  guns— and  to  appoint 
proper  persons  to  execute  and  superintend  the  business  of  their  construction. 
The  superintendents  thus  appointed— one  upon  the  river  Thames,  and  one  at 
Chatham,  where  the  vessels  were  to  be  built— had  frequent  occasion  to  apply  to 
Trumbull  for  advice  in  executing  their  contracts,  and  for  the  money  and  provis 
ions  needed  for  their  purposes— and  they  were  heaud  and  answered.  The  Gov 
ernor  also  often  corresponded  with  the  Marine  Committee  at  Philadelphia  re 
specting  these  vessels— and  received  and  disbursed  the  payments  from  Congress 
for  their  construction— as,  for  instance,  July  twelfth,  $20,000,  in  part  payment 
for  the  frigate  then  building  on  the  Thames— and  at  the  same  time  examined  and 
settled  the  accounts  of  the  builders. 


1777.  CHAP.    XXIX. — TRUMBULL.  347 

His  powers  and  duties  in  the  Naval  Department  may  be 
estimated  somewhat,  from  the  new  Naval  Code  which  was 
established  by  Connecticut  this  year.  By  this,  he  was  to 
take  from  the  captain  of  a  ship,  before  she  sailed  on  a  cruise, 
a  complete  list  of  the  officers  and  men,  with  the  time  and 
terms  of  their  enlistment — and  after  the  return  of  such  ship, 
another  complete  list  of  the  same,  together  with  an  account 
of  the  necessary  articles  delivered  out  to  each  man.  He  was 
fully  empowered  to  appoint  a  Court  Martial  for  the  trial  of 
all  capital  crimes,  and  for  many  not  capital,  committed  at  sea 
on  board  any  of  the  vessels  of  war  belonging  to  the  State. 
And  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  President  of  any  Court 
Martial  to  transmit  to  the  Governor  every  sentence  which 
should  be  given,  with  a  summary  of  the  evidence  and  pro 
ceedings — no  sentence  being  to  be  put  in  execution  until  it 
was  laid  before  him — and  he  being  armed  with  power  to 
confirm  it,  or  respite  the  offender  to  the  next  session  of  the 
General  Assembly.  Here  are  functions  which,  in  the  activ 
ity  of  the  Connecticut  Marine  this  year,  were  frequently 
called  into  exercise — save  in  the  matter  of  naval  Court  Mar- 
tials — where,  to  the  great  credit  of  those  seamen  of  the  State 
who  manned  her  vessels  of  war — and  as  appears  abundantly 
from  many  records — the  interposition  of  the  Governor  was 
but  little  required. 

Another  of  Trumbull's  duties  this  year — as  in  past  times — 
and  one  quite  onerous,  related  to  prizes.  Yery  many  of 
these — both  by  armed  ships  of  the  State,  and  by  privateers 
which  he  commissioned — were  brought  into  the  ports  of 
Connecticut,  and  some  to  the  ports  of  Massachusetts.  The 
prize  brig  Anna  and  her  cargo,  worth — not  to  cite  shillings 
and  pence — twenty -six  hundred  and  sixty -three  pounds — the 
brig  Medway,  worth  thirty -five  hundred  pounds — the  snow 
Swift,  worth  five  thousand  nine  hundred  and  three  pounds — 
the  barque  Lydia,  worth  six  thousand  six  hundred  and 
seventy-six  pounds — the  sloop  Dolphin,  worth  ten  hundred 
and  six  pounds — the  brigantine  Honor,  worth  ten  thousand 
six  hundred  and  ninety -two  pounds — a  prize  sloop  brought 
in  by  Captain  Conklin  in  his  privateer,  with  seven  thousand 
barrels  of  rum  on  board — a  large  prize  ship,  with  four  hund- 


348  CHAP.     XXIX. — TRUMBULL.  1717. 

red  and  thirty-nine  "hogsheads  of  sugar,  brought  into  New 
London  by  Captain  Champlin — a  prize  ship  from  Scotland, 
laden,  among  other  things,  with  seven  thousand  pounds 
worth  of  linens,  brought  in  by  Captain  Chew — and  a  prize 
ship  taken  into  Boston  by  the  Oliver  Cromwell,  with  quite  a 
quantity  of  dollars  and  of  wrought  plate  on  board — these 
are  among  the  important  captures  which  the  little  Navy  of 
Connecticut  made  during  the  year  now  under  consideration.* 
The  entire  value  of  all  the  vessels  and  cargoes  thus  taken, 
amounted  to  not  less,  it  may  reasonably  be  calculated,  than 
two  hundred  thousand  pounds,  or  about  six  hundred  and 
sixty-six  thousand  dollars.f 

All  these  prizes  now,  were  reported  to  Trumbull — the 
Chief  Naval  Officer,  as  well  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  Connec 
ticut — and  he  was,  of  course,  much  employed  at  times  in  giv 
ing  orders  respecting  them — now  receiving  and  examining 
with  care  the  invoices  of  cargoes — now  looking  to  a  distribu 
tion  and  delivery  of  these  cargoes,  part  to  the  State,  and  part 
to  the  captors — a  policy  which  gave  great  stimulus  to 
efforts :f — now  purchasing  portions  for  the  army  or  navy  of 

*  Take  other  examples.  In  January,  the  privateer  American  Revenue,  Capt. 
Champlin  of  New  London,  took  a  brig  from  Quebec,  laden  with  fish,  and  sent 
her  into  Bedford.  In  February,  the  same  privateer  took  a  large  schooner  from 
Ireland,  laden  with  flour,  bread,  butter,  &c.,  and  linen.  In  April,  the  same  pri 
vateer,  and  the  Defence,  brought  in  four  valuable  prizes,  and  Capt.  Wattles,  in  a 
small  sloop  letter  of  marque,  owned  in  Norwich,  took  a  brig  from  Europe  with  a 
valuable  cargo,  and  Capt.  Smedley  took  a  large  barque  from  Liverpool  bound  to 
Pensacola,  In  June,  the  privateer  Fanny,  of  Groton,  carried  a  prize  ship  into 
Bedford,  Mass.  In  July,  the  sloop  Trumbull  sent  a  prize  brig,  with  five  or  six 
thousand  pounds  of  coffee,  &c.,  into  N.  London,  and  sent  another  prize  brig, 
with  ninety-eight  hogsheads  of  rum,  into  Marblehead.  In  August,  Capt. 
Champlin  sent  into  Boston  a  brig  laden  with  rum,  and  also  two  schooners,  one 
of  which  had  on  board,  among  other  things,  two  hundred  and  twenty  hogsheads 
of  rum.  And  Capt.  Jason  Chester,  in  a  small  armed  boat  from  Middletown,  in 
one  week  took  five  sail  of  coasting  vessels,  and  sent  them  into  Connecticut 
River — and  a  prize  brig,  laden  with  beef,  pork,  butter,  flour,  &c.,  was  brought  in 
by  the  Oliver  Cromwell,  &c.,  &c. 

t  The  year  before — 1776 — the  value  of  prizes  made  by  all  the  armed  vessels  of 
New  England — amounted,  it  is  conceded  by  English  authors,  to  no  less  than  one 
million  of  pounds  sterling.  Americans,  with  more  of  probability,  claimed  that 
it  was  not  less  than  two  millions  of  pounds — an  amount  which  was  nearly  equalled 
in  1777.  The  share,  therefore,  of  Connecticut,  was  at  least  that  stated  in  the 
text — and  in  all  probability  was  greater. 

%  Under  the  Naval  Code  of  Connecticut  at  this  time,  all  captures,  prizes,  and 
shares,  belonged,  one-half  to  the  State,  and  one-half  to  the  use  of  the  captors— 


1777.  CHAP.     XXIX. — TKUMBULL.  349 

Connecticut — and  now  sending  to  Samuel  Elliot,  Junior — 
naval  agent  for  the  State  at  Boston — schedules  of  such  arti 
cles  as  he  wished  reserved  for  particular  use,  and  directing 
the  disposition  of  the  remainder. 

Spite  of  the  fact  that,  during  the  year  1777,  the  Sound 
was  crowded  with  hostile  vessels — and  spite  of  their  activi- 
ity — the  maritime  losses  of  Connecticut  were  not  large — and 
the  Governor,  his  marine  agents,  and  the  people  at  large,  had 
good  reason  to  congratulate  themselves  upon  the  general  re 
sult.  Save,  in  January,  the  loss  of  two  little  sloops  from 
New-London — in  March,  the  loss  of  a  sloop  from  Newhaven, 
Captain  Bonticue,  and  of  the  schooner  Olive  from  New-Lon 
don,  Bulkley  master,  and  of  the  sloop  Polly  from  Killing- 
worth,  Griffin  master — in  July,  of  four  small  sloops,  under 
the  command  respectively  of  Captains  Kogers,  Bigelow,  Pal 
mer,  and  Stillman — in  October,  of  the  sloop  Two  Brothers, 
a  privateer  from  New  London — and  in  December,  of  the 
sloop  Schuyler,  which  ran  on  shore  on  a  spit  of  sand  near 
Long  Island,  and  was  taken  by  a  British  frigate — save  these 
losses,  and  a  few  other  inconsiderable  ones  in  the  way  of 
small  coasters  and  fishing  craft,  Connecticut  suffered  but  little 
in  her  marine. 

And  these  losses  were  infinitely  overbalanced  by  the  gains 
which  the  State  made  through  her  own  naval  captures. 
Brave  privateersmen,  commissioned  by  Trumbull  in  great 
numbers — "ever  ready,  ever  serviceable,  alert  in  discovering 

the  necessary  charges  of  condemnation  being  first  deducted.  The  captain  of  an 
armed  vessel  had  for  his  share  of  the  moiety  of  any  prize,  two-twentieth  parts. 
The  lieutenant  of  the  ship  and  of  the  marines,  the  surgeons,  chaplains,  pursers, 
boatswains,  gunners,  carpenters,  masters  and  mates,  had  three-twentieth  part* 
equally  divided  among  them.  The  midshipmen,  clerk,  surgeon's  mate,  steward, 
sailmaker,  cooper,  armorer,  boatswain's  mate,  cook,  cockswain,  and  Serjeants  of 
marines,  had  three-twentieth  parts  equally  divided  among  them.  The  remain 
ing  twelve-  twentieth  parts  of  the  moiety,  were  divided  among  the  rest  of  the 
ship's  company,  share  and  share  alike.  The  first  discoverer  of  a  ship  or  vessel 
which  should  be  made  a  prize,  was  entitled  to  a  double  share  of  such  prize — and 
he  who  should  first  board  any  ship  or  other  vessel  making  resistance,  was  made 
entitled  to  a  triple  share  of  such  prize. 

The  Governor  of  the  State  also,  it  would  seem,  -was  entitled  to  a  share.  In  a 
letter  to  his  son,  dated  Nov.  6th,  1777,  Trumbull  says :  "I  hear  the  Weymouth 
packet  is  adjudged  to  the  captors.  They  will  not  dispute  the  Commander-in- 
chiefs  one-twentieth  of  the  whole.  I  have  made  a  power  of  attorney  for  you  to 
act  for  me  in  that  matter." 

30 


350  CHAP.    XXIX. — TRUMBULL. 

smugglers,  in  intercepting  unlawful  communications,  in  tak 
ing  prizes,  and  in  giving  notice  of  the  movements  of  the 
enemy  " — shot  out  from  almost  every  one  of  her  ports — but 
particularly  from  New  London,  where  a  band  of  sea  cap 
tains — "prompt,  valiant,  experienced,  and  danger-loving" — 
some  natives  of  the  town,  and  others  from  Groton,  Norwich, 
Middletown,  and  Saybrook — had  their  rendezvous — and 
from  whence  prizes,  if  pursuit  was  feared,  might  be  hurried 
with  facility,  out  of  sight,  and  in  security,  up  the  Thames  to 
Norwich.  The  naval  history  of  Connecticut,  this  year — 
thanks  to  Governor  Trumbull,  to  the  agents  he  employed,  to 
the  officers  he  commissioned,  and  to  the  seamen  whom  he 
caused  to  be  enlisted — is  one  in  which  she  may  justly  take  a 
pride. 

The  War,  of  course,  throughout  the  year  1777,  continued 
to  bring  its  prisoners  into  Connecticut — to  be  placed  under 
the  general,  and  often  the  special  custody  of  Trumbull. 
And  they  were  about  as  numerous  this  year  as  usual.  In 
January,  for  example,  he  received  twenty  British  officers 
and  soldiers  who  arrived  at  Hartford  from  the  westward — 
and  thirty  tories  and  soldiers,  taken  at  Hackensack  by  a  de 
tachment  from  General  Parsons'  brigade,  who  arrived  at  Mid 
dletown — and  at  the  same  time  a  party  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  more,  part  of  three  hundred  taken  at  Princeton,  were 
on  their  way  to  Hartford.  In  September,  Captain  Harding 
sent  him  the  entire  crews  of  the  prize  ship  Weymouth,  and  the 
brigantine  Honor,  taken  by  the  Oliver  Cromwell.  In  Octo 
ber,  another  party  of  thirty,  and  still  another  of  twenty,  were 
sent  from  New  York.  And  again  in  the  same  month,  fifteen 
more  arrived,  who  had  been  taken  in  an  assault  upon  an 
armed  schooner  in  the  North  Eiver — and  one  hundred  and 
twenty  British  soldiers,  together  with  five  Hessian  officers, 
who  had  been  taken  at  the  northward  previous  to  the  capitu 
lation  of  General  Burgoyne.  So  numerous  in  fact  were  pris 
oners  in  Connecticut  in  1777,  that  it  became  necessary  to  de 
vise  new  places  for  their  security.* 

*As  barracks  and  a  yard,  for  instance,  on  land  of  Isaac  Kibbe  at  Enfield,  and 
shops,  stores,  and  other  buildings  at  other  places,  and  a  ship — all  of  which  were 
either  hired  or  impressed  for  their  confinement. 


1777.  CHAP.    XXIX. — TRUMBULL.  351 

Though  ably  aided  by  Ezekiel  Williams — now  Commis 
sary  of  prisoners  in  the  place  of  Epaphras  Bull — and  by  va 
rious  Committees — the  Governor  still,  as  heretofore,  had 
much  to  do  concerning  the  captives,  and  in  all  that  he  did 
manifested  his  usual  discretion,  and  a  praiseworthy  humanity. 
Wages  where  justly  due  to  them,  as  to  some  from  New  York 
in  April,  were  carefully  settled.  When  sick  from  their 
crowded  state  in  jail,  as  once  in  Hartford,  such  lodgings  or 
barracks  were  provided  as  would  prevent  their  sufferings. 
Some,  the  least  obnoxious,  were  permitted  to  go  at  large  in 
the  State — on  their  parole.  Many — on  their  parole  to  return, 
and  not  to  give  any  intelligence,  or  prejudice  the  United 
States — were  allowed,  as  in  previous  years,  to  go  to  their 
homes,  and  bring  away  their  effects  and  necessaries.  Some, 
on  their  parole,  were  even  allowed  to  go  to  their  homes  with 
out  as  well  as  within  the  State,  and  to  remain  there.  Mis 
takes  with  regard  to  any  of  them — as  when,  for  instance, 
they  were  found  to  have  been  forced  into  the  British  service 
against  their  will — were  speedily  rectified. 

The  Governor's  hands  were  full  too,  this  year,  with  the 
business  of  exchanging  prisoners* — and  the  awful  state  in 
which  he  found  very  many  Americans  whom  he  had  released, 
gave  him  intense  anxiety  and  pain.  There  were  those,  for 
example,  who  in  August  were  brought  from  Newport,  ema 
ciated  almost  to  death — their  "meagre  countenances  confirm- 

*  Jan.  17th,  for  example,  the  captain,  and  thirteen  others  of  the  Gaspee  sloop, 
were  to  be  exchanged.  In  this  same  month,  the  marine  agent  at  N.  London  went 
to  New  York,  and  exchanged  forty  prisoners,  011  the  Governor's  order.  In 
March,  Trumbull  ordered  all  the  prisoners  at  Windham,  who  wished  it,  that 
were  taken  by  Commodore  Hopkins,  to  be  exchanged.  He  frequently  sent  in 
structions  to  Shaw  at  New-London,  to  proceed  to  New  York  with  prisoners. 
Upon  one  occasion  he  redeemed  Benjamin  Eoss,  of  Baltimore,  from  captivity, 
and  paid  his  expenses  homeward  out  of  his  own  pocket.  He  frequently  gave 
orders  to  Ezekiel  Williams,  Commissary  of  Prisoners,  to  the  same  effect — of 
which  the  following  is  an  example  : — 

July  16.  "  State  of  Connecticut,  by  the  Governor  :  To  Ezekiel  Williams,  Esq., 
commissary  of  prisoners  : — You  are  hereby  directed  to  deliver  to  Captain  Samuel 
Lyon,  of  Eye,  in  the  State  of  New-York,  Henry  Hallock,  a  seaman,  and  one 
other  seaman,  prisoners  to  this  State,  such  as  you  may  judge  convenient  (never 
an  inhabitant  in  this  State,)  to  be  exchanged  for  a  son  of  said  Capt.  Samuel 
Lyon,  and  one  other  person,  a  friend  of  his,  who  are  prisoners  with  our  enemies, 
taking  Capt.  Lyon's  receipt  to  return  said  Hallock  and  other  prisoner,  if  not  ex 
changed,  keeping  an  account  of  your  doings  and  what  is  done  thereon,  and  mak 
ing  return  to  the  Governor  and  Council." 


352  CHAP.     XXIX. — TEUMBULL.  1777. 

ing  the  scanty  pittance  which  had  reduced  them  " — their  entire 
clothing  not  worth  one  farthing — covered  with  vermin — cari 
ous  with  scurvy  and  putrid  fever — with  but  just  life  enough 
left,  in  fact,  to  answer  an  exchange.  And  there  was  a  second 
party  in  the  same  month,  from  the  same  place,  many  of 
whom  died  soon  after  they  landed,  and  the  rest  of  whom 
crawled  languidly  and  painfully  to  their  homes.  Upon  cases 
like  these  the  Governor  remonstrated  to  Congress,  to  General 
Washington,  and  to  the  hostile  agents  and  commanders, 
earnestly — and  in  terms  of  just  severity.  But  interposition 
in  behalf  of  mercy  and  humanity  was  so  unheeded  by  the 
enemy,  that  his  own  mind  subsequently,  as  we  shall  see, 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  a  severe  retaliatory  policy  ought 
to  be  pursued. 

Among  prisoners  this  year  who  fell  under  his  general 
oversight  and  direction,  besides  those  taken  from  the  enemy, 
there  were  some  who  were  taken  from  the  midst  of  the  peo 
ple  whom  he  governed — a  few  tories  and  malignants — some 
who  had  received  and  signed  the  protections  from  General 
Howe — some  who  had  been  busy  in  circulating  these  protec 
tions — and  some  who  were  strongly  suspected  of  being  en 
gaged  in  hatching  secret  plots  against  the  country.* 

Against  all  persons  of  this  character,  the  law  levelled  its 
bolts,  and  Trumbull's  was  the  hand  to  guide  them.  He  kept 
the  police  of  the  whole  State  active  for  the  detection  of  trai 
tors — caused  the  chief  roads  and  passes  to  be  strictly 
watched — had  all  suspicious  wanderers  stopped  and  exam 
ined,  and,  if  unable  to  account  satisfactorily  for  themselves, 
imprisoned  or  put  under  guardf — and  once  had  the  good 
fortune  to  intercept  an  important  letter  from  Governor  Went- 
worth,  which  he  sent  to  Congress^ — as  he  did  subsequently 

*  Respecting  which,  in  one  instance,  he  communicated  specially  with  Congress, 
asking  its  own  particular  service  in  procuring  "all  evidence"  from  one  Colonel 
Dewer,  or  from  "  any  other  quarter." 

t  "  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance,"  is  his  own  language,  in  a  letter  to  his  son 
Joseph,  April  13,  1776 — "  to  secure  the  malignants  in  every  Colony,  to  prevent 
our  enemy  gaining  any  footing  on  the  Continent,  or  receiving  supplies,  assist 
ance,  or  intelligence.  Let  us  show  a  determination  to  enjoy  liberty  and  freedom 
while  we  live,  and  not  suffer  hypocritical  friends,  who  seek  our  ruin,  to  wheedle 
and  cajole  us." 

lit  was  referred  by  Congress,  together  with  an  accompanying  letter  from 
Trumbull,  to  the  Marine  Committee,  for  special  consideration. 


1777.  -CHAP.    XXIX.— TRUMBULL.  853 

another  important  letter  which  he  obtained,  that  was  ad 
dressed  by  General  Pigot  to  General  Burgoyne.  He  did  all 
in  his  power  at  the  same  time  to  conciliate  such  persons,  as, 
though  disaffected  to  the  American  cause,  had  not  yet  by  any 
overt  and  highly  offensive  acts,  taken  ground  against  it — 
issuing  at  one  time  a  Proclamation  for  this  purpose — in 
which,  on  certain  conditions,  he  assured  them  of  pardon  for 
their  treasonable  course,  and  adoption  into  the  sympathy  and 
protection  of  the  State. 

While  thus  active  and  humane,  as  we  have  seen,  in  his 
treatment  of  captives  from  the  British  army,  and  kind  to 
wards  those  of  his  own  countrymen  whose  mistaken  views  of 
loyalty  caused  them  to  swerve  from  duty — Trumbull  never 
forgot  that  soldier  of  Connecticut — or  indeed  of  any  other 
State — who  happened  to  be  within  his  reach — whose  sick  or 
necessitous  condition  required  attention.  Send  the  sick — 
those  who  by  reason  of  malady  are  incapable  of  further 
service — send  them  home,  that  they  may  be  cured — was  often 
the  burden  of  his  communications  to  officers  commanding  the 
Connecticut  troops — as  well  this  year  as  in  1776,  to  Schuyler 
at  the  North,  and  to  "Washington  at  New  York — and  he  pro 
vided,  as  usual,  medicines,  hospital  stores,  and  physicians,  for 
the  tent,  the  barrack,  or  the  chamber  of  sickness.  And  for 
the  families  too  in  Connecticut  of  indigent  soldiers,  he  not 
only  looked  to  the  enforcement  of  all  the  laws  providing  for 
their  support  by  towns — but  himself  often  personally  super 
intended  their  relief.  Applications  for  aid  were  frequently 
before  him — and  before  himself  and  Council — as  well  as 
before  the  General  Assembly — and  his  ear  was  ever  open  to 
them  all,  "  gently  to  hear,  kindly  to  judge."* 

It  is  another  feature  of  his  care  for  soldiers,  that  he  was 
ever  particular  that  such  portion  of  them  from  Connecticut — 
in  the  militia — as  consisted  of  husbandmen — should  in  the 
seasons  of  tillage  be  returned,  if  possible,  to  their  homes,  to 

*  The  case  of  Mary  Vose,  for  example — that  remarkable  woman  in  Colchester, 
wife  of  Henry  Vose,  a  soldier,  and  mother  of  three  children  at  a  birth — named 
John  Hancock,  George  Washington,  and  Charles  Lee — whose  necessities,  upon 
her  application,  Trumbull  at  once  relieved  by  an  order  on  the  Selectmen  of  the 
town  in  which  she  resided — is  a  good  illustration  of  his  prompt  benevolence  in 
this  regard. 

30* 


354  CHAP.    XXIX. — TRUMBULL.  1177. 

sow  and  reap  their  crops — that  so  neither  their  own  interests 
should  suffer  by  their  absence  in  service — or  the  State  be  pre 
vented  from  accumulating  the  stores  necessary  not  only  for 
the  supply  of  its  own  inhabitants,  but  for  the  armies  also  of 
the  American  Union.*  It  was  excellent  management  on  the 
part  of  Trumbull,  thus  to  rotate  labor  on  the  field  of  agricul 
ture  and  on  the  field  of  war — necessary,  because  the  one  pro 
vided  for  the  other — prudent,  because  otherwise  he  would 
have  been  compelled  to  send  the  shipping  of  the  State  abroad 
in  search  for  provisions,  and  exposed,  in  consequence,  to  the 
imminent  peril  of  capture  by  the  enemy — and  wise,  because 
the  soldier-husbandmen  of  the  militia — feeling  that  their 
home  interests  were  not  to  suffer — were  encouraged  thereby 
to  quicken  their  own  exertions,  and  to  render  them  cheer 
fully,  when  called  temporarily  to  the  field  of  war. 

*  "  I  shall  wish  our  militia  to  continue  in  actual  service  as  long  as  it  is  abso 
lutely  necessary  " — was,  to  illustrate,  his  language  to  Gen.  Oliver  Wolcott  at  New 
York,  in  August,  1776 — "  but  as  the  circumstances  of  the  country,  and  of  the 
men  in  service,  require  as  speedy  a  return  as  possible,  you  will  represent  the  same 
to  the  General,  and  procure  their  release  in  whole  or  in  part  as  soon  as  may  be. 
If  a  part  only  should  be  dismissed,  it  will  be  prudent  to  select  such  as  are  farm 
ers,  whose  country  business  most  suffers  by  their  absence." — "  I  trust  that  the 
militia  from  this  State,"  was  his  language  again  in  August  to  his  son  Joseph — 
"may  be  soon  dismissed.  They  are  of  our  substantial  farmers,  who  will  suffer 
at  home  during  their  absence." 


CHAPTER    XXX. 
1777. 

and  finance.  Large  sums  of  money  pass  through  his  hands. 
The  depreciation  of  the  Continental  currency.  His  course  on  this 
subject.  His  views  remarkably  sound.  "Pay  as  we  go,"  his  financial 
aphorism.  His  opinion  of  a  foreign  loan  to  sink  the  bills  in  circulation 
The  correspondence  and  friendship  between  himself  and  John  Derk, 
Baron  Van  der  Capellan,  of  Holland.  Sketch  of  this  patriotic  noble 
man.  Trumbull  addresses  him  a  long  and  able  letter.  He  closes  the 
year  by  proclaiming  a  Day  of  Public  Thanksgiving.  Other  Proclama 
tions  in  this  connection.  The  title  of  "His  EXCELLENCY"  for  the  first 
time  conferred  this  year  upon  the  Governor. 

WE  have  looked  at  Trumbull  now  in  all  his  strictly  mili 
tary  connections  with  the  Revolutionary  War,  for  the  year 
1777 — north,  south,  east,  and  west,  both  within  and  without 
Connecticut — upon  the  land,  and  on  the  sea.  We  have  yet, 
however,  ere  we  close  our  review  of  his  life  and  services  for 
the  year,  to  look  at  him  in  some  other  departments  of  effort. 

And  first,  briefly,  in  that  of  finance — in  his  relations  to 
that  sinew  of  war — money.  Here,  as  in  previous  years,  he 
had  much  "duty  to  perform.  Large  sums  passed  through  his 
hands  in  payments  for  the  public  service,  both  from  the 
Treasury  of  Connecticut,  and  from  Congress.* 

But  the  matter  in  this  department  which  gave  him  the 
most  anxiety,  was  the  depreciation  of  the  Continental  cur 
rency — a  depreciation,  which,  commencing  in  1776 — with 
the  fresh  issue  by  Congress  of  ten  millions  of  paper  money, 
in  addition  to  nine  millions  the  previous  year — and  aided 
materially,  in  New  England,  by  the  large  influx  of  cash  pro 
duced  by  the  sale  of  prizes — went  on  increasing  to  such  an 
extent,  as  that,  in  July  1777,  a  Convention  of  the  New  Eng 
land  States,  together  with  New  York,  became  necessary  on 
the  subject,  and  was  held  at  Springfield — Roger  Sherman, 

*  As  from  Congress,  in  one  instance,  over  thirty  thousand  dollars  for  the  Light- 
horse  of  Connecticut — and  again  twenty  thousand  dollars  for  naval  agent  Shaw — 
and  so  on  in  numerous  other  cases. 


356  CHAP.    XXX. — TRUMBULL. 


1777. 


Samuel  Huntington,  and  Titus  Hosmer,  from  Connecticut, 
being  commissioned  by  the  Governor  for  the  purpose — to  at 
tend,  and  take  the  currency  into  consideration,  and  contrive 
for  its  amelioration.  But  no  action  by  this  Body  seems  to 
have  been  of  any  avail  in  checking  the  downward  course  of 
the  public  Bills  of  Credit. 

Connecticut,  with  the  assent  of  the  Governor,  tried  the 
remedy  of  excluding  from  its  own  trade  and  commerce  all 
paper  money  save  that  emitted  by  itself,  or  by  the  United 
States — but  this  did  not  avail.  Governor  Trumbull  also,  by 
direction  of  the  General  Assembly,  specially  instructed  the 
Connecticut  Delegates  in  Congress,  to  move  that  Body  for  a 
recommendation  to  each  State  to  draw  in  and  sink  all  its  own 
outstanding  bills,  save  those  for  sums  less  than  one  dollar, 
and  to  tax  its  inhabitants  in  amounts — to  be  proportioned  by 
Congress — that  should  be  sufficient  to  pay  the  current  annual 
expenses  of  the  war,  and  sink  a  portion  of  the  Continental 
Bills.  But  Congress  was  unable  to  enforce  any  such  recom 
mendation.  And  so,  spite  of  all  the  patriotic  emblems,  es 
cutcheons,  and  mottoes,  on  the  paper  money  of  the  nation — 
spite  of  all  laws  which  attempted  by  constraint,  to  fix  a  value 
upon  it — to  put  uthe  stamp  of  reality  on  a  fiction,"  and  com 
pel  the  people  "to  receive  as  substance  a  mere  shadow" — 
spite  of  all— the  depreciation  of  this  money  rapidly  increased 
with  each  new  emission,  until,  as  is  well  known,  in  a  few 
years — million  following  million  in  quick  succession — its  ex 
changeable  rate  lessened  soon  to  forty  for  one  of  specie — and 
last  to  the  agio  of  five  hundred,  and  then  one  thousand,  for 
one — when  it  ceased  to  circulate. 

Trumbull  looked  upon  all  this  with  feelings  of  regret  and 
mortification,  and  did  everything  within  his  power  to  coun 
teract  a  result  so  deplorable.  His  views  on  the  subject  of  a 
currency  were  remarkably  sound.  He  understood  it  as  a 
practical  question,  and  wished  it  to  be  supported  by  a  sub 
stantial,  underlying  basis  of  value,  as  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  notice  more  fully  hereafter.  He  was  anxious  that  the  pub 
lic  credit  should  be  in  every  particular  fully  sustained,  and 
to  sustain  it,  he  desired — as  his  instructions,  this  year,  to  the 
Connecticut  Delegates  in  Congress,  import — that  outstanding 


1777.  CHAP.    XXX. — TRUMBULL.  357 

bills  should  be  sunk,  and  new  war  expenses  liquidated  by 
new  taxes. 

"Pay  as  we  go" — was  with  him  a  financial  aphorism. 
Each  emission  of  bills  by  the  State  he  governed,  was — upon, 
his  own  instigation,  as  well  as  from  the  inclination  of  its 
Legislature — provided  for  by  anticipatory  funds.  It  is  a  fact 
that — had  his  own  wishes  and  advice,  as  regards  the  public 
expenses,  been  followed — the  people  of  his  day — though  they 
would  have  been  obliged  to  bear  indeed  a  heavy  burden — 
would  yet  have  been  freed  from  a  wretched  medium  of  ex 
change,  and  from  iniquitous  tender  laws  that  operated  upon 
them  with  the  harshness  of  despotism.  They  would  have 
been  spared  the  hard  necessity  of  carrying  on  the  whole  ma 
chinery  of  government,  for  two  entire  years,  with  but  only  a 
wheelbarrow  full  of  specie* — would  have  been  spared  the 
mortification  of  seeing  ua  whole  wagon-load  of  money" — as 
a  Member  of  Congress  expressed  it  in  debate  at  the  time — 
"paid  for  with  a  quire  of  paper" — and  worse  still,  of  seeing 
at  last  barbers'  shops  papered,  in  jest,  with  their  worthless 
bills,  and  sailors,  who  received  them  in  pay,  fabricating  out 
of  them  suits  of  clothes,  and  "  with  characteristic  light-heart- 
edness,  parading  the  streets  in  that  decayed  finery,  which,  in 
its  better  days,  had  cost  thousands  of  dollars." 

There  was  at  last,  in  the  year  on  which  we  dwell,  in  Trum- 
bull's  view,  but  one  course  left  to  be  pursued  for  remedying 
the  public  grievances  from  a  depreciation  of  the  currency. 
This  was  by  a  foreign  loan — to  be  applied — not  in  any  way 
to  sustain  that  system  of  tender  laws  which  so  enabled  un 
principled  debtors  to  pay  their  debts  at  enormous  discounts, 
and  so  operated  to  the  ruin  of  confiding  patriots,  as  that  even 
Congress  itself,  after  having  once  recommended  their  passage, 
earnestly  besought  the  States  for  their  repeal — nor  to  be  ap 
plied  by  way  of  interest  to  a  tribe  of  speculating  money 
lenders,  who  were  intriguing  to  procure  it  for  their  own 
pockets — but  to  be  sacredly  used  for  reducing  the  quantity  of 
bills  in  circulation. 

*  The  years  1778  and  1779.  The  aggregate  of  gold  and  silver  received  into  the 
Treasury  for  the  year  1778,  was  $78,666— that  for  the  year  1779,  was  $73,000— 
in  all  $151,666 — an  amount  which,  in  gold,  would  weigh  seven  hundred  pounds, 
and  might,  as  stated  in  the  text,  be  put  into  a  wheelbarrow. 


358  CHAP.    XXX. — TEUMBULL. 

On  this  point  we  have  his  views  as  expressed  by  himself — 
and  in  language  that  cannot  be  mistaken.  A  foreign  loan  of 
two  millions  sterling  was  proposed — and  upon  this,  Septem 
ber  twenty-first,  he  wrote  the  Connecticut  Delegates  in  Con 
gress,  in  terms  of  approbation,  and  counselled  its  direct  ap 
plication  towards  sinking  the  Continental  Bills.  But  at  the 
same  time  he  warmly  interposed  his  influence  against  any 
application  of  it  towards  making  good  an  interest  in  specie  to 
the  lenders  of  bills — because,  he  wrote,  "some  of  these  lend 
ers  have  principally  contributed  to  sink  the  credit  of  these 
Bills,  and  with  the  tribe  of  speculators,  your  future  lenders 
are  yet  exerting  themselves  in  the  same  laudable  purpose. 
In  the  name  of  common  sense,  where  can  be  the  justice  of 
pledging  the  property  of  the  people  at  large  to  make  them 
good  an  interest  of  20  per  cent.,  as  a  reward  for  doing  us  the 
greatest  injury  in  their  power,  and  where  the  policy  is  that 
of  sacrificing  the  honest,  undesigning,  and  industrious,  to  the 
crafty,  designing,  and  dishonest,  to  leeches  who  are  preying 
on  our  vitals,  and,  with  their  eyes  open,  are  destroying  their 
country  for  a  little  solid  gain  to  themselves! " 

Another  circumstance  to  be  specially  noted  in  the  life  of 
Trumbull  at  this  time,  is  his  correspondence  with  John  Derk, 
Baron  Yan  der  Capellan,  a  nobleman  of  Zwoll,  in  the  prov 
ince  of  Overysell  in  Holland — whose  services  rendered  to 
the  cause  of  American  Liberty,  during  the  entire  struggle  for 
Independence,  deserve  to  be  warmly  remembered.  As  the 
friendship  between  himself  and  Trumbull  was  intimate,  the 
correspondence  between  them  active,  and  such  as  we  shall 
have  occasion  from  time  to  time  to  quote — a  few  words  here 
introducing  him  to  the  Eeader  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

He  was  a  man  conspicuous  for  his  abilities,  sound  judg 
ment,  and  unswerving  love  of  liberty.  His  uprightness — ac 
cording  to  the  testimony  of  cotemporary  writers  who  refer  to 
him — his  benevolence  and  piety,  and  the  purity  and  simplic 
ity  of  his  manners,  through  a  long  life,  "approached  the 
primitive  patterns  of  a  sublime  religion."  Though  himself 
by  birth  one  of  the  nobles  of  his  Province,  he  soon  distin 
guished  himself  at  home  by  his  advocacy  of  the  rights  of  the 
people. 


1777.  CHAP.    XXX. — TRUMBULL.  359 

Upon  one  occasion  he  went  so  far  in  their  support — in  an 
attempt  to  abolish  what  was  styled  "the  servitude  or  dredg 
ing  days"  of  the  farmers  of  his  neighborhood — that  certain 
other  persons  of  his  own  rank  in  the  Province — who  eagerly 
sought  to  have  those  old  feudal  burdens  confirmed  which  he 
wished  to  remove — becoming  indignant  at  his  course,  thrust 
him  out  from  his  seat  in  the  Assembly  of  O  very  sell,  by  a 
decree  which  censured  him  for  sedition  and  slander,  and  de 
manded  from  him  an  humble  apology.  This  he  refused  to 
make — and  he  remained,  therefore,  excluded  from  his  seat 
for  four  years — "  until  the  popular  voice  demanded  his  resto 
ration  in  a  manner  it  was  not  deemed  safe  to  neglect.  His 
triumph  then  was  complete — and  it  took  place  at  the  same 
time  with  that  of  the  United  States  over  the  resistance  of 
Great  Britain."  A  medal  was  struck  upon  the  occasion,  in 
honor  of  the  event,  and  distributed  among  his  friends — one 
of  which  was  presented  to  John  Adams* — then  in  Europe — 
with  whom  Capellan  was  on  terms  of  intimacy,  and  all  of 
whose  efforts  for  the  recognition  in  Holland  of  American  In 
dependence,  he  warmly  aided. 

Soon  as  the  struggle  began  in  the  American  Colonies, 
Capellan  eagerly  espoused  their  cause,  and  frequent  reference 
is  made  to  his  active  services  in  their  behalf,  in  the  Diplo 
matic  Correspondence  of  the  Revolution.  When,  in  1775, 
the  King  of  England — in  a  letter  written  by  his  own  hand — 
demanded  from  the  States-General  of  Holland  some  Scotch 
battalions  which  they  had  in  their  pay,  that  he  might  employ 
them  in  the  campaign  against  America — Capellan  gave  his 
opinion  in  the  Assembly  of  Overysell  pointedly  against  the 
proposition.  In  a  speech,  filled  with  patriotic  indignation, 
he  said — in  conclusion : — 

u  In  what  an  odious  light  must  this  unnatural  civil  war  appear  to  all 
Europe ;  a  war  in  which  even  savages,  if  credit  can  be  given  to  newspaper 
information,  refuse  to  engage :  more  odious  still  would  it  appear  for  a  peo 
ple  to  take  a  part  therein,  who  were  themselves  once  slaves,  bore  that 
hateful  name,  but  at  last  had  spirit  to  fight  themselves  free.  But  above 
all  it  must  appear  superlatively  detestable  to  me,  who  think  the  Ameri- 

*  It  is  now  in  the  possession  of  one  of  his  grandsons. 


360  CHAP.    XXX. —  TRUMBULL. 

cans  worthy  of  every  man's  esteem,  and  look  on  them  as  a  brave  people, 
defending  in  a  becoming,  manly,  and  religious  manner  those  rights  which 
as  men  they  derive  from  God,  not  from  the  legislature  of  Great  Britain. 
Their  mode  of  proceeding  will,  I  hope,  serve  as  an  example  to  every  na 
tion  deprived  by  any  means  of  its  privileges,  yet  fortunate  enough  in 
being  able  to  make  similar  efforts  towards  retaining  or  regaining  them." 

These  admirable  sentiments  were  acted  out  by  Baron  Ca- 
pellan  in  all  his  subsequent  relations  with  America.  "The 
sedateness  of  his  mind,"  as  has  been  justly  remarked,  "quali 
fied  him  for  the  patriot,  and  the  friend  of  a  young  and  grow 
ing  country,  whose  manufactures  had  been  checked,  her  com 
merce  cramped,  and  liberties  curtailed;  and  in  no  instance 
did  he  ever  deviate  from  the  principles  of  the  Kevolution." 
He  predisposed  many  of  his  countrymen  to  unite  cordially 
with  the  Americans.  He  urged  that  treaties  of  amity  and 
commerce  should  be  entered  into  with  them,  previous  to  the 
arrival  of  an  American  Minister  at  the  Hague  to  negotiate 
on  the  subject — and  when  the  negotiations  commenced,  sus 
tained  them  with  all  the  weight  of  his  ability  and  influence. 
The  partialities  of  the  Stadth older,  and  his  family,  and  the 
Court  connections,  were  altogether  British.  Capellan  took 
sides  with  the  merchants,  and  burgomasters,  and  pensioners 
of  Holland,  decidedly  against  them,  and  had  the  satisfaction 
at  last  of  seeing  his  own  views  prevail. 

Nor  did  he  confine  himself  to  words  alone  in  behalf  of 
America.  He  displayed  a  noble  activity  in  procuring  loans 
in  Holland  for  her  service— going  around  in  person  to  urge 
subscriptions,  and  subscribing  himself — in  one  instance, 
twenty  thousand  livres.  He  caught  up  and  answered  all  re 
ports  disparaging  to  America.  He  sent  over  frequently  to 
this  country  for  accounts  of  its  resources,  abilities,  and  prog 
ress  in  the  cause  of  freedom.  He  communicated  with  Con 
gress,  and  with  several  leading  patriots — but  more  than  all 
with  Governor  Trumbull  of  Connecticut,  for  whose  judgment 
he  entertained  a  profound  respect.* 

*  Well  does  Mrs.  Warren,  in  her  History,  remark,  that  "  a  more  competent, 
and  judicious  correspondent  he  could  not  have  selected"  than  Trumbull — "  whose 
merits  as  a  man,  a  patriot,  and  a  Christian,"  she  adds,  "cannot  be  too  highly  ap 
preciated." 


1777.  CHAP.    XXX. — TBUMBULL.  361 

Such  was  the  man  to  whom,  June  twenty-seventh  1777, 
Trumbull  addressed  a  long  and  able  letter — the  first  of  his 
communications  in  this  quarter  with  which  it  has  been  our 
fortune  to  meet.  In  it  he  renders  thanks  to  Capellan  for  his 
generous  sympathy  with  the  American  cause — reviews  for 
his  information  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  War — and 
eloquently  defends  his  country  from  the  charge,  then  current 
in  Europe,  of  wantonly  aiming  to  shake  off  its  subjection  to 
the  British  crown.* 

"  It  was  with  the  greatest  pleasure,"  he  says  at  the  outset,  "  we  were 
informed  that  the  States  of  Holland  refused  to  send  their  troops  to  Great 
Britain  to  be  used  in  extending  the  dominion  of  tyranny  over  these 
States,  and  effacing  almost  the  only  traces  of  liberty  which  remain  in  our 
quarter  of  the  globe,  and  we  cannot  sufficiently  express  the  gratitude  we 
feel  for  the  generous  part  you,  Sir,  was  pleased  to  take  in  that  matter, 
worthy  of  a  senator  from  a  free  State,  and  a  candid  and  impartial  friend 
of  Liberty  and  humanity." 

After  glancing  now  at  the  War,  and  tracing  its  progress 
down  to  the  date  of  his  letter,  Trumbull  thus  concludes : — 

"  I  am  not  insensible  that  we  have  been  from  time  to  time  charged 
with  aiming  from  the  first  to  shake  off  our  subjection  to  the  British 
Crown,  and  to  establish  our  independency.  Let  those  who  impute  this 
design  to  us  show  how  it  could  promote  our  interest,  our  liberty  being 
safe  and  invaluable,  to  exchange  the  happiness  of  free  subjects  of  free 
States  for  a  hazardous  contest  in  arms  with  one  of  the  most  formidable 
powers  of  Europe.  Let  them  show  if  they  can  that  we  have  taken  any 
one  step  indicating  such  design  before  they  wantonly  attacked  us, 
either  by  engaging  foreign  assistance  and  support,  or  by  any  military 
preparation  at  home.  Let  them  render  it  probable  that  thirteen  uncon 
nected  Colonies,  without  generals,  soldiers,  arms,  military  stores,  ships- 
of-war,  or  even  an  armed  vessel,  with  a  sea-coast  of  fifteen  hundred 
miles  extent,  or  even  any  measures  taken  to  supply  these  defects,  should 
meditate  a  War  with  the  first  maritime  Power  of  Europe.  Till  this  can 
be  shown,  we  trust  we  have  a  right  to  have  credit  given  to  our  solemn 
declaration  that  we  never  wished  to  withdraw  ourselves  from  our  just 
and  constitutional  subjection  to  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain,  and  that  no 

*  Mr.  Erkelaus,  a  foreigner,  appeared  at  times  before  the  Governor  and  Coun 
cil  to  consult  with  them  upon  the  matter  of  addressing  Capellan.  He  was  doubt 
less  employed  by  the  Governor  both  as  a  translator,  and  as  an  amanuensis  to 
write  in  the  Dutch  language  occasionally,  as  we  find  several  letters  in  his  hand 
writing  among  the  Papers  in  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society. 


362  CHAP.    XXX. — TKUMBULL.  1777. 

small  infraction  of  our  rights,  nothing  but  extreme  necessity  could  have 
compelled  us  to  have  renounced  our  connection  with  Great  Britain,  under 
which  we  and  our  Fathers  have  so  long  been  contented  and  happy. 

"  From  our  brethren  in  Great  Britain  we  have  not  experienced  their 
boasted  candor,  and  impartiality,  and  clemency.  We  appeal  from  their 
injustice  to  the  Supreme  Governor  and  Judge,  and  to  the  candid  censure 
of  the  impartial  world.  In  you,  Sir,  and  in  your  wise  and  generous  sen 
timents,  we  find  the  justice,  the  sincerity  and  rectitude  of  our  measures 
entitled  us  to  hope  for.  We  may  justly  flatter  ourselves  that  no  free 
State  will  so  far  forget  what  is  due  to  its  own  glory  and  interest  as  to 
lend  their  aid  to  exterminate  liberty  from  the  wilds  of  America.  Might 
they  not  rather  be  expected  to  assist  in  preserving  what  liberty  remains 
upon  earth  from  falling  a  sacrifice  to  the  encroachments  and  avidity  of 
tyrants,  lest  liberty  itself  should  be  banished  or  forced  from  among  men, 
and  universal  tyranny,  with  its  attendant  calamities  and  miseries,  over 
whelm  the  whole  human  race.  But  I  desist.  It  is  not  my  intention  to 
send  you  a  history.  I  would  only  thank  you  for  your  favorable  senti 
ments  of  us,  and  request  a  continuance  of  your  good  offices  as  far  as  we 
shall  appear  to  you  to  deserve  them." 

The  year  1777  was  opened  by  the  Governor,  as  we  have 
seen,  by  a  Proclamation  for  a  Fast.  It  was  closed  by  his 
Proclamation,  in  accordance  with  Resolutions  of  Congress, 
for  a  day  of  Public  Thanksgiving — that  the  People — it  hav 
ing  pleased  Almighty  God,  "in  his  abundant  mercy,"  not 
only  to  continue  to  them  "  the  innumerable  bounties  of  his 
common  Providence,"  but  also  "to  crown  their  arms  with 
signal  success  " — might  "  with  one  heart,  and  one  voice,  ex 
press  the  grateful  feelings  of  their  hearts,  and  consecrate 
themselves  to  their  Divine  Benefactor." 

Between  these  two  Proclamations — in  October — he  issued 
another,  earnestly  exhorting  persons  of  all  ranks,  to  abstain 
from  injustice,  oppression,  and  every  vice,  and  apply  them 
selves  to  industry,  economy,  and  every  moral  and  social  vir 
tue — enjoining  them  to  perform  the  duties  of  brotherly  kind 
ness  and  charity — to  alleviate  each  other's  burdens,  and  re 
lieve  the  distresses  of  the  poor — to  discountenance  "as 
totally  unworthy  of  any  public  office,  and  even  as  the  vilest 
pests  of  society,"  all  persons  who,  practicing  "  the  detestable 
vices"  of  monopoly  and  extortion,  withheld  the  conven 
iences  of  life,  or  demanded  exorbitant  prices  for  the  same — 
and  to  yield  a  willing  and  cheerful  obedience  to  all  the  laws 


1777.  CHAP.    XXX. — TRUMBULL.  363 

of  the  State — laws  whose  due  and  just  administration  he  at 
the  same  time  called  upon  all  Executive  Courts,  Ministers  of 
Justice,  and  Informing  Officers,  to  "  use  their  utmost  influ 
ence  "  to  promote. 

Thus,  with  public  prayer  and  humiliation  to  begin  the 
year — with  public  exhortation  to  the  practice  of  virtue, 
religion,  justice,  charity,  and  economy,  to  continue  it — and 
with  public  prayer  again,  and  thanksgiving,  to  close  the 
year — thus  did  the  devout,  pure-minded,  faithful  Governor 
of  Connecticut,  mingle  in  with  man's  duties  to  himself,  man's 
duty  also  to  his  Maker.  Thus  earnestly  did  "  His  EXCEL 
LENCY  "*  prompt  his  people  to  seek  pardon  from  on  high  for 
the  errors  and  failures  of  their  lives — by  penitence  and  purity 
to  stay  the  bolts  of  an  angry  heaven — by  industry  and  fru 
gality  to  nurse  the  means  of  self-defence — and  by  solemn 
gratitude  and  worship  to  conciliate  celestial  favor  and  bless 
ing — that  so,  over  a  land  which  was  heaving  with  the  con 
vulsions  of  war,  God  might  pour  the  oil  of  peace,  and  make 
its  joy  and  happiness  triumphant. 

*  uJJis  Excellency."  So,  in  May  of  this  year,  for  the  first  time,  by  Act  of  the 
General  Assembly,  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  was  to  be  styled  and  entitled. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  Trumbull  objected  to  this  title — strongly — soon  after 
it  was  bestowed — and  even  made  it  the  subject  of  a  special  message  to  the  Legis 
lature.  "An  Act  of  this  Assembly  made  and  passed  this  time  twelve  month," 
he  says  in  this  document — "  ordered  the  stile  of  His  Excellency  to  be  given  the 
Governor  of  this  State.  This  savouring  too  much  of  High  Titles,  and  not  bene 
ficial,  may  it  not  honorably  be  repealed  ?  It  passed  without  any  previous  knowl 
edge,  expectation,  or  desire  [on  my  part.]  Asking  pardon  from  you  and  from  my 
successors,  I  do  sincerely  request  its  repeal.  It  is  Honor  and  Happiness  enough 
to  meet  the  approbation  of  Heaven,  of  my  own  Conscience,  and  of  my  Brethren." 

"  High  sounding  Titles,"  he  says  elsewhere  in  the  same  Message — "  intoxicate 
the  mind,  ingenerate  envy,  and  breed  disorders  in  a  commonwealth,  and  ought 
therefore  to  be  avoided."  "  The  true  grandeur  and  solid  glory"  of  the  Consti 
tution  of  Connecticut,  he  insists — "  do  not  consist  in  high  Titles,  splendour, 
pomp,  and  magnificence,  nor  in  reverence  and  exterior  honor  paid  to  their  Gov 
ernors  and  Kulers,  but  in  the  real  and  solid  advantages  derived  therefrom." 
The  Governor,  it  is  almost  needless  to  add,  failed  to  secure  the  repeal  he  de 
sired — and  the  title  remains  to  this  day. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

1778. 

STARVING  condition  of  the  American  Army  at  Valley  Forge.  Washington 
appeals  to  Trumbull  for  aid.  It  is  rendered.  Many  droves  of  cattle 
sent  on.  Gen.  Champion  particularly  active  in  the  matter.  The  vital 
relief  they  afforded  The  policy  of  Connecticut  in  regard  to  the  sup 
ply  of  "beef  for  the  army.  Some  of  its  legislation  on  this  subject.  Its 
policy  and  laws  in  regard  to  the  supply  of  clothing.  The  pains  taken 
by  Trumbull  to  procure  materials  for  this  purpose,  and  the  patriotic 
industry  of  Connecticut  women  in  fabricating  them  into  garments. 

THE  opening  of  the  year  1778  found  the  grand  American 
Army  starving  and  fainting  in  their  winter  quarters  at  Valley 
Forge.  About  three  thousand  of  them,  according  to  a  field 
return,  were  unfit  for  duty  by  reason  of  their  being  barefoot 
and  otherwise  naked.  Many  others,  for  the  same  reason, 
were  detained  in  hospitals,  or  crowded  into  farm-houses — 
"  our  sick  naked — our  well  naked — our  unfortunate  men  in 
captivity  naked " — as  Washington  described  it  at  the  time. 
Warm  blankets  were  so  rare  as  to  be  deemed  a  luxury. 
Vegetables  were  scarcely  known  in  camp.  Many  of  the 
troops  were  utterly  destitute  of  meat.  The  dead  in  unusual 
numbers  were  borne  to  their  graves.  Horses  too  were  dying 
for  want  of  forage.  The  department  of  the  Commissary  was 
wretchedly  defective,  and  that  of  the  Quarter  Master  without 
a  head.  "  Our  difficulties  and  distresses,"  said  the  Com 
mander-in-chief  again — "  are  such  as  wound  the  feelings  of 
humanity."  Such,  and  so  universal  and  violent,  are  the 
complaints  for  want  of  provisions,  represented  all  the  com 
manding  officers — that  famine,  in  all  probability,  will  break 
up  the  camp,  and  dissolve  the  army  I 

More  fear  was  felt  that  there  would  be  a  continued  failure 
in  the  article  of  flesh  than  in  any  other,  as  all  the  cattle  and 
sheep  around  the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill  were  exhausted. 
At  one  time  the  Commissary  reported  that  there  was  not  a 
single  hoof  in  camp  for  slaughter.  So  to  the  great  beef 
country — to  New  England — and  to  Connecticut  particularly, 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXI. — TRUMBULL.  365 

Washington,  in  this  emergency,  turned  his  eyes.  Besides 
strongly  representing  to  the  Assistant  Commissary  in  this 
State  the  extremity  to  which  the  army  was  verging — "  as  a 
stimulus  to  greater  exertion,"  says  Chief  Justice  Marshall — 
"  and  to  assure  himself  of  all  the  aid  which  could  be  derived 
from  the  State  authorities,  he  addressed  himself  at  the  same 
time  to  Governor  Trumbull  of  Connecticut,  whose  ardent 
cooperation  in  the  public  service  he  had  so  often  experienced, 
and  to  whom,  after  stating  the  past  and  present  dangerous 
condition  of  the  army,  he  added  "  as  follows : — 

"  What  is  still  more  distressing,  I  am  assured  by  Colonel  Blaine,  depu 
ty  purchasing  commissary  for  the  middle  district,  comprehending  the 
States  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland,  that  they  are  nearly 
exhausted,  and  the  most  vigorous  and  active  exertions  on  his  part  will 
not  procure  more  than  sufficient  to  supply  the  army  during  this  month, 
if  so  long.  This  being  the  case,  and  as  any  relief  that  can  be  obtained 
from  the  more  southern  States  will  be  but  partial,  trifling,  and  of  a  day, 
we  must  turn  our  eyes  to  the  eastward,  and  lay  our  account  of  support 
from  thence.  Without  it,  we  cannot  but  disband.  I  must,  therefore, 
Sir,  entreat  you  in  the  most  earnest  terms,  and  by  that  zeal  which  has 
eminently  distinguished  your  character  in  the  present  arduous  struggle, 
to  give  every  countenance  to  the  person  or  persons  employed  in  the  pur 
chasing  line  in  your  State,  and  to  urge  them  to  the  most  vigorous  efforts 
to  forward  supplies  of  cattle  from  time  to  time,  and  thereby  prevent  such 
a  melancholy  and  alarming  catastrophe." 

Governor  Trumbull  at  once  assembled  his  Council,  and  laid 
before  them  the  communication  from  General  Washington. 
The  picture  of  destitution  at  Valley  Forge  which  it  pre 
sented — its  agonizing  account  of  disease,  of  famine,  and  of 
woe,  among  those  who  were  banded  to  fight  the  American 
battle  for  freedom,  and  upon  whom  the  whole  hope  and  ex 
pectation  of  the  country  solely  rested — this,  together  with 
the  earnest,  almost  rending  appeal  which  the  Commander-in- 
chief  made  for  help — help,  without  which,  he  said,  all  is  lost, 
the  army  "must  disband" — "drew  tears"  reports  Gordon  the 
historian,  "from  the  eyes  of  those  who  heard  the  letter  read" 
Laudable  sensibility!  Tears  indeed  of  true  and  fervent 
patriotism ! 

And  out  upon  those  tears  glided  at  once  resolution  and 

31* 


366  CHAP.    XXXI. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

dispatch.  The  Council  sent  immediately  for  Colonel  Henry 
Champion  of  Colchester — a  gentleman  who,  but  a  few  days 
before — in  anticipation  that  the  quantity  of  salted  provisions 
laid  up  in  Connecticut  for  the  Continental  service  would  be 
inadequate  to  the  probable  demands  and  necessities  of  the 
army — had  been  specially  appointed  by  them  "to  procure  all 
the  live  fat  cattle  "  in  the  State  "  for  said  use  " — he  being,  as 
their  Records  say,  "  of  great  judgment,  capacity,  and  experi 
ence  in  said  business,  of  most  unexceptionable  honesty  and 
integrity,  and  of  universal  acquaintance  and  ability  to  pro 
mote  the  fattening  of  cattle,  and  skill  in  purchasing."  He 
was  a  gentleman  too  whose  appointment  to  this  end,  but  a 
few  days  only  after  it  was  made,  had  been  particularly  sanc 
tioned  by  the  American  Congress — a  Body  which  at  the  same 
time  expressed  its  own  high  approbation  "  of  the  conduct  of 
the  Governor  and  Council  of  Safety  of  Connecticut"  in 
making  it,  its  approbation  also  "  of  the  other  measures  for 
providing  public  stores  and  provisions"  which  these  State 
Authorities  had  taken,  and  its  own  dependence  upon  said 
Authorities  thereafter  for  "their  constant  attention  to  this 
important  subject." 

Colonel  Champion  repaired  to  Lebanon.  He  met  the 
Governor.  He  met  the  Council.  He  talked  with  each  and 
all.  Consultation  was  brief.  Their  request  was  in  harmony 
with  the  promptings  of  his  own  spirit.  He  returned  to  his 
mansion  in  the  Westchester  Society  of  Colchester — there 
where,  upon  many  hills  and  beautiful  slopes,  he  had  fat  cattle 
and  numerous  finely  cultivated  acres  of  his  own.  He  took 
from  his  own  herd  all  that  he  could  possibly  spare.  They 
were  the  first  contribution  to  the  drove  destined  for  Yalley 
Forge.  Others  came  in  from  his  neighbors,  and  from  adjoin 
ing  towns.  The  stirring  missives  of  Governor  Trumbull, 
urging  contributions,  flew  in  every  direction.  And  so,  most 
speedily,  out  from  the  gateway  of  Commissary  Champion — 
in  the  piercing  cold  of  winter — his  drove  was  started — on, 
three  hundred  miles  and  more,  for  the  far-distant  camp  of 
"Washington — to  be  augmented,  it  was  hoped,  each  mile 
almost  of  its  progress  through  the  already  far-famed  "Pro 
vision  State  "  of  old  Connecticut. 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXI. — TRUMBULL.  367 

Nor  was  this  hope  without  its  fulfillment.  The  drove  had 
no  sooner  reached  Hartford — a  town  at  this  time  noted  for 
the  many  cattle  that,  from  spring  to  the  late  fall,  grazed  upon 
the  luxuriant  herbage  of  its  extensive  meadows,  and  in  win 
ter  fed  from  the  barns  and  sheds  of  adjoining  wealthy  pro 
prietors,  or  from  warm  shelters  around  their  large,  cone- 
shaped  stacks  of  hay* — than  it  was  swelled  to  the  number 
of  three  hundred.  Thus  replenished,  it  started  for  the  North 
Kiver — new  stock,  at  intervals,  being  woven  into  its  long 
procession,  as  amid  the  cheering  on  of  drivers,  over  hill  and 
valley  it  wound  along — until,  having  crossed  the  Hudson, 
probably  at  King's  Ferry — and  passed  through  Upper  Jer 
sey,  and  over  the  Delaware — the  lowings  of  the  bullocks  and 
fatted  steer  were  heard  at  last  reverberating  through  the 
forest,  there  where,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Schuylkill,  the 
despairing  hearts  of  more  than  ten  thousand  famished  Amer 
ican  soldiers — hutted  in  the  wild  inclement  woods,  and  in 
the  very  face  almost  of  a  most  formidable,  well-fed,  well- 
clad,  and  ever-menacing  foe — started  and  rejoiced  at  the  wel 
come  sounds — and  poured  themselves  forth  in  most  fervent 
thanksgivings  to  that  Great  Benefactor  whose  are  "  the  cattle 
upon  a  thousand  hills."f 

The  vital  service  thus  rendered  by  Governor  Trumbull 
and  Commissary  Champion  to  the  American  Army,  in  its 
perilous  extremity,  was  followed  up  by  them,  most  assidu 
ously,  until  the  crisis  was  past.  One  warrant  from  the  Pres 
ident  of  Congress  for  two  hundred  thousand  dollars — drawn 
in  favor  of  the  Governor  and  Council,  for  the  purchase  of 
provisions — and  then  a  second  for  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars — "to  be  transmitted,"  as  it  was  expressed,  "to  Henry 

*  De  Warville,  in  his  Travels  in  the  United  States,  speaks  of  the  "  vast  mead 
ows  "  at  Hartford,  that  still,  in  1788,  were  "  covered  with  cattle  of  an  enormous 
size,"  which,  he  remarks,  "  furnish  the  market  of  New  York,  and  even  of  Phil 
adelphia." 

fHon.  Henry  C.  Deming,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  a  great-grandson  of  the  Com 
missary,  informs  us  that  Col.  Champion,  and  his  son  Colonel  Epaphroditus,  ac 
companied  the  cattle  quite  on  to  Valley  Forge — and  that  in  passing  the  North 
Kiver,  the  Commissary  himself  plunged  into  the  water  on  horseback,  and  trolled 
the  drove  across.  Col.  Epaphroditus  Champion  said,  that  five  days  after  the 
arrival  of  the  cattle— so  closely  had  they  been  devoured  by  the  famished  sol 
diers — that  "  you  might  Ttave  made  a  knife  out  of  every  bone  !  " 


CHAP.     XXXI. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

Champion,  Esq.,  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  cattle  in  Con 
necticut  " — facilitated  their  labor.  And  so  drove  after  drove 
of  fat  cattle,  besides  that  just  mentioned,  were  sent  on  to 
"Washington  at  Valley  Forge.  It  is  the  testimony  of  Mar 
shall,  that  at  this  time  the  army  was  "furnished  abundantly" 
from  the  State  in  question. 

Fortunately  these  droves — spite  of  extreme  exposure  in 
the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia  to  capture  by  the  enemy — all 
reached  their  destination  in  safety,  save  one.  This  one,  as  it 
happened — consisting  of  an  hundred  and  thirty  head — when 
within  only  twelve  miles  of  the  American  encampment,  was 
met  by  a  disaffected  inhabitant  of  that  region,  who — passing 
himself  off  on  its  conductors,  it  is  said,  as  an  American 
Commissary — persuaded  them  to  billet  the  drove  at  a  neigh 
boring  farm,  whose  owner  was  also  a  tory,  and  then  gave 
immediate  notice  of  the  fact  to  Lord  Howe.  The  informa 
tion  was  at  once  turned  to  account.  A  party  of  British 
Lighthorse  galloped  to  the  farm,  seized  the  cattle,  and  drove 
them  into  Philadelphia,  where  they  served  to  feed  the  British 
General  and  his  troops.  But  the  loss  was  not  particularly 
felt  by  the  American  Army,  for  at  this  time,  early  in  March, 
their  supplies — thanks  to  the  activity  of  Trumbull  and 
Champion — and  of  Clinton  and  Livingston  also,  the  patriotic 
Governors  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey — were  quite 
abundant.  Famine  had  withdrawn  her  ghastly  visage. 
Plenty  reigned — and  reigned,  we  think  it  will  be  conceded, 
more  in  consequence  of  the  exertions  of  Governor  Trumbull 
and  Connecticut  at  this  time,  than  of  any  other  Governor  or 
State  in  the  Union — for  the  region  nearest  the  seat  of  war 
was  just  then,  as  has  been  already  remarked,  quite  exhausted 
of  supplies. 

Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  had  no  cattle  to  spare,  or  at 
least  that  could  be  reached — Maryland  none — New  Jersey 
hardly  any — New  York  but  few.  Connecticut  had — and  by 
a  remarkable  act  of  her  General  Assembly — which  Trumbull 
was  active  to  see  steadily  enforced — she  rendered  her  own 
supply  of  beeves  greater  than  otherwise  it  would  have  been. 
For  early  in  the  year — in  February — she  ordained,  that  inas 
much  as  the  transportation,  from  place  to  place,  of  the  pri- 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXI. — TRUMBULL.  369 

vate  property  of  individuals,  had  then  "  greatly  increased, 
and  gave  employment  to  so  large  a  number  of  oxen  as  was 
likely  to  lessen  the  business  of  agriculture,  particularly  the 
raising  of  grain  and  provisions,  and  shorten  the  supply  of  beef 
for  the  use  of  the  army" — therefore,  save  in  a  few  excepted 
instances,  which  the  Act  specifies,  no  more  than  "  one  pair 
of  oxen  "  should  be  employed  in  such  transportation.  The 
penalty  for  employing  more  was  to  be  the  forfeiture  of  all 
oxen  beyond  one  pair,  and  of  all  the  property  thus  trans 
ported.  And  every  Grand  Juror,  Constable,  and  Freeholder 
in  the  State  was  specially  empowered  to  carry  this  law  into 
effect.  What  an  example  this  of  the  subordination  of  im 
portant  private  interests  to  the  public  good !  It  was  in  keep 
ing  with  the  generous  self-sacrifice  of  Connecticut  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  War. 

And  about  the  same  time  that  this  law  to  promote  the 
abundant  supply  of  meat  for  the  Revolutionary  Troops  was 
enacted  by  the  Connecticut  Legislature,  it  passed  another  act 
to  promote  the  abundant  supply  of  clothing,  as  it  had  done 
in  previous  years  of  the  war.  With  the  enforcement  of  this 
Act — one  which  had  at  first  originated  from  a  statement  and 
recommendation  made  by  the  Governor  himself,  and  by  his 
Council — with  its  enforcement  not  only  in  reference  to  the 
existing  emergency  at  Valley  Forge,  but  in  reference  also  to 
the  comfort  of  the  troops  during  the  entire  year,  his  Excel 
lency  had  much  to  do.  It  made  each  town  in  the  State — 
through  the  agency  either  of  its  Selectmen,  or  of  a  Commit 
tee  to  be  appointed  for  the  purpose — responsible  for  the  pro 
curement,  for  each  officer  and  soldier  of  the  quota  of  each 
town,  of  one  hunting  shirt  or  frock,  two  linen  shirts,  two 
pair  of  linen  overalls,  one  pair  of  stockings,  and  two  pairs 
of  good  shoes,  besides  a  certain  number  of  blankets.  All 
of  this  clothing,  if  not  provided  in  the  manner  required,  was 
to  be  taken  by  impressments — warrants  for  which,  if  neces 
sary,  the  Committees  of  the  towns  were  empowered  to  grant. 

Here  now  was  a  law,  which,  carried  fully  into  effect,  would 
have  furnished  all,  and  even  more  than  all,  in  the  way  of 
clothing,  that  could  have  been  required  from  Connecticut. 
It  may,  perhaps,  have  had  this  result.  But  neither  Trum- 


370  CHAP.    XXXI. — TRUMBULL.  1178. 

bull  or  his  Council  were  content  to  depend  upon  it  solely. 
So  from  time  to  time,  as  opportunity  offered,  the  Governor 
would  procure  cloth  from  other  quarters,  and  cause  it  to  be 
made  up  into  garments. 

A  French  ship,  for  instance — the  Lyon,  Captain  Michel — 
came  into  the  port  of  New  London,  in  March,  laden  with  a  val 
uable  assortment  of  goods.  Buy  woolen  cloths — spend  three 
thousand  pounds  for  the  purpose,  if  you  judge  it  best — buy 
linen  also,  suitable  for  officers'  shirts,  and  have  it  made  up,  and 
send  on  the  clothing  to  the  officers — were  his  directions  to 
Major  John  Bigelow,  whom  he  had  specially  appointed  at 
this  time  to  superintend  the  fabrication  of  garments.  Send 
on  cloths  and  trimmings  to  Connecticut,  was  his  request  in 
March  to  Otis  and  Andrews,  deputy  clothiers  in  Boston 
for  the  Continental  Army,  and  we  will  have  them  made  up 
here. 

The  cloth  and  the  trimmings  came.  Materials  also  came 
from  the  Lyon,  and  from  other  quarters.  And — just  as  for 
many  a  livelong  day  in  other  years — they  kept  hundreds  of 
the  daughters  of  Connecticut  busy  with  the  needle — maidens 
and  matrons  too,  whose  thoughts,  as  they  plied  their  work, 
doubtless  often  turned,  with  deepest  solicitude,  to  the  tented 
camp,  or  bristling  fortress — perhaps  to  battalions  "burning 
with  high  hope,"  and  bounding  with  victory — but  more 
likely,  in  view  of  the  gloomy  outset  and  intense  anxieties 
of  the  year  on  which  we  dwell,  to  the  stinted  fare,  or  famine, 
or  sickness,  or  cold,  and  nakedness  of  the  suffering  soldier — 
or  to  his  death-doom,  perchance,  upon  the  blood-stained  bat 
tle  field. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

1778. 

THE  Campaign  of  1778 — its  plans  and  achievements.  Trumbull  as  con 
nected  •with  them.  The  troops  to  "be  raised.  Difficulties  in  the  way 
of  enlistment.  He  sends  two  thousand  troops  to  Peekskill.  Upon  a 
call  from  Congress,  he  aids  in  perfecting  the  defences  of  the  North 
River.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  French  fleet  under  D'Estaign,  bringing 
aid  to  America,  he  prepares  diligently  for  cooperation.  He  issues  stir 
ring  Proclamations  for  raising  troops  to  support  Gen.  Sullivan  in  Rhode 
Island.  The  soldiers  and  supplies  he  sent.  Failure  of  the  attempt  to 
expel  the  British  from  Newport.  His  son.  Col.  John  Trumbull,  in  the 
battles  there.  He  sends  his  father  an  account  of  them,  and  a  map  of 
the  battle  grounds.  A  graphic  description  by  the  son  of  his  own  ex 
perience  at  the  time.  The  movements  of  the  enemy  become  myste 
rious  American  movements  in  consequence,  and  the  participation 
Trumbull  had  in  them.  Gen.  Gates,  with  a  large  force,  encamps  at 
Hartford.  A  public  dinner  is  given  him  by  the  Governor  and  General 
Assembly.  The  Governor  present.  Description  of  the  entertainment. 
The  problem  of  the  British  plan  solved,  and  the  American  troops  go 
into  winter  quarters. 

FROM  the  view  taken  in  our  last  Chapter  of  the  labors  of 
Trumbull  in  the  department  of  supplies  for  the  present 
year — to  which  we  have  been  led,  almost  as  a  matter  of 
course,  by  the  crisis  of  danger,  originating  in  the  want  of 
food  and  clothing,  with  which  the  year  opened — we  turn 
now  to  look  at  him  under  other  and  the  more  strictly  mili 
tary  aspects  of  the  period.  What  were  the  war  plans — what 
the  war  achievements  of  the  year  1778  ?  What  had  he  to 
do  with  them  ?  What  were  the  public  wants  in  regard  to 
troops,  and  his  services  respecting  them  ?  What,  generally, 
his  labors  both  for  the  defence  of  the  country  at  large,  and 
for  his  own  State  ?  Let  us  see ! 

The  Campaign  of  1778 — from  causes  which  neither  the 
American  Commander-in-chief,  nor  the  leading  patriots  of 
the  day,  could  control — was  tardy,  inefficient,  and  unpro 
ductive  to  the  American  cause.  Save  in  plans — one  towards 
the  beginning,  and  one  towards  the  close  of  the  year,  for 
invading  Canada,  which  were  both  soon  abandoned — there 


372  CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

was  no  prosecution  of  any  great  military  enterprise  in  the 
Northern  Department — Congress  having,  early  as  March,  de 
termined  that  the  fortifications  at  Fort  Ticonderoga  and 
Mount  Independence  should  be  demolished.  So  far  as  mili 
tary  affairs  elsewhere  are  concerned,  the  campaign  was 
marked  by  skirmishes  between  the  two  hostile  armies  around 
Philadelphia — by  the  subsequent  evacuation  of  this  city  by 
the  British,  and  the  march  through  the  Jerseys — by  the 
severe  but  indecisive  battle  of  Monmouth — and  by  the  en 
largement,  on  the  part  of  the  American  force  of  its  defences 
upon  the  North  Eiver.  It  was  farther  marked  by  the  arrival 
of  a  French  fleet,  under  Count  D'Estaign,  to  aid  the  United 
States — by  an  intended  cooperation  with  this  fleet,  and  the 
unavailing  siege  of  Newport  under  General  Sullivan — by  a 
general  apprehension  in  New  England  that  the  enemy  medi 
tated  an  attack  on  Boston  and  the  French  fleet  there,  on  New 
London,  on  the  Connecticut  coast  elsewhere,  in  fact  on  the 
East  generally,  and  by  consequent  extensive  preparations  for 
resistance.  It  was  also  marked  by  the  Wyoming  and  Cherry 
Y alley  massacres — by  the  expedition  of  the  British  against 
Bedford,  Fairhaven,  Martha's  Vineyard,  and  Great  Egg  Har 
bor — by  the  surprise  and  defeat  of  Pulaski  and  his  infantry, 
and  of  Colonel  Baylor  and  his  regiment,  in  New  Jersey — by 
extreme  uncertainty,  towards  the  close  of  the  year,  as  to  the 
destination  of  large  masses  of  the  enemy  in  New-York — and 
by  the  departure,  finally,  of  five  thousand  British  troops  for 
the  West  Indies,  and  of  three  thousand  for  Florida,  in  prep 
aration  for  an  attack  on  that  region. 

With  all  these  matters  and  events  Trumbull  was  more  or 
less  connected  throughout  the  year,*  and  in  forms  quite  simi 
lar  to  those  which  attached  him  to  the  public  interests  in 
previous  years  of  the  Kevolutionary  Struggle.  In  the  first 
place,  besides  supplies  for  the  army — that  ever-acting  press 
ure  upon  his  attention,  of  which,  for  the  present  period,  we 
have  already  spoken — he  had,  as  usual,  so  far  as  the  chief 

*  He  had  at  this  time,  to  aid  him  in  his  labors,  a  clerk— John  Porter  by  name— 
"  a  young  man,"  says  the  Eecord  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  "  of  liberal  educa 
tion,  and  proper  accomplishments."  He  was  allowed  fifteen  pounds  a  month  as 
salary. 


1778. 


CHAP.     XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  373 


direction  is  concerned,    new  troops  to  gather,  and  station, 
both  for  home  defence,  and  for  that  of  the  country  at  large. 

Of  those  employed  at  home,  and  of  those  also  who  were 
engaged  in  the  Khode  Island  Expedition  under  Sullivan,  we 
shall  speak  by  themselves,  in  connection  with  their  particu 
lar  destinations.  Independently  of  these,  and  of  those  also 
proposed  in  January  for  filling  up  the  Continental  Battalions 
that  had  been  raised  by  Connecticut  for  the  service  of  the 
previous  year — and  independent  of  those  too  which  were  to 
have  been  embraced  in  a  plan  proposed  by  Congress,  in 
March,  for  establishing  a  troop  of  light  cavalry  from  among 
the  "  young  gentlemen  of  property  and  spirit"  in  the  State — 
the  Governor  had,  besides,  two  brigades  to  raise,  by  volun 
tary  enlistment,  that  were  ordered  by  the  General  Assembly 
in  February — of  which  six  battalions  were  to  be  held  in  con 
stant  readiness  to  march  on  the  shortest  notice  upon  any  tour 
of  duty,  wherever  the  militia  were  liable  to  be  called. 

It  was  more  of  a  task,  the  whole  country  through,  this 
year  than  at  any  other  time  during  the  war,  to  enlist  men  for 
the  Continental  service.  The  distresses  at  Valley  Forge  had 
not  only  caused  great  numbers  of  the  soldiers  there  en 
camped,  to  quit  the  army  in  disgust,  but  made  multitudes 
who  were  not  in  the  army  dread  joining  it,  as  they  dreaded 
poverty  and  the  pestilence. 

The  alarming  depreciation  too  in  the  paper  money  of  the 
nation  which  then  existed,  and  which  rendered  all  payments 
in  Continental  Money  for  Continental  services  comparatively 
worthless,  had  forced  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  the  best  and 
bravest  officers  of  the  army — from  sheer  poverty — in  order 
to  hide  their  nakedness,  and  secure  their  families,  in  many 
cases,  from  absolute  starvation  with  themselves — to  throw 
up  their  commissions,  and  return  to  some  employment  or 
other  in  private  life  that  might  at  least  yield  them  bread, 
and  a  decent  garb  of  homespun. 

A  strange,  unaccountable  apathy  also  had  suddenly,  like  a 
leaden  mist,  crept  over  the  spirit  of  American  patriotism, 
and  dulled,  nay  almost  obliterated,  with  some,  the  blessed 
vision  of  freedom.  There  was,  besides,  a  strong  apprehen 
sion  in  the  minds  of  many,  that  the  war  would  not  ever 
32 


374  CHAP.    XXXII. — TKUMBULL.  m8. 

terminate  triumphantly  for  America — because,  contrary  to 
universal  expectation,  it  had  been  already  so  long  protracted, 
and  because  of  the  continued  presence  in  our  land — and 
almost  upon  whatever  point,  in  its  huge  floating  armaments, 
it  chose  to  go — of  a  numerous,  well-appointed,  and  most 
formidable  British  army — that  had  not  yet,  after  three 
years  of  most  earnest  opposition,  been  forced  from  but  a  sin 
gle  one  of  its  strongholds  upon  our  coast,  and  seemingly 
never  could  be.  All  these  causes  combined,  which  more  or 
less  affected  every  American  State  at  the  period  now  under 
consideration,  rendered  enlistment,  more  than  ever,  a  matter 
of  difficulty,  doubt,  and  even  for  awhile  of  despair. 

So  far  as  Connecticut  is  concerned,  these  causes  were  not 
without  their  influence,  but  their  operation  was  by  no  means 
so  extensive  as  in  some  other  sections  of  our  country — was 
comparatively  limited.  And  Trumbull  faced  them  in  his 
task  of  raising  new  recruits,  with  his  customary  energy. 

Though  his  recruiting  officers  encountered  for  awhile,  at 
first,  some  obstacles  to  their  success,  yet  we  cannot  learn  that 
at  any  time  they  were  forced  to  resort — as  the  law  allowed 
them  to  do,  in  case  volunteers  enough  could  not  be  found — 
to  the  system  of  compulsory  detachment.  Though  a  large 
number  of  the  troops  of  Connecticut  were  still  in  the  field 
when  the  year  opened,  with  Putnam  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson,  and  with  Washington  at  Valley  Forge,  and  re 
mained  there  the  winter  through — though  no  great  military 
enterprises,  calling  for  an  immediate  draft  of  men  and  money, 
were  in  contemplation  during  the  winter,  and  the  regular 
campaign,  it  was  presumed,  would  not,  of  course,  open  till 
about  the  middle  of  spring — still  the  Connecticut  battalions 
were  filled  up  as  rapidly  as  under  all  the  circumstances  could 
have  been  expected. 

True  the  eight  battalions  called  for  by  Congress,  in  Febru 
ary,  were  not  prepared.  But  these  were  apportioned  on  Con 
necticut  as  its  quota,  only  in  case  a  general  plan  for  raising, 
from  all  the  States  in  the  Union,  an  army  of  forty  thousand 
men,  was  carried  out — a  plan  which,  in  fact,  was  never  exe 
cuted  in  a  single  State,  and  hardly  even  attempted.  True 
that  troop  of  cavalry — to  be  composed  of  "young  gentlemen 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  375 

\ 

of  property  and  spirit,"  and  "of  a  cultivated  understand 
ing" — which  Congress  proposed,  to  serve  at  their  own  ex 
pense — was  not  formed  in  Connecticut — though  Trumbull 
sent  the  scheme  to  all  the  Majors  of  Lighthorse  in  the  State. 
Neither  was  it  formed  in  any  State  in  the  Union,  save  one 
solitary  troop  in  Virginia — and  this  was  speedily  abandoned, 
the  whole  plan  being  given  up  by  Congress. 

But  in  the  spring,  early  in  March — in  proof  of  the  good 
progress  made  in  the  State,  under  Trumbull,  in  the  recruit 
ing  service — the  moment  General  Washington  made  his  first 
important  requisition  of  two  thousand  troops  for  Peekskill, 
those  troops  were  marched  to  the  point  required.  And  again, 
in  May — before  Congress  had  settled  the  army  establishment 
for  the  year,  and  before  even  it  had  agreed  upon  any  gen 
eral  plan  of  operations  for  the  campaign — the  six  battalions 
of  Connecticut  which  had  been  ordered  by  the  General  As 
sembly  in  February — together  with  three  troops  of  Light- 
horse — in  fair  condition,  as  to  numbers,  arms,  and  equip 
ments,  considering  the  embarrassments  to  enlistment  at  the 
time — were  sent  by  the  Governor  to  join  General  Gates  upon 
the  Forth  River.* 

This  was  a  point  to  which  Governor  Trumbull,  as  well 
from  his  own  foresight,  as  by  special  request  from  Congress, 
paid  close  attention.  Once  occupied  and  controlled  by  the 
enemy,  as  is  familiar  to  all,  it  would  have  been  a  quarter 
whence  they  might  have  poured  destruction  on  the  American 
cause.  For  it  would  have  opened  an  easy  connecting  passage 
between  their  forces  in  New  York  and  any  that,  as  in  past 
years,  they  might  have  sent  to  join  them  from  Canada.  It 
would  have  cut  off  all  connection  between  New  England  and 
the  rest  of  the  country.  The  States  might  then  have  been 
beaten  in  detail.  America  would  have  returned  again  under 

* "  On  the  pressing  requisition  of  Major  General  Gates,  we  have  thought  it  our 
duty  to  order  the  Six  Battalions  raised  by  Act  of  Assembly,  the  last  winter,  to 
join  them  on  Hudson  River,  and  to  detach,  in  addition  to  them,  three  Troops'  of 
Lighthorse ;  and,  as  there  seems  to  be  a  greater  probability  that  the  enemy  will 
bend  their  Main  Force  there  or  immediately  on  this  State,  than  anywhere  else, 
have  been  obliged  to  order  a  Peremptory  Detachment  of  two  more  entire  Regi 
ments  for  the  Defence  of  our  very  exposed  and  extensive  Sea-Coasts,  and  to  act 
as  occasion  shall  require."— Trumbull  to  Gen.  Sullivan,  June  5th,  1778. 


376  CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

British  sway.  And  there,  close  by  this  important  quarter — 
constantly  menacing  it — improving  every  opportunity  to  at 
tack  it — bound,  at  almost  every  hazard,  upon  securing  it — 
was  the  foe.  About  the  last  of  winter  its  defences  were  weak, 
extremely  so — and  some  of  its  important  passes  scarce  de 
fended  at  all.  Could  the  enemy  but  have  known  this !  To 
command  the  Hudson — its  entire  length — what  a  prize  to 
them!  It  was  vital  then  that  the  American  troops  there 
should  be  reenforced.  And  therefore  it  was  that  Washing 
ton  called  upon  Trumbull  for  the  two  thousand  men  to  be 
marched  to  Peekskill. 

But  the  defences  themselves  upon  the  Hudson  Kiver  needed 
repairs,  and  enlargement.  It  was  necessary  also  that  many 
new  ones  should  be  constructed.  Putnam  had  been  busy 
effecting  this  during  the  winter.  General  McDougall,  his 
successor  in  the  command  in  this  quarter,  was  busy  at  it.  So 
was  Gates,  who  succeeded  McDougall — and  Kosciusko  was 
there  to  plan. 

Upon  whom  now  did  the  American  Congress  call  at  the  junc 
ture,  and  for  the  purposes  now  described  ?  Upon  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  New  York,  and  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  Connec 
ticut.  "Resolved,  that  Gov.  Clinton  and  Gov. Trumbull  be  re 
quested  to  give  every  assistance  in  their  power  to  Gen.  McDou 
gall  for  perfecting  the  defence  of  the  North  River" — was  their 
vote  of  March  the  twenty-first.  And  in  April,  by  another 
Resolution  of  Congress,  the  same  request,  for  the  same  end, 
was  made  again  to  the  same  gentlemen,  and  to  the  States  also, 
upon  this  occasion,  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire. 
Troops,  artificers,  materials — all  the  necessaries  requisite  "for 
fortifying  and  obstructing  the  North  River,  and  securing  the 
communication  with  the  Eastern  States,"  were  earnestly  de 
sired.  And,  so  far  as  Trumbull  was  concerned,  the  request 
was  complied  with,  to  the  extent  of  his  power — not  even  "six 
receivers,  for  the  Hon.  James  Duane  of  the  State  of  New 
York,"  and  "twelve  refining-pots,  with  doors  or  covers,  for  re 
fining  sulphur,"  being  forgotten  amid  his  provision  of  neces 
saries  for  the  defence  of  the  great  river-artery  of  New  York. 

It  was  while  engaged  as  we  have  now  described,  that, 
July  eighth,  Count  D'Estaign — with  twelve  massive  ships  of 


1778. 


CHAP.     XXXII.— TRUMBULL.  877 


the  line,  six  frigates,  and  a  body  of  land  forces — arrived  from 
Toulon  off  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware — bringing  aid  to 
America  in  her  struggle  for  freedom.  It  was  the  first  fruits 
of  our  Treaty  of  Alliance  with  France — a  Treaty  whose  in 
ception  and  progress  Trumbull  had  watched  with  the  deepest 
solicitude — and  which  one  son  of  Connecticut,  a  Commis 
sioner  at  the  Court  of  Versailles — his  friend  Silas  Deane — 
had  assisted  in  framing — and  which  another  son  of  Connec 
ticut,  Simeon  Deane,  had  first  brought  over  to  the  country, 
to  gladden,  with  a  joy  that  was  unbounded,  the  heart  of 
Congress,  and  of  a  whole  nation. 

Washington  himself  gave  notice  of  the  arrival  of  this  fleet 
to  Governor  Trumbull.  "Every  thing  we  can  do  to  aid  and 
cooperate  with  it,"  he  wrote — "is  of  the  utmost  importance." 
It  is  "off  the  Hook." 

And  he  proceeded  to  inform  him  that  by  accounts  from 
New  York,  a  Cork  fleet  was  momently  expected  at  that  city, 
for  the  safety  of  which  the  enerny  were  extremely  alarmed — 
that  to  avoid  the  French  fleet  it  would  probably  take  its 
course  through  the  Sound — that  if  it  should,  it  might  answer 
most  valuable  purposes  for  the  Eastern  States  to  collect  be 
forehand  all  their  frigates  and  armed  vessels,  to  intercept  its 
passage  that  way — and  that  if  the  whole,  or  any  considerable 
part  of  it  could  be  taken,  loaded  as  it  was  with  provisions, 
the  blow  would  prove  a  fatal  one  to  the  British  army.  And 
he  desired  Trumbull,  if  the  project  appeared  to  him  eligible, 
to  make  it  known  to  the  neighboring  States. 

But  circumstances  quickly  put  an  end  to  this  design. 
D'Estaign  was  unable  to  invade  New  York.  He  was  frus 
trated  by  physical  impossibilities.  His  ships  were  too  heavy 
to  pass  the  bar — and  after  eleven  days'  detention  off  the  har 
bor,  he  sailed  for  Newport — the  point  next  after  New  York 
to  be  attacked,  in  the  plan  of  operations  for  the  combined 
French  and  American  armies. 

Prepare — wrote  Washington  immediately  to  Major  General 
Sullivan,  who  was  then  in  command  at  Rhode  Island.  Ap 
ply  in  the  most  urgent  manner,  in  my  name,  to  the  States  of 
Ehode  Island,  Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut,  to  augment 

your  force  to  five  thousand  men  or  more.     Establish  your 
32*  J 


378  CHAP.     XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

magazines  of  provisions.  Make  a  collection  of  boats,  proper 
for  a  descent  on  Newport.  Engage  pilots  for  the  fleet.  Ar 
range  your  signals.  Fix  a  chain  of  expresses,  from  some 
commanding  view  on  the  coast  to  your  own  quarters.  Mas 
ter  the  number  and  position  of  the  enemy  by  land,  and  their 
strength  by  sea ! 

At  this  point — with  Washington's  first  directions  to  Gen 
eral  Sullivan — commenced  Trumbull's  connection  with  the 
Ehode  Island  Expedition  of  the  year  1778 — a  connection 
which,  like  that  of  previous  years  in  the  same  direction,  was 
pervaded  with  his  anxiety  and  energy.  No  success — as 
none  in  previous  years — so  far  as  the  enemy  is  concerned — 
was  destined  to  reward  his  exertions,  but  they  were  none  the 
less  unremitting — as  we  shall  see. 

Sullivan,  in  conformity  with  instructions  from  Washing 
ton,  wrote  Trumbull  for  more  troops.  Connecticut  had 
already  under  him  her  quota  of  seven  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  men,  as  settled  by  the  Springfield  Convention  of  1777, 
and  as  desired  by  Congress  in  January  and  July  of  the  pres 
ent  year.  But  now,  upon  Sullivan's  request,  the  Governor 
convened  his  Council,  and  ordered  on  to  Rhode  Island  seven 
companies  more — on  the  very  day,  as  it  happened,  when 
D'Estaign  with  his  fleet  cast  anchor  five,  miles  from  Newport, 
just  without  Burton's  ledge.  These  were  not  enough.  Sul 
livan  sent  for  more.  Washington  wrote  for  more.  The 
Governor  and  Deputy  Governor  of  Rhode  Island  wrote  for 
more.  Immediate  measures  were  taken  by  Trumbull  to 
procure  them. 

"  Whereas,"  says  a  Proclamation,  which,  July  twenty-eighth,  he  issued 
for  the  purpose,  to  the  two  Connecticut  regiments  under  Brigadier  Gen 
eral  Tyler  and  Brigadier  General  Douglas  respectively — "  whereas  I  have 
received  authentic  intelligence  from  his  Excellency  Gen.  Washington, 
that  the  fleet  of  our  magnanimous  and  faithful  Ally,  his  most  Christian 
Majesty,  sailed  from  the  Hook  eastward,  before  the  22d  instant,  to  co 
operate  with  the  forces  of  the  United  States  at  Providence  to  dislodge 
our  inveterate  enemies  from  their  hold  at  Newport,  or  other  places  at  the 
eastward — And  whereas  an  expedition  of  the  utmost  consequence  is 
formed  against  the  enemy  to  the  eastward,  and  a  requisition  is  made  by 
Gen.  Washington  to  the  States  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode 
Island,  for  five  thousand  men  from  the  militia — considering  [also]  the 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  379 

importance  of  the  object,  the  opportune  season,  and  many  aus 
picious  circumstances  which  conspire  to  promote  success — I  do  there 
fore,"  Ac. 

And  the  Governor  proceeds  to  order  the  commanding  offi 
cers  to  raise  volunteers  from  the  two  regiments  expeditiously 
as  possible,  and  march  them  to  Providence — promising  him 
self  to  see  to  the  transportation  of  their  baggage,  and  to 
provisions  for  their  march. 

He  is  sensible,  he  says,  "  of  the  business  of  the  season,  and 
of  the  difficulties  which  attend  leaving  home" — but  yet — re 
garding  the  present  opportunity  "  as  a  favorable  intervention 
of  Providence,"  he  "cannot  but  think  it  would  be  criminal 
to  neglect  the  advantage  "  which  the  kind  Disposer  of  events 
has  "so  evidently"  put  into  the  hands  of  the  people  for  ex 
pelling  from  their  coasts  "  the  enemy  that  has  so  long  dis 
tressed  them." 

"Were  it  possible,"  he  concludes,  "that  any  should  want  incitement 
to  exert  themselves  in  this  great  and  glorious  struggle,  let  them  reflect 
on  the  wonders  God  has  wrought  for  our  forefathers,  and  for  us — on  the 
cruel  ravages  committed  by  the  enemy  on  our  defenceless  towns,  and 
helpless  women  and  children — spreading  desolation  and  ruin  wherever 
they  extend  their  conquests — a  specimen  of  their  future  designs  towards 
us — [and  let  them  reflect  also]  on  the  amazing  quantities  of  blood  and 
treasure  already  expended,  and  on  the  happiness,  dignity,  and  glory  that 
will  result  to  us,  and  be  transmitted  to  posterity,  by  exerting  ourselves 
mightily  for  the  vindication  of  our  just  Rights,  Liberties,  and  Inde 
pendence." 

On  the  same  day  that  Trumbull  issued  this  Proclama 
tion — in  addition  to  the  seven  companies  that  had  already 
been  sent  to  Providence,  he  ordered  on  another  from  New 
London.  And  only  four  days  after — August  first — fearing 
lest  the  volunteers  whom  he  had  solicited  from  the  two  regi 
ments  of  Tyler  and  Douglass  might  not  respond  in  sufficient 
numbers,  or  with  sufficient  alertness — "  on  discourse  and 
consideration"  with  his  Council,  he  issued  another  Order  and 
Proclamation — this  time  calling  on  the  Commanders  of  the 
two  regiments  already  mentioned,  and  on  the  General  also  of 
the  first  regiment,  to  raise,  peremptorily,  five  hundred  men — 
who  should  be  entitled,  he  promised,  to  continental  pay, 


380  CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL. 


1778. 


rations,  and  encouragements,  besides  forty  shillings  bounty, 
and  who  were  to  be  marched  forthwith,  he  commanded,  to 
the  theatre  of  war  around  Providence. 

"  Whereas,"  he  eloquently  recites  in  this  Proclamation — which  notices 
also  the  calls  made  upon  the  State  at  this  time  for  its  services,  and  what 
had  already  been  done — "whereas  his  most  Christian  Majesty,  the  re 
nowned  and  illustrious  King  of  France,  has  first  among  all  the  powers 
of  Europe  acknowledged  and  recognized  the  United  States  of  America, 
while  struggling  under  the  weight  of  British  tyranny  and  oppression, 
and  has  entered  into  and  ratified  a  Treaty  of  Alliance  with  them,  founded 
on  principles  truly  noble,  and  becoming  a  wise,  great,  and  gracious 
Prince,  without  taking  advantage  of  the  difficulties  to  which  we  were 
reduced  by  being  suddenly  and  unpreparedly  pushed  into  this  extensive 
war  for  the  defence  of  all  that  could  be  dear  to  a  free  people — and 
whereas  the  said  King,  of  his  great  magnanimity  and  goodness,  has  sent 
over  a  large  fleet  of  capital  Ships,  under  the  command  of  the  Admiral 
Count  D'Estaign,  superior  to  all  the  British  navy  in  these  seas,  together 
with  a  considerable  Body  of  Land  Forces,  to  aid  and  assist  these  States 
against  the  invasion  of  our  enemies,  and  in  subduing,  or  extirpating,  or 
driving  them  from  this  good  Land — I  do  hereby  renew  [the  Summons 
for  volunteers  of  July  twenty -eighth,]  and  earnestly  call  upon  all  who 
are  within  the  limits  of  this  Proclamation,  cheerfully  and  forthwith  to 
offer  themselves  in  the  service  of  God  (it  may  be  truly  said,)  and  of  their 
country,  against  the  enemies  of  the  rights  of  mankind,  and  our  cruel 
invaders  and  murderers." 

And  he  goes  on  to  assure  all  who  will  engage  in  the 
service  that  their  "tour  of  duty"  will  be  uvery  short" — that 
"  the  prospect  of  success,  in  a  humble  trust  on  Divine  Prov 
idence,"  is  fairer  than  ever  before — and  that  "the  advantages 
of  so  powerful  a  support  both  by  sea  and  land,"  as  those  af 
forded  by  "  the  new  friends  and  allies  "  of  the  Americans — 
the  French — are  "exceedingly  great,  and  must  strike 
terror  and  dismay"  into  the  hearts  of  the  enemies  of  our 
land. 

These  appeals  from  Trumbull  were  effective.  All  the  sol 
diers  required  from  Connecticut  rallied  on  the  occasion — and, 
as  the  Governor  had  promised,  they  were  amply  provided. 
Teams,  loaded  down  with  salted  beef,  and  pork — upon  one 
occasion,  in  July,  with  no  less  than  one  hundred  barrels — 
lined  the  roads  from  Connecticut  to  Providence,  by  his 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  381 

order — and  vessels,  loaded  with  water  for  the  use  of  D'Es- 
taign's  fleet,  shot  out  from  the  harbor  of  New  London.* 
Preparations  on  all  sides  were  abundant.  Washington  was 
deeply  interested  in  the  event.  He  sent  the  Marquis  La 
Fayette,  with  additional  forces  from  the  camp  at  White 
Plains,  to  unite  with  the  army  under  Sullivan — and  General 
Greene — and  he  sent  Baron  Steuben.  He  sent  also  his  own 
Aid  de  Camp — the  chivalric  Laurens — to  join  the  French 
Admiral.  The  hopes  of  the  country  ran  high.  Could  the 
British  now  but  be  expelled  from  Newport — that  vital  hold 
on  the  American  coast  which  they  had  so  long  maintained — 
how  easy  it  would  be  to  crush  them  elsewhere  I  It  must  be 
done — it  can  be,  was  the  general  thought — for  they  are  but 
six,  and  the  Americans  are  more  than  ten  thousand  strong. 
And  with  the  patriot  forces  are  the  choicest  of  officers — the 
bravest  of  volunteers — all  panting  for  glory — and  a  magnifi 
cent  and  most  powerful  French  naval  armament.  What  can 
withstand  such  a  force?  It  must  triumph!  So  reasoned, 
and  so  concluded  the  over-sanguine  expectation  of  the 
country. 

But  a  cloud  soon  came  upon  that  expectation.  D'Estaign 
sailed  off  to  fight  Lord  Howe  upon  the  sea.  He  was  gone 
many  days — days  of  intense  anxiety  to  the  force  which  was 
left  behind  around  Newport.  It  was  doubted  whether  he 
would  return,  and  the  American  ranks  began  to  grow  thin 
by  desertion.  One  by  one,  soldiers  dropped  away.  Pros 
pects  grew  darker — yet  not  to  the  eyes  of  Trumbull,  or  of 
his  patriotic  Council.  "Sustinet  qui  transtulit" — he  remem 
bered  it — the  motto  of  his  State.  "  Every  branch  in  the 
true  vine  that  beareth  not  fruit,  our  Heavenly  Father  taketh 
away ;  and  every  branch  that  beareth  fruit  he  purgeth,  that 
it  may  bring  forth  more  fruit."  So  he  wrote  to  President 
jLaurens  in  June.f 

August  fourteenth — in  order,  as  the  Records  of  the  Coun 
cil  say,  that  "  the  important  enterprise  may  not  fail  for  want 

*  "  I  have  written  to  Governor  Trumbull  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  request 
ing  his  endeavors  to  collect  vessels  and  load  them  with  water  at  New  London  for 
the  use  of  your  fleet."—  Washington  to  D'Estaign,  Aug.  8th. 

t  June  29th,  1778. 


382  CHAP.    XXXII. — TKUMBULL.  1778. 

of  a  little  support,  to  the  great  disappointment  and  injury  of 
the  country" — the  Governor  made  a  peremptory  draft  of  six 
companies  more  of  soldiers,  each  consisting  of  eighty  men, 
and  ordered  them  on  from  Connecticut  to  Rhode  Island.  To 
these  he  added  a  troop  of  forty-eight  horsemen  from  the  reg 
iment  of  Major  Ebenezer  Backus — and  at  the  same  time  sent 
on  from  Norwich  to  Governor  Greene  one  hundred  barrels 
of  powder.* 

But  his  efforts,  alas,  were  all  in  vain.  A  storm  disabled 
D'Estaign.  He  forsook  Newport,  and  repaired  to  Boston  to 
refit.  More  than  five  thousand  of  the  American  Army  then 
forsook  too.  Company  by  company,  regiment  by  regiment, 
they  fell  away. 

"  Our  expectations,"  wrote  Trumbull  at  this  time  to  Roger  Sherman, 
Titus  Hosmer,  and  Andrew  Adams,  the  Connecticut  Delegates  in  Con 
gress — "our  expectations  from  the  expedition  against  Rhode  Island  are 
again  like  to  be  blasted.  The  French  fleet,  which  has  suffered  consider 
ably  from  the  late  very  unusual  gale  of  wind,  has  taken  a  resolution  to 
go  for  Boston,  to  refit  and  repair  their  damages.  This  event  will  put  our 
Army  on  too  precarious  a  footing  to  remain  long  upon  an  Island.  Un 
less  some  sudden  and  desperate  attempt  is  made,  (which  I  would  wish 
them  to  avoid,)  I  think  their  operations  against  the  Enemy  must  cease, 
and  their  whole  attention  be  turned  to  getting  themselves  safe  landed  on 
the  Continent.  I  wish  this  may  be  effected  without  loss.  I  was  in  hopes 
the  Fleet  would  have  run  themselves  into  New  London — where  I  think 
their  Damages  might  be  repaired  with  safety  to  them,  and  at  the  same 
time  their  lying  in  an  Harbour  so  contiguous  to  Rhode  Island  might  have 
proved  a  Security  to  the  operations  of  the  Army.  But  they  are  gone, 
and  with  them  are  fled  our  fond  hopes  of  success  from  this  Enterprise. 
This  event  will  put  a  new  aspect  on  our  affairs.  The  Lord  reigneth — is 
our  hope — let  it  be  our  trust  and  confidence." 

The  course  for  the  American  Army  which  suggested  itself 
to  the  mind  of  Trumbull,  was  adopted.  Sullivan  was  com 
pelled  to  raise  the  siege  of  Newport,  and  retreat  to  the  north 
shore  of  the  Island,  pursued  hotly,  but  not  defeated,  by  the 
foe.  He  maintained  himself  gallantly  in  his  entrenchments 

*  "  Major  Joshua  Huntington,  Norwich.  Lebanon,  26th  Aug.,  1778.  Please  to 
forward  to  Governor  Greene  at  Providence,  with  all  possible  dispatch,  one  hund 
red  barrels  of  powder  belonging  to  the  United  States,  in  your  custody — taking 
care  the  barrels  are  well  secured. 

TRUMBULL,  Gov»." 


17T8.  CHAP.    XXXII. — TKUMBULL.  383 

there — only  for  a  brief  time,  however.  He  cannonaded  the 
enemy.  He  had  a  few  sharp  contests  with  them,  around 
Quaker  Hill,  upon  his  right  flank,  and  around  a  redoubt — 
but  he  was  altogether  too  feeble  to  advance  far  upon  them, 
or  to  secure  any  important  advantages.  Clinton  too  was  rap 
idly  hastening  to  reenforce  them  with  four  thousand  men. 
There  was  no  longer  any  hope  from  D'Estaign — nor  of  any 
further  addition  to  his  strength  from  the  Main.  All  was 
ominous  of  ill.  In  the  silence  of  the  night,  therefore,  and 
from  his  masterly  management  unannoyed  by  the  enemy,  he 
crossed  with  his  army  back  to  Tiverton — retreated.  The 
Expedition  to  expel  the  enemy  from  Newport  was  now  at  an 
end.  The  Island  still  remained  in  the  embrace  of  the  Brit 
ish  arms — and  the  whole  country  .mourned.  How  heavily 
the  blow  must  have  fallen  on  the  heart  of  Trumbull ! 

And  he  had  anxieties  too  in  another  direction  at  this  par 
ticular  juncture — for  his  son  Colonel  John,  the  painter,  was 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  on  the  memorable  twenty -ninth 
of  August.  He  had  been  retired  from  the  army  for  about  a 
year  previous,  pursuing  diligently  his  avocations  with  the 
pencil  at  Boston.  But  when  the  Rhode  Island  enterprise  was 
started — feeling  his  "slumbering  love  of  military  life"  re 
vive,  as  he  says — he  offered  his  services  to  General  Sulli 
van  as  a  volunteer  Aid  de  Camp,  and  attended  him  on  the 
field. 

Soon  as  all  was  over — "after  we  had  left  the  Island" — he 
writes  in  his  Reminiscences  of  his  own  times — "  I  took  leave 
of  my  General,  and  sent  my  servant  back  to  Lebanon,  with  a 
descriptive  letter  to  my  father,  a  drawing  of  the  field,  and  the 
sword  which  I  had  taken  from  its  own  owner,  a  German  offi 
cer,  my  trophy  of  action." 

The  descriptive  letter  to  which  the  Colonel  here  refers,  is 
repeated,  in  substance,  in  his  autobiography — from  whence, 
filled  as  it  is  with  graphic  details,  we  extract  it.  Through 
the  postern  of  time  then,  let  the  Reader  pass,  and  sit  down 
now  for  a  few  moments  with  that  "  Father "  to  whom  the 
epistle  was  first  addressed.  There,  in  his  own  old  "War 
Office  "  at  Lebanon — where,  probably,  the  Governor  himself 
read  the  communication,  and  doubtless  re-read  it,  as  stirring, 


384  CHAP.    XXXII. — TKUMBULL.  1778. 

latest  news  from  the  seat  of  war,  to  his  own  attentive  Coun 
cil — let  the  Eeader  sit  too — and,  identifying  himself  with  the 
occasion — thinking  of  that  mortal  strife,  which,  on  the 
twenty -ninth  of  August,  eighty-one  years  ago,  for  the  first 
and  last  time  dyed  the  sands  of  Rhode  Island  with  blood,  and 
agitated  with  unusual  apprehension  the  heart  of  the  patriot 
whom  we  commemorate — let  him  peruse  what  follows  :— 

"The  French  fleet "  proceeds  the  Colonel,  "which  had  passed  New 
port,  and  lay  at  anchor  above  the  town,  were  drawn  off  from  their  well- 
selected  station  by  a  very  clever  manoeuvre  of  Lord  Howe,  the  very  day 
after  the  American  army  was  landed  on  the  island.  The  two  fleets  came 
to  a  partial  action  off  the  capes  of  the  Chesapeake,  in  which  they  were 
separated  by  a  severe  gale  of  wind ;  the  French,  more  damaged  by  the 
tempest  than  by  the  enemy,  put  into  Boston  to  refit,  and  General  Sulli 
van  was  left  to  pursue  the  enterprise  with  the  army  alone.  The  enemy 
shut  themselves  up  in  Newport,  while  he  advanced  to  the  town  in  admi 
rable  order,  and  the  place  was  invested  in  form. 

"  It  soon  became  evident  that  the  attempt  was  vain,  so  long  as  the  ene 
my  could  receive  supplies  and  reenforcements  by  water,  unmolested ;  so 
soon  as  it  was  ascertained  that  the  French  fleet  would  not  resume  its  sta 
tion,  the  enterprise  was  abandoned — on  the  night  between  the  28th  and 
29th  of  August,  the  army  was  withdrawn,  and  reoccupied  their  former 
position  on  Butt's  Hill,  near  Rowland's  Ferry,  at  the  north  end  of  the 
island. 

"  Soon  after  daybreak  the  next  morning,  the  rear-guard,  commanded 
by  that  excellent  officer,  Col.  Wigglesworth,  was  attacked  on  Qua 
ker,  otherwise  called  Windmill  Hill;  and  General  Sullivan,  wishing 
to  avoid  a  serious  action  on  that  ground,  sent  me  with  orders  to  the  com 
manding  officer  to  withdraw  the  guard.  In  performing  this  duty,  I  had 
to  mount  the  hill  by  a  broad,  smooth  road,  more  than  a  mile  in  length 
from  the  foot  to  the  summit,  where  was  the  scene  of  conflict,  which, 
though  an  easy  ascent,  was  yet  too  steep  for  a  trot  or  a  gallop.  It  was 
necessary  to  ride  at  a  leisurely  pace,  for  I  saw  before  me  a  hard  day's 
work  for  my  horse,  and  was  unwilling  to  fatigue  him. 

"  Nothing  can  be  more  trying  to  the  nerves,  than  to  advance  delibe 
rately  and  alone  into  danger.  At  first  I  saw  a  round  shot  or  two  drop 
near  me,  and  pass  bounding  on.  I  met  poor  Col.  Tousard,  who  had  just 
lost  one  arm,  blown  off  by  the  discharge  of  a  field-piece,  for  the  posses 
sion  of  which  there  was  an  ardent  struggle.  He  was  led  off  by  a  small 
party.*  Soon  after,  I  saw  Capt.  Walker,  of  H.  Jackson's  regiment,  who 

*u  Tousard  was  a  French  officer,  attached  to  the  family  of  the  Marquis 
La  Fayette.  In  the  action  on  Rhode  Island  he  rushed  forward  very  courageously 
in  advance  of  the  troops,  when  an  attempt  was  made  to  take  a  cannon,  and 


1778.  CHAP.     XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  385 

had  received  a  musket  ball  through  his  body,  mounted  behind  a  person 
on  horseback.  He  bid  me  a  melancholy  farewell,  and  died  before  night. 
Next,  grape  shot  began  to  sprinkle  around  me,  and  soon  after  musket 
balls  fell  in  my  path  like  hailstones.  This  was  not  to  be  borne. — I 
spurred  on  my  horse  to  the  summit  of  the  hill,  and  found  myself  in  the 
midst  of  the  melee.  "  Don't  say  a  word,  Trumbull,"  cried  the  gallant 
commander,  "  I  know  your  errand,  but  don't  speak ;  we  will  beat  them 
in  a  moment." — "Col.  Wigglesworth,  do  you  see  those  troops  crossing  ob 
liquely  from  the  west  road  towards  your  rear!  " — "Yes,  they  are  Ameri 
cans,  coming  to  our  support." — "  No,  Sir,  those  are  Germans ;  mark, 
their  dress  is  blue  and  yellow,  not  buff;  they  are  moving  to  fall  into  your 
rear,  and  intercept  your  retreat.  Retire  instantly — don't  lose  a  moment, 
or  you  will  be  cut  off."  The  gallant  man  obeyed,  reluctantly,  and  with 
drew  the  guard  in  fine  style,  slowly,  but  safely. 

"As  I  rode  back  to  the  main  body  on  Butt's  Hill,  I  fell  in  with  a  party 
of  soldiers  bearing  a  wounded  officer  on  a  litter,  whom  I  found  to  be  my 
friend  H.  Sherburne,  brother  of  Mrs.  John  Langdon,  of  Portsmouth, 
New  Hampshire,  a  fellow  volunteer.  They  were  carrying  him  to  the 
surgeons  in  the  rear,  to  have  his  leg  amputated.  He  had  just  been 
wounded  by  a  random  ball,  while  sitting  at  breakfast.  This  was  a  source 
of  lasting  mortification,  as  he  told  me  afterwards — "  If  this  had  hap 
pened  to  me  in  the  field,  in  active  duty,  the  loss  of  a  leg  might  be  borne, 
but  to  be  condemned  through  all  future  life  to  say  I  lost  my  leg  under 
the  breakfast  table,  is  too  bad."  Mr.  Rufus  King  was  acting  that  day  as 
a  volunteer  aid  de  camp  to  General  Glover,  whose  quarters  were  in  a 
house  to  the  foot  and  east  of  Quaker  Hill,  distant  from  the  contested  po 
sition  of  the  rear  guard  a  long  mile.  The  general  and  the  officers  who 
composed  his  family  were  seated  at  breakfast,  their  horses  standing  sad 
dled  at  the  door.  The  firing  on  the  heighth  of  the  hill  became  heavy 
and  incessant,  when  the  General  directed  Mr.  King  to  mount,  and  see 
what  and  where  the  firing  was.  He  quitted  the  table,  Sherburne  took 
his  chair,  and  was  hardly  seated,  when  a  spent  cannon  ball  from  the 
scene  of  action  bounded  in  at  the  open  window,  fell  upon  the  floor,  rolled 
to  its  destination,  the  ancle  of  Sherburne,  and  crushed  all  the  bones  of 
his  foot.  Surely  there  is  a  providence  which  controls  the  events  of  hu 
man  life,  and  which  withdrew  Mr.  King  from  this  misfortune. 

"  Soon  after  this,  as  I  was  carrying  an  important  order,  the  wind,  which 
had  risen  with  the  sun,  blew  off  my  hat.  It  was  not  a  time  to  dismount 
for  a  hat.  I  therefore  tied  a  white  handkerchief  round  my  head,  and  as 
I  did  not  recover  my  hat  until  evening,  I  formed,  the  rest  of  the  day, 
the  most  conspicuous  mark  that  was  ever  seen  on  the  field — mounted  on 

found  himself  surrounded  by  the  enemy.    His  horse  was  killed  under  him,  and 
he  lost  his  right  arm,  but  escaped  from  capture.     As  a  reward  for  his  brave  act, 
Congress  granted  him  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel  by  brevet,  and  a  provision 
of  thirty  dollars  a  month  for  life."— Sparks  &  Journals  of  Congress,  Oct.  27. 
33 


386  CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  m8. 

a  superb  bay  horse,  in  a  summer  dress  of  nankeen — with  this  head  dress, 
duty  led  me  to  every  point  where  danger  was  to  be  found,  and  I  escaped 
without  the  slightest  injury.  It  becomes  me  to  say  with  the  Psalmist, 
"  I  thank  thee  0  thou  Most  High,  for  thou  hast  covered  my  head  in  the 
day  of  battle."  For  never  was  aid  de  camp  exposed  to  more  danger 
than  I  was  during  that  entire  day,  from  daylight  to  dusk.* 

"The  day  was  past  in  skirmishing,  and  towards  evening  a  body  of  the 
enemy,  (Germans,)  had  pushed  our  right  wing,  and  advanced  so  far  as  to 
endanger  themselves.  I  was  ordered  to  take  Gen.  Lovell's  brigade  of 
Massachusetts  militia,  and  aid  in  repulsing  them ;  this  brigade  was  very 
much  weakened  by  the  withdrawal  of  many  officers  and  men,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  army  having  been  left  by  the  French  fleet.  For  this  reason 
I  drew  up  the  brigade  in  line,  and  disregarding  their  original  distinction 
of  regiments  and  companies,  told  them  off  into  ten  divisions;  assigned 
their  officers  among  them,  wheeled  them  off  into  column,  and  advanced 
towards  the  scene  of  action,  intending  to  pass  beyond  the  enemy's  flank, 
and  to  attack  his  rear.  As  we  advanced,  the  noise  of  the  conflict  seemed 
to  retire,  until  we  approached  a  small  wood  skirting  the  open  fields, 
which  lay  in  the  direction  of  our  march.  This  wood  was  occupied  by  a 
party  of  the  enemy,  whom  it  concealed  from  our  view,  while  the  fire 
\vhich  they  opened  upon  us  as  we  advanced,  marked  their  position.  As 
was  common,  they  fired  too  high,  and  their  shot  passed  over  our  heads, 
doing  no  harm.  In  front  of  the  wood,  at  the  distance  of  thirty  or  forty 
yards,  ran  a  strong  stone  fence,  such  as  are  common  in  Rhode  Island. 
Generally,  on  such  an  occasion,  this  fence  would  have  been  made  use  of 
as  a  breastwork  to  protect  us  from  the  enemy's  fire ;  but  as  my  men  had 
hitherto  kept  their  order  perfectly,  and  seemed  to  be  in  no  degree  discon 
certed  by  the  sound  of  the  balls,  which  whistled  over  their  heads,  (per 
haps  they  did  not  understand  it,)  I  became  elated  with  the  hope  of  doing 
something  uncommon,  and  therefore  determined  not  to  make  use  of  this 
wall  for  defence,  but  to  attack.  For  this  purpose  it  was  necessary  to  re 
move  such  an  obstacle,  for  in  attempting  to  climb  over  it  all  order  would 
infallibly  be  lost.  I  therefore  moved  on  until  the  front  division  of  the 
column  was  within  ten  yards  of  the  wall,  and  then  gave  the  word  of 
command  as  if  on  parade — "Column,  halt — leading  division,  ground 
your  arms — step  forwards,  comrades,  and  level  this  fence — it  stands  in 
our  way — quick,  quick!"  The  order  was  obeyed  with  precision;  the 
fence  was  levelled  in  an  instant,  and  we  resumed  our  forward  march  with 
out  having  a  man  hurt.  From  that  moment  the  firing  from  the  wood 
ceased,  and  we  could  find  no  enemy ;  they  had  already  been  engaged 

*  "  As  soon  as  the  enemy  discovered  you,  and  probably  suspecting  your  object, 
they  opened  a  fire  upon  you  from  six  or  seven  pieces  of  their  cannon ;  and  I,  and 
others  around  me,  were  every  instant  looking  to  see  you  fall,  as  it  seemed  im 
possible  that  you  should  escape.  On  your  return  from  this  most  adventurous  ex 
ploit,  General  Sullivan  said,  "your  escape  has  been  most  wonderful." — Gen. 
Hattoon,  who  was  present  at  the  battle,  to  Col.  J.  Trumoull. 


1778. 


CHAP.    XXXII. — TKUMBULL.  387 


with,  and  overmatched  by  other  troops,  before  we  approached,  and  when 
they  saw  our  cool  manoeuvre,  they  probably  mistook  us  for  veterans 
corning  to  the  rescue,  and  prudently  withdrew.* 

"Still  I  hoped  to  be  able  to  strike  an  important  blow,  and  requested 
General  Lovell  to  incline  his  march  to  the  right  (by  which  means  his 
movement  would  be  screened  from  the  view  of  the  enemy  by  the  form 
of  the  ground,)  to  move  slowly  and  carefully ;  and  to  keep  the  men  to 
gether  in  their  actual  order.  I  rode  forward  to  reconnoitre  and  ascertain 
the  position  of  the  enemy.  As  I  rose  the  crest  of  the  hill,  I  saw  the 
German  troops,  who  had  just  been  repulsed,  in  evident  disorder,  endeav 
oring  to  re-form  their  line,  but  fatigued,  disconcerted,  and  vacillating.  I 
thought  it  a  glorious  moment,  and  hurried  back  to  my  brave  column, 
with  the  intention  of  heading  it  (under  cover  of  the  ground,)  into  the 
rear  of  the  enemy's  flank.  Judge  of  my  vexation,  when  I  found  my 
men,  not  in  slow  motion  and  good  order,  as  I  had  directed,  but  halted 
behind  another  strong  fence,  dispersed,  without  the  shadow  of  order, 
their  arms  grounded,  or  leaning  against  the  fence,  exulting  in  their  good 
conduct  and  success  in  having  made  the  enemy  run.  I  was  cruelly  dis 
appointed  ;  but  as  the  success  of  the  blow  which  I  had  meditated  de 
pended  entirely  upon  rapidity  of  movement,  and  much  time  would  be 
wasted  before  we  could  recover  our  original  order,  and  be  prepared  to 
move,  I  gave  up  my  projected  attack,  and  returned  to  make  my  report  to 
my  general. 

"  The  next  day  the  army  kept  their  ground  on  Butt's  Hill,  collected 
our  wounded,  buried  the  dead,  and  while  we  made  a  show  of  intending 
to  maintain  our  position,  were  really  busy  in  preparing  for  a  retreat, 
which  was  eifected  during  the  following  night,  across  Rowland's  Ferry  to 
Tiverton,  without  the  loss  of  a  man,  or  of  the  smallest  article  of  stores. 

"  The  entire  conduct  of  this  expedition,  and  of  this  retreat,  (as  well  as 
of  that  from  Canada,)  was  in  the  highest  degree  honorable  to  General 
Sullivan." 

The  retreat  from  Khode  Island  which  Colonel  Trumbull 
thus  describes,  did  not  at  once  -relieve  the  Governor  of  Con 
necticut,  or  his  Council,  or  the  State  at  large,  from  the  ne 
cessity  of  military  labor  and  watchfulness.  The  enemy  be 
gan  immediately  to  burn  and  depredate  along  the  coast  of 
New  England.  They  menaced  every  part  of  it.  Particu- 

*  Seeing  the  order  and  rapidity  of  this  movement,  Gen.  Sullivan  exclaimed, 
"that  movement  would  do  honor  to  the  ablest  regiment  of  the  army."  "The 
enemy  engaged  with  Col.  Greene,  perceiving  this  bold  and  successful  adventure, 
instantly  retreated,  and  thus  escaped  a  capture.  Your  preservation  in  each  of 
these  most  daring  enterprises,  [he  refers  to  TrumbulPs  bearing  orders  to  Quaker 
Hill  also,]  I  have  ever  considered  little  short  of  a  miracle,  and  a  most  remarkable 
interposition  of  Providence  for  your  safety."— £<?».  Mattoon  to  Col.  J.  Trumbull. 


CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

larlj,  they  threatened  Boston,  and  the  French  fleet  in  the 
harbor  there.  They  indicated  also,  occasionally,  a  purpose 
of  sailing  to  Nova  Scotia  and  Canada,  in  order  to  renew  de 
scents  upon  the  United  States  from  the  North — while  at  the 
same  time  they  made  demonstrations  against  the  posts  in  the 
Highlands,  and  preparations,  apparently,  for  hostile  expedi 
tions  against  the  South.  All  was  mystery — deep  mystery  in 
their  proceedings.  They  were  decidedly  now  superior  at  sea, 
and  might  strike  anywhere — but  at  New  England  again  first, 
and  at  D'Estaign  especially,  it  was  thought  most  generally 
their  blows  would  be  levelled. 

"Washington,  therefore,  adapted  his  army  to  this  new  state 
of  things.  He  threw  it  into  several  divisions — one  of  which 
he  left  posted  in  the  vicinity  of  the  North  Kiver.  Another 
he  stationed  at  Danbury.  Others  he  pushed  on  by  different 
stages  towards  Connecticut  Eiver — his  object  being  to  have 
them  all  within  supporting  distance  of  each  other,  so  that 
they  might  either  form  a  junction,  if  necessary,  for  their  own 
immediate  defence — or  cooperate  in  defending  the  posts  in 
the  Highlands,  or  in  resisting  any  attack  on  D'Estaign  and 
Boston,  or  upon  any  other  part  of  the  New  England  coast. 
In  prosecution  of  this  plan,  early  in  September,  he  sent  Gen 
eral  Gates  with  three  brigades  to  Danbury,  where  the  latter 
was  soon  joined  by  General  McDougall  with  two  more — and 
then,  in  October,  on  to  Hartford — where  Gates  soon  arrived, 
and  encamped  on  the  broad  and  beautiful  plat  of  the  North 
Meadow. 

In  carrying  the  arrangements  now  stated  into  effect,  Trum- 
bull  was  consulted  by  Washington  and  Gates  at  almost  every 
step,  and  gave  them  freely  every  advice  and  assistance  in  his 
power.  All  the  roads  leading  from  Danbury  towards  Boston 
were,  by  order  of  the  Commander-in-chief,  to  be  put  in  re 
pair  for  the  march  of  the  American  columns.  Trumbull 
gave  his  attention  to  this  matter.  Good  halting  places  for 
the  army,  at  proper  stages,  were  to  be  secured  in  advance. 
He  lent  his  aid  for  this  purpose  to  the  Quarter-Master  whom 
Washington  sent  forward  to  provide  them — so  that  when  the 
American  troops  advanced,  everything  was  ready  for  them — 
and  during  the  entire  period  that  they  traversed  Connecticut, 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  389 

or  remained  stationed  within  its  borders,  they  were  comforted 
by  easy  marches,  and  by  full  supplies. 

When  Gates  reached  Hartford,  he  was  cordially  met  there 
by  the  Governor  and  General  Assembly  of  the  State,  and 
treated  with  distinguished  honor.  And  the  Governor — and 
Assembly — in  a  field  of  duty  quite  different  from  that  in  which 
the  former  was  usually  occupied — gave  the  General  and  his 
suite,  together  with  all  the  field  officers  of  the  Continental 
army  then  in  town,  a  fine  entertainment.  The  proceedings 
were  ushered  in,  at  twelve  o'clock  in  the  day,  by  a  parade  in 
front  of  the  State  House,  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  Compa 
nies  from  a  Train  of  Artillery,  whose  exactness  of  discipline, 
says  a  cotemporaneous  account,  "rendered  them  respectable 
to  the  numerous  spectators." 

At  three  o'clock,  dinner  was  served,  at  a  public  inn — and 
there,  at  the  head  of  the  table — in  his  white-haired,  full-bot 
tomed  wig,  fine  broadcloth  or  velvet  coat,  white  neckcloth, 
satin-embroidered  vest,  black  small  clothes,  probably,  and 
white  silk  stockings  buckled  at  the  knee — surrounded  by 
officers  in  glittering  uniforms — his  Excellency  sat — dispens 
ing  with  grace  and  dignity,  over  a  well-loaded  board,  the 
hospitalities  of  the  occasion.  His  own  sober  yet  imposing 
manner,  we  can  easily  imagine,  must  have  contrasted  some 
what  strongly,  with  the  gayety  of  some  of  his  companions — 
his  own  opinions  and  conjectures  as  to  the  future  probable 
course  of  the  foe,  as  to  the  safety  of  Boston  and  D'Estaign, 
and  the  security  of  New  England  generally,  have  attracted 
attentive  listeners.  And  the  conversation  of  all  present  was, 
doubtless,  wholly  absorbed  by  that  war,  which,  for  the  first 
time  since  it  began,  had  stationed  armed  brigades  in  the 
beautiful  valley  of  the  Connecticut — deep  in  the  interior  of 
the  State,  and  sixty  miles  distant  from  that  sea  on  which  the 
enemy  rode  triumphant. 

As  the  feast  was  about  closing,  cannon  rent  the  air  with 
thirteen  discharges,  in  honor  of  the  thirteen  United  States — 
between  whose  intervals,  and  while  their  echoes  were  rolling 
back  from  the  adjacent  ridges  of  mountains,  toasts  were 
drank. 

"  The  United  States  of  America — The  Congress  and  Councils 
33* 


390  CHAP.    XXXII. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

of  America — General  Washington  and  the  American  Army — 
The  American  Navy — The  King  of  France  and  our  Allies  in 
Europe — Count  D'Estaign  and  the  fleet  under  his  command — 
Dr.  Franklin  and  our  Plenipotentiaries  in  Europe — The  State  of 
Connecticut — May  oppressed  Virtue  ever  find  an  Asylum  in 
America" — such  were  the  sentiments  in  their  order  at  the 
time,  which  the  patriotic  tongues  at  that  festival  took  up — 

"  While  sanguine  hopes  dispelled  their  floating  care, 
And  what  was  difficult  and  what  was  dire, 
Sank  to  their  prowess  and  superior  stars." 

11  The  glorious  memory  of  Generals  Warren,  Montgomery, 
Wooster,  and  Nash,  with  all  the  virtuous  officers  and  soldiers 
who  have  died  in  defence  of  Freedom  and  their  country" — 
drank  in  melancholy  silence,  followed  upon  the  toasts  already 
given. 

"May  the  Arts  and  Sciences  be  ever  patronized  in  America" — 
was  the  hopeful  sentiment  which  succeeded. 

"May  all  our  citizens  be  soldiers,  and  our  soldiers  be  always 
citizens  " — was  the  ingenious  antithetical  canon  of  true  repub 
licanism  with  which  the  libations  closed. 

And  at  half  past  five  the  Governor,  General  Gates,  his 
suite  of  officers,  and  a  committee  on  the  part  of  the  State, 
who  had  added  by  their  presence  to  the  dignity  of  the  enter 
tainment,  withdrew,  in  imposing  procession,  to  the  State 
House — where — in  the  midst  of  a  throng  of  gratified  specta 
tors — the  ceremony  of  reception — which  had  been  conducted 
throughout  in  a  most  appropriate  manner — was  at  last  con 
cluded — to  the  great  satisfaction  of  all. 

General  Gates  soon  left  Hartford  for  Boston,  to  take  com 
mand  in  the  Eastern  Department.  General  Putnam,  suc 
ceeding  him  at  Hartford,  marched  the  troops  from  the  North 
Meadow  to  the  West  division  in  that  town — and  thence, 
November  twenty-fourth,  back  to  Danbury.  New  England 
was  no  longer  immediately  threatened.  The  problem  of  the 
British  plan  was  solved  by  the  departure  of  large  detach 
ments  of  their  army  to  the  "West  Indies,  and  to  Florida.  So 
Washington  placed  his  forces  in  winter  quarters — the  main 
portion  of  them  upon  and  near  the  Hudson  Kiver — a  part  in 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXII. — TKUMBULL.  391 

the  Jerseys — and  three  brigades  under  Putnam,  consisting  of 
the  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire  troops,  and  Hazen's 
regiment,  at  Danbury — to  protect  the  country  lying  along 
the  Sound,  and  the  magazines  on  Connecticut  Kiver,  and  to 
aid  the  Highlands  in  case  of  any  serious  movement  of  the 
enemy  in  that  direction.  The  Campaign  of  1778  was  at  an 
end. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

1778. 

TRUMBULI,  and  the  Home  Defence  of  Connecticut.  The  British  naval 
armament  upon  the  American  station  this  year.  TrumbuH's  protec 
tion,  of  the  coast.  His  attention  to  the  Marine.  A  privateer  named 
after  him.  The  whaleboat  system  gives  him  much  anxiety.  It  de 
generates  He  -watches  it  closely,  and  is  sparing  of  commissions.  The 
benefits  resulting  to  Connecticut  this  year  from  his  measures  for  home 
defence.  Maritime  losses  few.  They  are  more  than  counterbalanced 
"by  maritime  gains.  The  memorable  capture  of  the  Admiral  Keppel 
and  the  Cyrus,  by  the  Oliver  Cromwell — a  Connecticut  ship-of-war. 
Its  commander's  letter  to  Trumbull  announcing  the  victory.  Prison 
ers — a  large  number  this  year.  March  of  the  captives  at  the  Battle  of 
Saratoga  through  Connecticut  on  their  way  to  Virginia.  Trumbull's 
arrangements  for  it.  Case  of  Henry  Shirley,  a  distinguished  pris 
oner  in  Trumbull's  hands  The  handsome  treatment  he  received  from 
the  Governor. 

TRUMBULL  had  other  important  labors  in  the  Campaign 
of  1778,  to  which  we  have  not  yet  alluded — choosing,  as 
heretofore,  that  they  should  occupy  paragraphs  by  them 
selves.  We  refer  to  his  labors,  particularly,  in  the  home  and 
naval  defence  of  Connecticut — a  sphere,  which  in  1778,  as 
in  previous  years,  still  continued  to  make  heavy  demands  on 
his  time  and  watchfulness.  For  still  armed  British  vessels 
hardly  ceased  day  or  night,  cruising  up  and  down  the  Sound, 
threatening  towns,  and  seeking  opportunities  to  land,  and 
burn,  and  plunder.  In  February  of  this  year,  the  British 
naval  armament  upon  the  American  station  consisted  of  no 
less  than  eighty-three  ships-of-war,  from  sixty-four  to  ten 
guns  each — besides  the  Kichmond,  a  bomb-ship — the  Juno, 
the  Orpheus,  a  fire-ship — the  Blonde,  the  Potens,  and  the 
Venus.  Is  it  a  wonder  then  that  Connecticut,  lying  directly 
alongside  one  of  their  great  highways  of  travel — Long  Island 
Sound — should  be  kept  in  a  state  of  perpetual  apprehension ! 

So  far  now  as  coast  defence  is  concerned,  Governor  Trum 
bull  was  employed  as  usual  this  year,  in  raising,  stationing, 
and  supplying  troops — in  repairing  and  strengthening  fortifi- 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TRUMBULL.  393 

cations — in  providing  for  these,  from  time  to  time,  new  field 
pieces  and  apparatus  of  every  description — in  promoting 
activity  among  the  coast  guards — and  in  preventing  all  un 
lawful  communications,  or  illicit  trade  with  the  enemy,  from 
the  Connecticut  shore.  Seven  companies  were  to  be  raised  in 
January  for  the  defence  of  various  points  upon  the  sea-line — 
to  serve  during  the  year — and  two  brigades  were  ordered  in 
February,  which  were  to  be  ready,  on  the  shortest  notice,  to 
do  duty  either  within  or  without  the  State.  These  the  Cap 
tain-General  superintended,  and  at  intervals,  as  danger  threat 
ened,  drew  from  the  brigades  to  increase  the  protection  of 
exposed  points.* 

As  regards  defence  strictly  naval — on  the  Sound  particu 
larly — he  was  occupied  as  in  previous  years.  He  fitted  out 
the  vessels  of  war  belonging  to  the  State.  He  furnished  ma 
terials  for  this  purpose — particularly  masts,  bowsprits,  booms, 
and  yards,  from  the  Connecticut  Eiver.  He  commissioned 
officers,  gave  sailing  orders,  and  sent  out  privateers — which 
he  furnished  at  times  with  guns — and  also  whaleboats  and 
spy  vessels.  He  superintended  prizes,  and  enforced  embar 
goes,  especially  one  which  was  laid  by  Congress  in  June.f 

Whaleboats  were  at  one  time  wanted  by  Washington  for 
the  transportation  of  one  thousand  men — Trumbull  provided 
these.  A  new  Continental  frigate,  called  the  Confederacy,  was 

*As  once,  for  example,  late  in  March,  two  additional  companies  to  secure  New- 
haven,  which  city,  particularly,  was  then  exposed  to  great  danger — and  once  in 
April,  eighty-six  additional  men  to  guard  Great  Neck  at  New-London.  Besides 
numerous  drafts  like  these — in  February,  upon  request  from  General  Putnam — 
he  sent  Major  Thompson,  the  commanding  officer  of  Nixon's  battalion  then  sta 
tioned  at  Farmington,  with  all  of  his  regiment  fit  for  duty,  to  take  station  at 
Greenwich,  for  the  protection  of  the  coast  towards  New-York — and  in  June 
again,  ordered  a  fresh  regiment  on  to  Sawpitts,  to  be  placed  under  General  Gates. 
There  was  no  part  of  the  whole  line  of  Connecticut  sea-coast,  which,  during  the 
entire  year,  escaped  the  eye  of  himself  and  his  Council. 

t  Among  the  vessels  which  he  fitted  out  for  sea  this  year  was  the  Governor 
Trumbull — a  fine  privateer  ship  of  twenty  guns — which  was  built  by  Rowland 
and  Coit  at  Norwich,  and  named  after  himself.  He  sent  her  out  in  March  upon 
her  first  cruise,  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Henry  Billings.  In  April,  he  sent 
the  Dolphin  and  the  Spy,  loaded  with  hoops  and  staves,  to  the  "West  Indies,  to 
procure  warlike  munitions  and  stores.  In  August,  he  caused  Capt.  Smedley  to 
fit  up  his  ship  anew  in  Boston,  and  then  to  cruise  up  and  down  from  this  port 
southward.  In  September,  he  refitted  the  Oliver  Cromwell,  which  had  then 
lately  suffered  from  a  storm  at  sea,  and  ordered  her,  and  the  Defence,  to  cruise 
up  and  down  the  Sound,  &c.,  &c. 


394  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

to  be  built  at  Norwich.  He  gave  attention  to  her  construc 
tion,  and  after  she  was  launched,  in  September,  procured  the 
appointment  of  his  friend  Capt.  Seth  Harding  to  command 
her — having  taken  pains  to  recommend  him  previously  to 
the  Marine  Committee  at  Philadelphia,  as  one  of  the  bravest 
of  officers,  who  could  man  a  ship,  he  stated,  with  such  expe 
dition  that  "three  hundred  men  stood  ready  to  engage  under 
him  the  moment  he  should  receive  his  commission."  The 
Continental  Marine  Committee  for  the  Department  of  Con 
necticut — among  whom  were  Oliver  Ellsworth,  and  Captain 
John  Deshon  of  New  London — often  sought  his  advice.  It 
was  always  ready.  Naval  agent  Shaw  sought  his  interven 
tion  for  funds.  His  drafts  on  Congress,  to  the  amount  at 
times  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  were  ready. 

But  no  department  of  the  naval  service  gave  him  more 
anxiety  than  that  which  embraced  the  cruising  of  the  Con 
necticut  whaleboats,  and  small  armed  vessels,  upon  the 
Sound.  These,  during  the  year  now  under  consideration, 
were  exceedingly  active  in  annoying  the  enemy — the  whale- 
boats,  particularly — which,  made  light — with  sheathing  not 
more  than  half  an  inch  thick — sharp  at  each  end,  and  vary 
ing  in  length  from  fourteen  to  thirty-two  feet — could  be  im 
pelled,  by  from  eight  to  twenty  oars,  with  remarkable  veloci 
ty — could  be  easily  carried  on  men's  shoulders,  and,  if  nec 
essary,  be  hid  among  bushes,  and  relaunched  with  the  great 
est  facility. 

Many  a  market-boat  of  the  enemy,  loaded  with  provisions, 
and  detached  vessels  even  from  British  convoys,  became 
their  prizes.  Many  a  noted  tory  upon  Long  Island,  and 
"loyal"  American  volunteer — many  a  little  band  of  British 
soldiers,  Hessians  and  others — became  their  captives.  They 
were  constantly  on  the  lookout.  "They  will  take  advantage 
of  every  calm,"  complained  Rivington  loudly  this  year,  "to 
shoot  out  from  their  lurking  places,  and  cross  over  and  pil 
lage  the  loyalists  of  Long  Island."  And  almost  every  week 
this  tory  Editor  had  occasion  to  chronicle,  in  his  "Gazette," 
some  fresh  instance  of  attack — from  the  Connecticut  shore — 
upon  "his  Majesty's  woodcutters,"  as  he  styled  them — or 
"his  Majesty's  sloop,  loaded  with  wood" — or  upon  the  per- 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TRUMBULL.  395 

son  and  effects  of  some  one  of  "his  Majesty's  loyal  subjects" 
on  the  opposite  shore.  "These  rebels" — these  "freeboot 
ers" — these  "pickaroon  gentry" — these  "villains" — with  their 
"rebel  schooner  Wild  Cat,  of  fourteen  swivels  and  forty 
men,"  and  their  armed  sloops  generally,  and  their  "great 
abundance  of  whaleboats,"  the  tory  Editor  Gaine  would  add 
in  his  "Mercury" — are  kept  cruising  in  many  parts  of  the 
Sound — interrupting  our  market-boats — and  making  prison 
ers  of  great  numbers  of  "his  Majesty's  faithful  subjects!"* 

The  commissions  which  the  Governor  gave  to  these  armed 
boats  and  vessels  were  at  last,  unfortunately,  abused  by  some 
of  the  parties  who  obtained  them.  Under  the  pretence  of 
taking  or  destroying  tory  property,  they  would  sometimes 
invade  that  of  whigs,  and  treat  its  owners  with  severity. 
Sometimes,  against  the  positive  requirements  of  law — en- 

*  Take  the  following  as  examples  of  the  kind  of  warfare  from  Connecticut, 
spoken  of  in  the  text. 

April  27,  1778,  Rivington.  "Last  Monday  evening  two  row  gallics  and  an 
armed  vessel  crossed  from  Connecticut  to  Lloyd's  Neck,  wh<,re  a  party  of  loyal 
refugees  were  cutting  wood ;  who,  upon  being  attacked,  retreated  to  a  house,  in 
which  they  defended  themselves  with  great  bravery  and  resolution  upwards  of 
six  hours  ;  but  their  ammunition  being  all  expended,  they  were  obliged  to  sub 
mit  to  superior  force.  Next  morning  the  rebels  carried  their  prisoners,  18  in 
number,  over  to  Connecticut.  The  house  in  which  the  refugees  fought  and  sur 
rendered  is  perforated  in  many  places  by  the  shot  of  the  rebels." 

June  8,  1778,  Rivington.  "Wednesday  last  the  rebel  schooner  Wild  Cat,  of  14 
swivels  and  40  men,  came  from  Connecticut  to  Oyster  Bay,  and  landed  14  of  her 
crew,  who  shot  several  sheep,  but  a  number  of  inhabitants  appearing  in  arms, 
they  made  off.  This  vessel,  by  having  a  great  number  of  oars,  takes  advantage 
of  every  calm  to  cross  over  and  pillage  the  loyalists  on  Long  Island." 

Hartford,  Sept.  3,  1778.  "Maj.  Grey,  of  Col.  Meig's  regiment,  brought  off 
from  Lloyd's  Neck  15  tories,  and  killed  three — -all  from  Connecticut." 

Sep.  7,  1778,  Gaine.  "A  sloop  with  some  provisions,  and  a  boat  loaded  with 
wood,  were  taken  at  Lloyd's  Neck  last  Wednesday,  by  a  privateer  sloop  from 
Connecticut.  A  great  abundance  of  armed  whaleboats  are  cruising  in  many  parts 
of  the  Sound,  and  'tis  feared  will  much  interrupt  our  market-boats." 

Sep.  12,  1778,  Rivington.  "A  party  of  rebels  came  over  from  Connecticut  to 
Oyster  Bay  Thursday  evening  last,  and  plundered  the  house  of  Wm.  Cock  of 
goods  to  the  amount  of  £140.  They  made  Mr.  C.  and  his  family  carry  the  goods 
near  two  miles,  to  their  whaleboat,  and  got  off  unmolested.  And  on  Saturday  a 
number  of  freebooters,  in  two  boats,  came  over  to  Red  Spring,  and  robbed  the 
houses  of  Jacob  Carpenter  and  John  Weekes  of  a  quantity  of  valuable  effects, 
and  then  made  off;  but  returned  Saturday  evening  to  Oak  Neck,  and  robbed  two 
unfortunate  weavers.  The  principal  of  these  villains  is  named  Carhart,  who 
sometime  ago  came  over  from  Connecticut,  and  pretended  to  be  a  friend  to  gov 
ernment,  and  was  treated  with  the  greatest  hospitality  and  kindness  by  the  very 
persons  whose  property  he  has  carried  off." 


396  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TRUMBULL. 


1778. 


gaged,  more  than  in  former  years,  in  illicit  trade — they  would 
bring  off  British  goods  to  the  Main,  and  there  dispose  of 
them  for  lucre. 

Some  American  refugees  from  Long  Island,  who  professed 
to  be  warm  friends  of  their  country — but  who  in  fact  were 
unprincipled  men,  who  by  imposition  had  obtained  their 
cruising  commissions  from  the  Governor  of  Connecticut — 
were  among  the  first  and  most  notorious  in  their  abuse  of 
them.  They  were  men  with  whom  "it  required  no  great 
stretch  of  conscience  to  go  on  land  and  plunder  indiscrimin 
ately,  both  Whig  and  Loyalist,  under  pretence  of  taking 
British  goods."  And  in  their  hands,  and  those  of  a  few  oth 
ers,  the  whaleboat  warfare  at  last  "  degenerated  into  down 
right  robbery,"  and,  in  the  year  1779,  was  summarily 
stopped.  General  Putnam,  late  in  the  present  year,  wrote 
both  to  Trumbull  and  to  Governor  Clinton  of  New  York — 
who  also  granted  commissions — and  warmly  remonstrated 
against  the  abuses  now  in  question.  But  Trumbull  needed 
no  admonition  or  stimulus  upon  this  subject.  It  had  been 
his  care,  not  only  to  grant  no  cruising  licenses  save  to  those 
whom  he  believed  to  be  patriotic  and  trustworthy,  but  also  to 
watch  their  proceedings  afterwards,  and  to  arrest  and  sum 
mon  them  at  once  before  himself  and  his  Council  to  answer 
for  any  violations  either  of  their  instructions,  or  of  their 
duty.* 

*  As  one  example,  among  many,  of  his  promptness  in  this  respect,  take  the 
following  summons,  which,  Aug.  11,  1778,  he  addressed  to  Captain  Jonathan 
Vail,  and  Capt.  Jeremiah  Eogers,  the  commanders  respectively  of  two  whale- 
boats. 

"  Whereas  sundry  and  repeated  complaints  have  been  made  that  persons,  un 
der  authority  of  Commission  given  to  American  boats  to  go  on  shore  on  Long 
Island  to  act  against  the  enemy  there,  or  under  color  or  pretext  thereof,  have  un 
justly  and  cruelly  plundered  many  of  the  friendly  inhabitants  there — brought  off 
their  effects,  and  have  not  caused  them  to  be  libelled  and  condemned  in  course 
of  Law — you  and  each  of  you  are  hereby  required  to  attend  here  on  Tuesday  the 
18th  instant — to  account  for  your  conduct  in  that  respect.  In  the  meantime  you 
are  forbidden  to  act  offensively  towards  the  inhabitants  on  Long  Island,  or  to 
make  any  hostile  descent  upon  the  Land,  in  virtue  of  your  Commission. 

"  JONTH  TRUMBULL,  Govw." 

Here  is  another  example  of  the  kind,  addressed  "to  Capt.  Peter  Halleck, 
Jon*h  Solomons,  or  their  owners,  as  they  may  be  respectively  concerned." 
"  Lebanon,  Aug.  11*A,  1778.    Gentlemen.    It  being  represented  and  complained 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TRUMBULL.  397 

The  services  of  Trumbull  now  described,  for  the  home  de 
fence  of  Connecticut  and  the  Sound,  were  not,  the  present 
year,  without  important  and  highly  favorable  results. 
When — in  February — news  arrived  that  the  enemy  at  New 
port  were  preparing  to  sweep  the  coast  of  the  State  with  fire 
and  slaughter,  and  one  of  their  large  ships — the  advance,  it 
was  supposed,  of  a  numerous  fleet — approached  menacingly 
nearly  within  the  lighthouse  towards  New  London — his  act 
ive  preparations  diverted  the  attack. 

When — in  March — thirty  British  sail — some  of  them  gi 
gantic  men  of  war — hovered  around  Gardiner's  Bay,  and 
daily  threatened  a  descent,  their  purpose  was  checked  by  the 
energy  of  his  measures.  When — again  in  March — two  hund 
red  British  troops — under  cover  of  a  row-galley  and  two 
armed  sloops — landed  at  Greenwich  Point,  to  destroy  flour 
on  the  beach  above  the  Point,  and  fire  a  vessel  belonging  to 
the  State — the  guard  whom  he  had  stationed  there — aided  by 
a  few  brave  inhabitants  near  the  spot — extinguished  the 
flames  which  the  enemy  had  applied  to  a  galley,  retook  the 
cattle  and  sheep  they  had  seized,  and  gallantly  repulsed  the 
foe. 

When  again — early  in  September — New  London  was 
greatly  alarmed — there  being  strong  reason  to  apprehend,  as 
the  Record  expresses  it,  "that  our  restless  and  malicious  ene 
my,"  having  been  "lately  disappointed,  by  the  favor  of  divine 
Providence,  of  an  enterprise"  against  this  town,  would 
"  speedily  return  and  attempt  its  destruction,"  unless  a  suffi 
cient  force  was  stationed  there  "for  its  security  and  de 
fence  " — that  force  was  immediately  raised.  Fourteen  addi- 

to  me,  that  sundry  persons  belonging  to  your  or  one  of  your  armed  boats  com 
missioned  to  cruise  in  the  Sound,  have,  contrary  to  the  tenor  of  your  Commis 
sion  and  Bond,  made  descent  upon  the  island  of  Long  Island,  and  plundered  the 
inhabitants  of  their  stock  and  effects,  and  that  without  distinction,  and  in  particu 
lar  have  lately  taken  six  oxen  from  Col.  Phinehas  Fanning,  and  brought  over  to 
this  State — this  conduct  you  must  be  sensible  is  unworthy,  and  renders  you 
liable  on  your  bonds,  &c. — I  would,  with  the  advice  of  my  Council,  advise  you 
or  either  of  you,  so  far  as  you  may  be  respectively  concerned,  to  settle — compound 
the  matter  with  Col.  Fanning,  and  restore  to  him  his  property ;  lest  you  be  ex 
posed  to  further  consequences.  I  am, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"JONTH  TRUMBULL.'* 


398  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TRUMBULL.  1718. 

tional  companies,  ordered  thither  by  Governor  Trumbull, 
averted  the  threatened  catastrophe. 

While  the  sea-coast  of  Connecticut  was  thus  ably  defended, 
the  little  navy  of  the  State  was  fruitfully  busy  upon  the  wa 
ter.  The  Old  Defence,  it  is  true,  commanded  by  Captain  Dan 
iel  Deshon,  was — in  January — taken  by  the  enemy,  and  car 
ried  into  Jamaica.  A  brig  also,  under  Captain  Atwell,  and 
a  sloop  from  Newhaven,  commanded  by  Captain  Brown,  in 
April,  were  both  captured,  and  sent  to  the  West  Indies.  The 
privateer  sloop  Broome  also,  in  November,  was  seized  by  the 
British,  and  taken  into  New  York.  But  the  losses  otherwise 
of  Connecticut,  were  few  and  inconsiderable. 

On  the  other  hand,  her  naval  successes — though  not,  save 
in  one  or  two  instances,  so  brilliant  as  in  preceding  years, 
and  not  comparable  to  those  of  1779 — were  yet  productive 
and  encouraging.  A  large  schooner,  an  armed  sloop,  two 
British  captains  and  several  British  seamen — together  with  a 
large  amount  of  rigging  and  ship  furniture — were  brought 
off,  in  March,  from  Smithtown,  Long  Island,  by  a  gallant 
party  of  thirty  or  forty  volunteers  from  Colonel  Meigs'  regi 
ment — who  at  the  same  time  burned  a  British  brig  of  two 
hundred  tons.  Two  sloops,  deeply  laden  with  wood  and 
vegetables,  were  cut  out  from  Hempstead  harbor,  in  April, 
by  Lieutenant  Lay  with  a  party  of  fifteen  men.  A  brig 
from  Ireland,  laden  with  provisions,  and  an  English  ship 
from  Bristol,  were  taken  in  May  by  the  privateer  sloop 
America,  Captain  Coit,  and  carried  into  Martinico.  The 
Lovely  Lass  from  London,  with  a  valuable  cargo,  in  May 
also,  was  taken  by  the  Eevenge,  Captain  Conklin,  and  by 
the  American  Eevenge,  Captain  Champlin,  from  New  Lon 
don,  and  sent  into  Boston.  A  ship  from  London,  bound  to 
New  York — with  a  cargo  valued  at  thirty  thousand  pounds — 
in  May  again,  was  taken  by  two  Connecticut  privateers,  of 
which  Captain  Stanton  commanded  one.  These  now  men 
tioned  were  among  the  chief  prizes  which,  this  year,  re 
warded  the  adventurousness  of  Connecticut  upon  the  seas. 

But  the  capture  altogether  the  most  conspicuous  of  any 
made  during  this  period — and  the  most  valuable  of  all  that 
were  made  by  the  Connecticut  Marine  during  the  entire 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TRUMBULL. 

course  of  the  Kevolutionary  War — was  that  of  the  two  ships 
Admiral  Keppel  and  the  Cyrus — taken  in  April  by  the  Oliver 
Cromwell,  Captain  Parker,  and  the  Defence,  Captain  Smedley. 
They  were  both  of  them  letters  of  marque — mounted  eight 
een  excellent  six  pounders  each — and  contained  cargoes 
which  together  sold  for  eighty-one  thousand  two  hundred 
and  fifty-five  pounds,  fourteen  shillings,  and  five  pence. 

How  must  the  heart  of  Trumbull  have  beat  with  joy,  when 
from  Captain  Parker — dating  a  letter  to  the  Governor  him 
self  from  on  board  the  "  Oliver  Cromwell,  at  sea,  April  20th, 
1778,  latitude  20°,  longitude  50°  " — he  received  the  intelli 
gence,  that  on  Wednesday,  the  thirteenth  of  April,  this  gal 
lant  commander  had  fallen  in  with,  and  captured  these  re 
markable  prizes — that  the  Keppel  "  had  a  very  warlike  ap 
pearance,  and  was  the  best  manned" — that  he  "ran  close 
alongside  of  her  in  the  Cromwell,  and  received  her  first  fire 
at  some  distance,  but  did  not  return  it  until  he  came  close  on 
board  " — that  "  she  gave  the  Cromwell  a  warm  reception  for 
about  three  glasses,  and  then  struck" — that  all  this  was  effected 
with  but  the  loss  of  two  men  killed,  and  five  wounded — that 
"  the  courage  "  of  his  "  raw,  undisciplined  men  could  not  fail 
of  doing  honor  to  their  country  " — and  that  the  merit  of  his 
officers,  "  in  keeping  such  inexperienced  young  boys,  as  many 
of  them  were,  to  their  quarters,  without  the  show  of  fear,  or 
noise,  or  confusion,  through  the  whole  short  and  warm  action, 
was  conspicuous  to  all !  " 

Such  was  the  naval  experience  of  Connecticut  in  the  year 
seventeen  hundred  seventy-eight. 

Her  own  land  and  naval  warfare,  and  that  of  the  country 
generally,  brought  with  it  of  course,  as  in  former  years,  and 
placed  within  her  limits,  a  large  number  of  prisoners — not  so 
many,  however,  as  in  previous  periods,  but  yet  enough  to 
demand,  on  the  part  of  Trumbull,  a  good  share  of  his  atten 
tion.  Many  were  brought  in  by  the  privateers,*  and  other 

*The  following  order  illustrates  Trumbull' s  action,  at  times,  with  regard  to 
such  prisoners : — 

"  State  of  Connecticut.  By  the  Governor.  To  Prosper  Wetmore,  Esq.,  Sheriff 
of  the  County  of  New  London — Greeting. 

"  It  is  represented  to  me  by  Mr.  Jacob  de  Witt,  of  Norwich,  one  of  the  owners 
of  the  Privateer  Sloop  Lydia,  that  Capt.  Jabez  Lord,  Commander  of  the  same, 


400  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TKUMBULL.  1178. 

armed  vessels  of  the  State.  Once,  in  April,  in  one  troop — 
one  hundred  and  fifty  British,  Hessian,  and  Canadian  prison 
ers  were  taken  from  Albany  to  Hartford,  and  there  lodged  in 
jail — while  at  the  same  time  one  hundred  and  thirty  more, 
who  were  confined  in  this  latter  town,  were  transferred  to  be 
kept  on  board  a  guard  ship  at  Norwich. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year,  in  conformity  with  a  Keso- 
lution  of  Congress — which  applied  to  each  State,  and  had 
reference  to  a  system  for  exchanging  prisoners — Trumbull 
furnished  an  accurate  account  of  all  the  money,  provisions, 
and  other  necessaries,  which  had  been  used  for  captives  in 
Connecticut — and  in  the  course  of  the  year,  as  in  previous 
periods,  was  busy  in  negotiating  exchanges,  and  sending  flags 
of  truce  from  the  harbors  of  New  London  and  New  Haven. 
Among  those  who  obtained  their  freedom  this  year  was  the 
notorious  William  Franklin,  of  whom  we  have  heretofore 
spoken.  He  was  exchanged  for  John  McKinley,  Esquire, 
President  of  Delaware,  and  went  back  to  New  Jersey,  there 
to  renew  his  nefarious  opposition  to  the  land  of  his  birth. 

There  was  one  duty,  in  the  department  of  prisoners,  which 
Governor  Trumbull  had  to  perform  this  year,  that  was  peculiar. 
It  was  to  see  that  the  "  Convention  Troops,"  as  they  were 
called — those  who  had  been  captured  by  Gates  at  the  memor 
able  Battle  of  Saratoga — were  marched  securely  through 
Connecticut,  on  their  way,  in  October,  from  Boston  to  Char- 
lottsville  in  Virginia — to  which  place — on  account  of  the 
scarcity  of  flour  in  the  New  England  States,  and  the  unwill 
ingness  of  Clinton  to  grant  passports  for  its  conveyance  from 
the  Middle  States  to  the  eastward — these  prisoners  were  to  be 
conducted.  He  complied  with  Washington's  requisition  for 
troops  to  act  as  an  escort  and  guard  upon  the  occasion — sent 

hath  captured  an  enemy's  sloop,  on  board  which  he  hath  taken  prisoners  one 
Captain  and  nine  men. 

"  You  are  hereby  directed  to  receive  and  keep  in  safe  custody  the  said  Prison 
ers.  You  may  take  the  parole  of  the  Captain,  to  abide  within  such  short  limits 
as  you  may  judge  proper  and  safe. 

"  You  will  give  notice  by  some  convenient  opportunity  to  Ezekiel  Williams, 
Esq.,  Commissary  of  Prisoners,  and  observe  such  orders  as  he  shall  give  concern 
ing  the  prisoners. 

"  Given  at  Lebanon,  the  19th  day  of  August,  A.  D.  1778. 

"  JONTH  TRUMBULL." 


1778. 


CHAP.    XXXIII. — TRUMBULL.  401 


them  to  meet  the  captives  on  the  borders  of  Connecticut,  and 
conducted  them  safely  through  the  State.*  What  a  spectacle 
they  must  have  been  to  the  inhabitants,  as  they  passed — 
morose,  solemn,  inflexible — the  motions  of  their  spirits  no 
longer,  as  when  they  swept  magnificently  strong  over  the 
waters  of  Lake  Champlain,  light  as  the  tossing  plumes  which 
they  mirrored  by  thousands  in  its  glassy  depths,  but  udull  as 
night"— 

Given  to  captivity,  they  and  their  utmost  hopes !  " 

It  was  the  peculiar  fortune  of  Trumbull,  during  almost 
every  year  of  the  war,  to  hold  in  his  custody  as  prisoners, 
personages  who  were  more  or  less  remarkable.  We  have 
had  occasion  to  notice  quite  a  number  of  these  heretofore. 
Among  such,  the  present  year,  he  held  Hugh  Wallace, 
Esquire,  one  of  the  former  Council  for  the  Crown  in  the 
State  of  New  York. 

But  more  conspicuous  than  any  other  person  in  his  hands 
as  a  prisoner — if  so,  under  all  the  circumstances,  he  can  be 
regarded — was  Henry  Shirley,  Esquire — a  gentleman  "of 
estimable  character,  of  great  fortune,  of  powerful  connec 
tions,"  and  who  had  himself  once  represented  Great  Britain 
as  ambassador  to  the  Court  of  Russia.  With  his  lady, 
daughter,  a  handmaid  of  Mrs.  Shirley's,  and  their  servants, 
this  person  had  been  taken  on  board  the  Admiral  Keppel  by 
Captain  Parker,  while  on  his  way  from  Bristol  to  settle  the 
affairs  of  an  estate  which  he  owned  in  Jamaica.  He  had 
been  favorably  inclined  towards  the  United  States — had 
taken  no  active  part  against  them — and  was  the  gentleman 
who  had  formerly  presented  the  Jamaica  petition  to  the  King 
in  their  favor.  He  had  used  his  influence  on  board  the 
Keppel,  after  she  was  captured,  to  keep  the  prisoners  quiet — 

*  "  When  you  have  fixed  the  time  of  march  and  the  route,  inform  Governor 
Trumbull,  that  he  may  be  ready  to  receive  them  on  the  borders  of  Connecticut." 
—  Washington  to  Gen.  Heath,  Oct.  21,  1778. 

"  I  have  requested  Gen.  Heath  to  employ  a  sufficient  number  of  the  Massachu 
setts  militia  to  conduct  them  to  Connecticut.  I  shall  make  a  like  requisition  to 
Governor  Trumbull,  and  it  will  be  necessary  that  the  several  States  in  succession, 
through  which  they  are  to  pass,  be  called  on  in  the  same  manner. —  Washington 
to  the  President  of  Congress,  Oct.  22,  1778. 
34* 


402  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

without  which,  it  was  said,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to 
have  brought  the  prize  into  port,  as  the  Oliver  Cromwell  had 
but  few  seamen,  and  most  of  them  were  sick  with  the  small 
pox. 

All  these  circumstances  were  strongly  represented  to  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  by  his  son  Colonel  John,  who  made  Shirley's 
acquaintance  in  Boston — was  warmly  interested  in  his  favor — 
and  begged  his  father  to  grant  him  a  flag  to  transport  him 
and  his  family  to  his  estate  in  Jamaica — a  boon,  which,  he 
said,  "good  policy,  not  to  say  justice,"  should  induce  him  to 
grant,  since  Mr.  Shirley  was  in  a  position  "to  become  a 
mighty  engine,"  he  stated,  "  either  for  or  against"  the  great 
interests  of  the  United  States.  Captain  Parker  also  repre 
sented  him  in  a  most  favorable  light  to  the  Governor.  So 
did  Samuel  Elliot,  the  naval  agent  at  Boston,  who  took  pains 
also  to  memorialize  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  for  liberty 
to  accommodate  him  and  his  suite  in  Boston  in  a  manner  be 
coming  his  rank  and  character. 

These  applications  were  not  without  their  influence  upon 
Governor  Trumbull.  He  in  consequence  sent  instructions  to 
Elliot,  to  pay  every  proper  attention  to  the  prisoner,  and 
allow  him  all  the  indulgence  which  was  consistent  with  his 
safety,  and  duty  to  the  State.  And  soon  he  sent  on  a  permit 
to  Shirley  himself,  to  visit  Connecticut  by  the  middle  route 
from  Boston,  with  the  privilege  of  being  attended  by  his 
friend  Mr.  Phipps,  his  surgeons,  and  his  servants — and 
directed  Elliot  to  assist  him  on  his  journey,  and  make  Mrs. 
Shirley  and  her  daughter  "  as  easy  in  his  absence  as  their 
unfortunate  situation  would  admit."  Mr.  Shirley  accordingly 
made  a  journey  to  see  the  Governor  at  Lebanon,  where  he 
was  entertained  with  the  greatest  courtesy,  and  where  he 
entered  into  full  and  free  conversations  in  regard  to  the 
mutual  relations  of  Great  Britain  and  America.  The  impres 
sion  he  made  upon  Trumbull  was  exceedingly  favorable. 

"  Mr.  Shirley  is  a  gentleman  of  good  sense  and  abilities,"  he  wrote  the 
Delegates  in  Congress  from  Connecticut,  June  twenty-ninth — "well 
knowing  British  policy,  acquainted  with  all  the  great  men  and  characters 
in  Great  Britain,  and  was  an  ambassador  from  the  Court  of  Great  Britain 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIII. — TKUMBULL.  403 

to  the  Court  of  Russia.  He  talks  freely  on  politics.  He  left  England  9th 
of  March.  He  wishes  we  had  a  go-between,  as  he  expresseth  it — says 
France  will  serve  only  as  a  Poker  to  increase  the  flame — the  more  the 
better — that  the  States  of  Holland  would  serve  to  make  a  Reconciliation — 
that  great  numbers  in  England  wish  well  to  our  Independence,  with  a 
Treaty  of  Amity  and  Free  Commerce — that  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  and 
the  Floridas  be  ceded  to  us — they  to  retain  Newfoundland — the  Fishery 
to  be  free  to  both — they  to  protect  our  Flag — these  States,  in  return,  to 
Guarantee  the  English  West  Indies. 

"  He  gives  the  King  the  character  of  good — says  that  he  ardently  de 
sires  a  Reconciliation,  is  much  directed  by  his  Ministers,  and  doth  not 
wish  the  Administration  to  be  in  the  hands  of  Lords  Chatham  and  Shel- 
burne.  He  gives  Lord  North  a  very  good  character.  The  Ministry  who 
are  violent  against  these  States  want  to  introduce  the  two  former,  and  to 
produce  a  Coalition  between  the  opposite  parties  in  England — to  declare 
no  war  with  France — to  raise  and  send  reenforcements  to  wreak  John 
Bull's  vengeance  against  America — to  divide  and  distract  our  Councils — 
and  to  inflame  the  Protestant  Powers  in  Europe  against  the  United  States 
for  forming  an  Alliance  with  France  and  Popish  Powers." 

Such  were  the  views  which  Shirley  freely  expressed  to 
Governor  Trumbull  at  his  house  in  Lebanon — views  which 
in  the  concessions  they  made  to  America  were  certainly  lib 
eral — and  which  the  latter  took  pains  to  communicate,  as  of 
more  than  ordinary  weight  and  importance — through  Koger 
Sherman  and  his  colleagues  from  Connecticut — to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  nation.  At  one  time  he  thought  of  sending 
Mr.  Shirley  on  in  person  to  Congress,  to  confer  with  members 
there — but  finally  abandoned  this  project,  lest  some  "disa 
greeable  consequences,"  he  said,  might  possibly  follow,  and 
he  should  himself  "incur  blame."  He  took  another,  and 
probably  more  prudent  course — one  which  at  the  same  time 
reflected  honor  on  his  courtesy,  his  humanity,  and  his  cau 
tion.  He  permitted  Shirley  to  hire  a  vessel  for  the  transport 
ation  of  himself  and  his  family  to  Jamaica — gave  him  a  pro 
tecting  flag — and  merely  demanding  from  him — in  order  to 
meet  any  exigency  that  might  possibly  arise — his  own  parole, 
for  himself  and  those  who  accompanied  him — for  the  purpose 
of  exchange — dismissed  him  in  safety  to  pursue  his  journey 
to  his  original  destination. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

1778. 

TRCTMBULL  and  the  Conciliatory  Plan  of  Lord  North.  The  bills  embrac 
ing  it  are  sent  to  him  by  Gov.  Tryon  of  New  York.  His  spirited  reply. 
He  communicates  them  to  Massachusetts  and  to  Congress.  The  plan 
wholly  fails.  Trumbull  and  the  Confederation.  Its  articles  are  sent  to 
him,  and  he  lays  them  before  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut. 
His  views  respecting  them.  He  urges  their  adoption.  Has  long  ad 
vocated  some  Plan  of  Union,  and  been  impatient  at  its  delay.  With 
Washington,  he  censures  Congress  for  its  dilatoriness,  factiousness, 
and  neglect  of  wholesome  measures.  Trumbull  and  the  currency 
again.  Its  continued  depreciation.  His  remedy.  Connecticut,  upon 
his  Message,  provides  for  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  He  writes 
the  Connecticut  Delegates  in  Congress  on  the  public  debt.  With 
Erkelaus,  a  patriotic  foreigner,  he  advises  Congress,  upon  certain  con 
ditions,  to  negotiate  a  foreign  loan.  His  views  upon  the  scheme  of 
regulating  prices  by  law. 

THUS  far  we  have  been  looking  at  Trumbull,  for  the 
year  1778,  in  that  department  of  his  life  and  services 
which  is  strictly  military.  We  have  now  to  look  at  him, 
during  this  period,  in  a  department  which  is  civil,  mainly, 
in  its  nature,  though  parts  of  it  connect  directly  with  the 
war.  And  here  we  shall  find  much  that  is  worthy  of  special 
note. 

The  first  important  fact  which  presents  itself,  is  his  pro 
ceeding  in  regard  to  the  famous  Conciliatory  plan  of  Lord 
North,  which — instituted  in  the  British  Parliament  about  the 
middle  of  February — and  soon  transmitted  for  consideration 
to  the  United  States,  and  backed  in  this  country  by  a  special 
Board  of  Peace  Commissioners — continued  during  nearly  the 
whole  year  to  create  agitation  and  disturbance. 

This  Plan,  arranged  in  three  bills — the  first,  as  expressed 
by  its  title,  intended  for  removing  all  doubts  concerning  the 
taxation  of  the  Colonies  by  the  British  Parliament — the  sec 
ond,  for  restoring  the  charter  of  Massachusetts  Bay — and  the 
third,  for  appointing  commissioners  with  full  powers  to  treat 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  405 

with  the  Colonies  on  the  means  of  quieting  the  public  dis 
orders — the  Plan,  thus  arranged — glittering,  but  insidious — 
full  of  promise,  yet  full  of  guile — was  in  the  spring  sent  over 
to  America.  It  was  sent  instantly  upon  its  being  reported  in 
the  British  Parliament,  and  before  it  received  the  sanction  of 
legislation — so  vividly  apprehensive  at  this  time  were  the 
British  Ministry,  lest  an  Alliance,  that  would  in  every  respect 
improve  the  aspect  of  American  affairs,  should  take  place 
between  France  and  the  United  States — and  so  eager  were 
they  to  anticipate  any  movements  which  might  be  made  for 
establishing  such  a  connection.  The  bills  which  embraced 
this  Plan,  very  many  of  them,  came  into  the  hands  of  Gov 
ernor  Tryon  of  New  York,  for  distribution  in  America — 
and,  on  the  last  Tuesday  in  April,  he  sent  several  copies  of 
them,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  to  Newhaven,  for  delivery  to 
Jonathan  Trumbull.  And  at  the  same  time  he  dispatched 
a  letter  to  the  Governor,  requesting  him  to  circulate  them 
both  among  the  people  of  Connecticut,  and  those  of  the  Prov 
inces  at  the  East. 

These  bills,  as  has  been  intimated,  promised  much — they 
yielded  much — yet  they  were  insidious  and  perilous.  The 
duty  on  tea  was  to  be  repealed.  No  taxes  were  to  be  laid 
save  those  which  were  external,  and  for  the  regulation  of 
commerce.  The  allurement  was  "extremely  flattering,"  as 
"Washington  remarked,  to  minds  that  did  "  not  penetrate  far 
into  political  consequences,"  and  was  not  without  its  effect — 
but  yet  to  discerning  men,  "  a  game,"  he  added,  played  by 
the  enemy  which  was  "more  dangerous  than  their  efforts  by 
arms,"  and  which  threatened  "  a  fatal  blow  to  the  independ 
ence  of  America,  and  of  course  to  her  liberties."  So  Trum 
bull  viewed  the  matter — precisely — as  the  following  letter 
which  he  addressed  to  Tryon  in  reply,  abundantly  proves. 

"April  23d,  1778.  Sir.  Your  letter  of  the  17th  instant,  from  New 
York,  is  received  with  its  enclosures,  and  the  several  similar  packets  of 
various  addresses,  with  which  it  was  accompanied. 

"  Propositions  of  Peace  are  usually  made  from  the  supreme  authority 
of  one  contending  power  to  the  similar  authority  of  the  other ;  and  the 
present  is  the  first  instance  within  my  recollection,  where  a  vague,  half- 
blank,  and  very  indefinite  draft  of  a  bill,  once  only  read  before  one  of 


406  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

three  bodies  of  the  Legislature  of  the  Nation,  has  ever  been  addressed  to 
the  people  at  large  of  the  opposite  power,  as  an  overture  of  recon 
ciliation. 

"  There  was  a  day  when  even  this  step,  from  our  then  acknowledged 
parent  State,  might  have  been  accepted  with  joy  and  gratitude ;  but  this 
day,  Sir,  is  past  irrevocably.  The  repeated,  insolent  rejection  of  our  sin 
cere  and  sufficiently  humble  petitions ;  the  unprovoked  commencement 
of  hostilities ;  the  barbarous  inhumanity  which  has  marked  the  prosecu 
tion  of  the  war  on  your  part  in  its  several  stages  ;  the  insolence  which 
displays  itself  on  every  petty  advantage  ;  the  cruelties  which  have  been 
exercised  on  those  unhappy  men  whom  the  fortune  of  war  has  thrown 
into  your  hands ;  all  these  are  insuperable  bars  to  the  very  idea  of  con 
cluding  a  peace  with  Great  Britain  on  any  other  conditions  than  the 
most  perfect  and  absolute  independence.  To  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  therefore,  all  proposals  of  this  kind  are  to  be  ad 
dressed  ;  and  you  will  give  me  leave,  Sir,  to  say,  that  the  present  mode 
bears  too  much  the  marks  of  an  insidious  design  to  disunite  the  people, 
and  to  lull  them  into  a  state  of  quietude  and  negligence  of  the  necessary 
preparations  for  the  approaching  campaign.  If  this  be  the  real  design, 
it  is  fruitless.  If  peace  be  really  the  object,  let  your  proposals  be  ad 
dressed  properly  to  the  proper  power,  and  your  negotiations  be  honor 
ably  conducted ;  we  shall  then  have  some  prospect  of  (what  is  the  most 
ardent  wish  of  every  honest  American,)  a  lasting  and  honorable  peace. 

"  The  British  nation  may  then,  perhaps,  find  us  as  affectionate  and 
valuable  friends,  as  we  now  are  determined  and  fatal  enemies ;  and  will 
derive  from  that  friendship  more  solid  and  real  advantage  than  the  most 
sanguine  can  expect  from  conquest. 

"I  am,  Sir, 

"Your  humble  servant, 
"WILLIAM  TRYON,  ESQ."  "JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

What  a  rebuke  to  the  presumption  of  British  power  does 
Trumbull  administer  in  this  his  answer  to  Trjon — bestowed 
indeed,  as  Botta  justly  remarks,  "  in  a  most  energetic  man 
ner  !  " — "  When  I  was  told  the  Governor  had  written  Gov 
ernor  Try  on  on  the  subject  of  the  Overtures,"  said  General 
Jedediah  Huntington,  in  a  letter  which  he  addressed  at  the 
time*  to  Colonel  Williams — "  I  was  very  anxious  to  know 
what  it  was — not  that  I  doubted  its  being  well  done,  but  I 
considered  it  a  matter  of  great  importance,  as  it  would  prob 
ably  be  immediately  forwarded  to  England,  and  be  there  re 
ceived  as  a  specimen  of  our  temper  and  feelings  on  the  occa- 

*  April  28th,  1778. 


1778. 


CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  407 


sion.  I  must  think  the  Governor's  words  are  like  Apples  of 
Gold  in  Pictures  of  Silver  !  " 

" Apples  of  Gold"  they  were  indeed!  So  thought  Massa 
chusetts  of  them  upon  this  occasion — to  the  President  of 
whose  General  Assembly  the  Governor  transmitted  Tryon's 
communication,  and  his  own  reply.  So  thought  Congress, 
to  which  Body  also  he  sent  the  entire  correspondence,  with 
the  Conciliatory  Bills  enclosed,  and  by  whom  it  was  all  re 
ferred,  for  careful  consideration,  to  their  standing  Committee 
on  Intelligence.*  The  sentiments  which,  with  such  becom 
ing  firmness  Trumbull  expresses,  were  those  of  his  country. 
They  were,  particularly,  those  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States — for  one  day  only  before  his  letter  was  written — and 
of  course  before  he  could  himself  have  had  any  knowledge 
of  its  proceedings — this  Body  resolved  that  the  Conciliatory 
Bills,  which  Trumbull  had  thus,  so  far  as  his  own  decision 
is  concerned,  summarily  rejected,  were  "  intended  to  operate 
on  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  good  people  of  these  States,  so 
as  to  create  divisions  among  them,  and  a  defection  from  the 
common  cause,  now  by  the  blessing  of  God,"  they  affirmed, 
"  drawing  near  to  a  favorable  issue " — and  that  they  were 
"  the  sequel  of  that  insidious  plan,  which,  from  the  days  of 
the  Stamp  Act,"  down  to  that  time,  had  "  involved  the  coun 
try  in  contention  and  bloodshed." 

By  the   united  voice  of  America  too,  these   Bills  were 

*  The  first  set  of  Conciliatory  Measiires  sent  to  Trumbull,  which  were  mere 
"  Drafts  of  Bills,"  were  followed,  May  21st,  1778,  by  another  communication  en 
closing  these  Drafts  in  the  form  of  "Acts  of  Parliament" — copies  of  which 
Tryon  desires  Trumbull  to  forward  to  Boston,  and  the  Eastern  Provinces.  They 
came  on,  he  says,  in  his  Majesty's  ship  the  Porcupine,  and  he  trusts  "they  will 
be  received  with  more  confidence  and  liberality  than  the  Drafts  "  which  he  sent. 
Whether  they  were  thus  received  or  not,  the  following  brief  epistle  from  Trum 
bull  to  Tryon,  in  reply,  will  show. 

"  Hartford,  25th  May,  1778.  Sir.  Your  letter  of  the  21st  instant  is  received, 
with  its  enclosures.  The  innocent  do  not  want  a  pardon.  The  injured  do  not 
place  confidence  in  any  who  have  done  them  an  injury,  while  Force  is  continued 
in  the  same  pursuit.  To  ask  it  in  this  situation — does  it  not  add  Insult  to  Inju 
ry  ?  Ought  not  Propositions  and  Negotiations  of  a  public  nature  between  two 
contending  Powers,  to  be  addressed  from  one  to  the  other,  and  not  to  Individ 
uals,  or  to  a  particular  Person  or  Persons  ?  When  made  in  this  manner,  and 
honorably  conducted,  Liberality  may  justly  be  expected  from  both. 

"lam,  &c., 

"  JONATHAN  TBTJMBULL." 


408  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL. 

thrown  to  the  winds — as  Trumbull  had  thrown  them — and 
as  before  him,  in  entire  conjunction  of  sympathy  and  opinion 
Franklin  had  done — when — consulted  in  Paris  in  behalf  of 
the  Ministry  of  England  in  regard  to  them — he  told  the 
British  emissaries  upon  the  occasion — Pulteney  and  Hart 
ley — that  "  every  proposition,  implying  a  voluntary  agree 
ment  to  return  to  a  state  of  dependence  on  Great  Britain, 
would  be  rejected  by  the  Americans." 

The  day  of  reconciliation,  as  Trumbull  affirmed  to  Try  on, 
was  indeed  "irrevocably  passed."  The  efforts  of  the  British 
Commissioners  appointed  under  the  Conciliatory  Plan,* 
though  earnestly  exerted — though  enriched  with  greater  con 
cessions  and  higher  promises  in  behalf  of  America  than  any 
hitherto  proffered — though  gilded  with  glittering  guineas, 
and  exalted  stations  offered  under  British  authority  to  lead- 
ing  statesmen  of  our  land — all  were  in  vain.  In  vain,  in 
October,  did  these  Commissioners — persisting  to  the  last  in 
their  purpose  of  crowding  an  ignoble  pacification  on  the 
country — send  a  second  flag  of  truce  to  the  harbor  of  New 
London,  with  fresh  dispatches  for  the  Governor  of  Connecti 
cut,  and  intrude  on  the  devotional  repose  of  his  Sunday  eve 
ning — at  which  time  he  first  received  them — with  their  new 
Manifesto  and  Proclamation.  Trumbull  remained  incorrupt 
ible,  and  inexorable.f  And  United  America  was  full  of 
men,  whom — like  the  honest,  inflexible  Eeed — the  King  of 
England  was  "  not  rich  enough  to  purchase."  So  the  Earl 
of  Carlisle,  and  Governor  Johnstone,  and  Mr.  Eden,  found 
out — not  a  soul,  within  the  forty  days  of  pardon  and  of 
grace  which  they  graciously  extended  to  America,  not  one 
being  found  to  desert  either  the  military  or  civil  service  of 
the  country.  And  they  went  back  to  England,  having,  by 
their  blandishing  proclamations  and  haughty  threats,  accom- 

*  They  were  Frederic,  Fifth  Earl  of  Carlisle,  known  afterwards  as  Lord  Byron's 
Guardian — William  Eden,  afterwards  Lord  Auckland — and  George  Johnstone, 
Commander  in  the  Eoyal  Navy,  and  at  one  time  Governor  of  East  Florida. 

t "  There  can  be  no  solidity  in  any  offers  the  British  Commissioners  can 
make" — he  wrote  to  Gen.  Gates,  June  26th,  1778.  "The  plan  is  evidently  to 
divide  and  distract  our  Councils ;  to  unite  the  opposite  parties  in  England,  to 
bring  into  Administration  Ld  Chatham  and  Shelburne  ;  to  declare  no  war  with 
France ;  to  send  over  Keenforcements,  to  wreak  their  vengeance  on  America. 
Our  Heavenly  Protector,  I  trust,  will  spare  and  defend  us." 


1178.  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  409 

plished  nothing  but  to  rivet  more  firmly  than  ever  American 
resistance  to  British  tyranny — with  the  opinion — it  must 
have  been  so — planted  deeply  in  their  conviction,  that 

" '  Tis  late  indeed  before  the  brave  despair  1  " 

Another  important  subject  which  claimed  Trumbull's 
attention  in  the  year  1778,  and  of  which  we  shall  now  speak, 
was  the  Confederation  of  the  United  States.  Far  back  as 
1775 — just  after  Dr.  Franklin  introduced  before  Congress  the 
first  Articles  on  this  subject — we  found  the  Governor  of  Con 
necticut  a  strong  advocate  of  a  plan  of  union  between  the 
Colonies — consulted  with  about  it — and  earnestly  hoping 
that  one,  "maturely  digested,"  would  be  adopted  soon  as 
possible,  and  remain  "  firm  and  inviolate." 

For  such  a  plan  he  continued  to  be  an  advocate — and  when 
towards  the  close  of  1777,  he  received  a  copy  of  those  Arti 
cles  of  Confederation,  which  became  subsequently  the  bond 
of  union  for  the  country,  and  which  were  then  for  the  first 
time  finally  adopted  by  Congress — he  proceeded — immedi 
ately  upon  the  assembling  of  the  Legislature  of  Connecticut, 
in  January,  1778 — to  lay  them  before  this  Body  for  their 
"  dispassionate  attention,"  and  to  procure  their  authority  for 
their  ratification — urging  them — as  a  Circular  from  Congress 
requested  the  Governors  of  all  the  States  to  do — to  examine 
the  subject  "  with  a  liberality  becoming  brethren  and  fellow- 
citizens,  contending  for  the  same  illustrious  prize,  and  deeply 
interested  in  being  forever  bound,  and  cemented  together,  by 
ties  the  most  intimate  and  indissoluble." 

The  articles  were  taken  up  by  the  Assembly,  and  most 
carefully  considered — but  a  final  decision  was  not  made  upon 
them  until  its  succeeding  session  in  February.  At  this  time, 
at  the  opening  of  the  session,  Governor  Trumbull  was  not 
able  to  be  present,  by  reason  of  sickness — a  very  remarkable 
circumstance  in  his  career.  But  he  did  not  forget — in  a  Mes 
sage  which  he  then  sent,  February  eleventh,  from  Lebanon 
to  the  "Gentlemen  of  the  Council,  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  " — to  introduce  this  subject  of  the 
Confederation,  as  the  first  and  most  important  matter  to  be 

again  considered  by  them,  and  brought  to  a  conclusion. 
35 


410  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  I7t8. 

"  It  having  pleased  Providence,"  he  proceeded  to  say,  "  to  detain  me 
by  indisposition  from  personal  attendance  with  you,  at  the  opening  of 
the  present  sessions,  I  am  to  take  this  method  of  addressing  you  on  the 
present  important  occasion.  The  Papers  relative  to  the  Business  which 
will  come  under  your  attention,  accompany  this — and  any  Letters  under 
Address  to  me,  which  may  be  received  in  my  absence,  his  Honor  the 
Deputy  Governor  will  open  and  communicate. 

"  The  Articles  of  Confederation  of  the  United  States,  call  first  for 
your  attention — and  as  this  Business  was  well  nigh  completed  during 
your  late  sessions,  I  hope  it  will  be  speedily  finished."* 

Prompt  attention  was  paid  to  this,  the  Governor's  recom 
mendation.  The  Articles  were  discussed  at  great  length,  and 
serious  objections  were  made  to  some  of  their  features — par 
ticularly  to  that  rule  by  which  the  expenses  of  the  country 
were  to  be  apportioned  among  the  States.  The  value  of 
lands,  which,  by  the  eighth  Article,  was  made  the  standard 
for  taxation,  was  by  no  means,  it  was  thought,  a  just  repre 
sentation  of  the  proportionate  contributions  which  each  State 
ought  to  make  towards  discharging  the  common  burthens. 
It  was  a  standard  that  would  be  extremely  unequal,  it  was 
urged,  in  its  operation  upon  the  different  States.  The  true 
criterion,  on  the  other  hand,  for  estimating  the  wealth  and 
ability  of  each  State,  ought  to  be,  it  was  believed,  the  num 
ber  of  inhabitants  of  every  age,  sex,  and  quality,  except  In 
dians  not  paying  taxes — this  being  a  more  certain,  equitable, 
and  practicable  rule  for  apportioning  taxes  than  the  value  of 
lands — and  including  in  its  operation  that  trade  and  those 
manufactures  of  the  country,  which  give  employment  and 
support  to  multitudes,  and  are  in  fact  sources  of  wealth  to  a 
nation  as  well  as  the  produce  of  lands. 

Such  were  the  views  of  Trumbull  and  Connecticut,  as  well 
also  as  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Khode  Island,  and 

*  Tbe  illness,  to  which  the  Governor  refers,  abated  so  that  he  was  able  to  attend 
awhile  upon  the  Legislature,  but  soon  returned,  and  compelled  him  to  go  home — 
as  the  following  note,  from  his  hand,  shows. 

"March  3d.  Governor  Trumbull  taketh  tbis  method  to  inform  [tbe  General 
Assembly]  tbat  his  indisposition  is  sucb  tbat  he  is  unable  to  attend  on  public 
Business — that  be  intends  to  take  tbe  first  favorable  weatber  to  return  home— 
tbat  be  wisbetb  tbem  Wisdom,  influence,  and  direction  in  all  tbe  Important  Af 
fairs  before  them."  By  a  Kesolution  at  tbis  time  tbe  General  Assembly  de 
volved  bis  duties  on  tbe  Deputy  Governor. 


1778. 


CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  411 


a  large  part  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  "Is  it  not  cer 
tain,"  said  Trumbull  at  this  time* — enforcing  the  rule  of  ap 
portionment  by  the  polls,  and  meeting  the  objection  from  the 
South  on  the  score  of  its  slaves — "is  it  not  certain  the  riches 
of  a  nation  consist  in  the  number  of  its  inhabitants,  when 
those  inhabitants  are  properly  employed?  If  the  negroes 
when  young  or  old  are  like  drones  in  a  hive,  will  it  not  be 
remedied  by  numbering  them  from  a  certain  age,  when  they 
become  useful,  to  the  age  when  they  are  unserviceable? 
Will  not  this  be  more  satisfactory  ?  " 

But  notwithstanding  the  Governor's  objections,  and  those 
of  the  General  Assembly,  to  the  basis  of  taxation  as  estab 
lished  by  Congress — and  notwithstanding  the  want  among 
the  Articles  of  some  provision  against  a  standing  army  in 
time  of  peace,  and  against  an  improper  system  of  pensions — 
both  Trumbull  and  the  State — "sensible,"  as  they  said,  "of 
the  great  importance,  necessity,  and  advantage  of  a  firm  and 
speedy  union" — early  in  February,  day  the  twelfth — em 
powered  the  Connecticut  Delegates  in  Congress,  in  conjunc 
tion  with  others,  "to  agree  to  and  ratify"  the  Articles.  So 
that,  July  ninth — amendments  expressing  their  views  hav 
ing  been  previously  submitted  to  Congress,  and,  in  common 
with  all  from  all  the  States,  rejected — the  hand  of  Connecti 
cut  was  set  to  that  Boll  of  Parchment  which  was  the  first 
cement  of  the  first  federal  union — the  first  written  "League 
of  Friendship  "  between  the  Thirteen  Independent  States  of 
America,  for  their  common  defence,  the  security  of  their  lib 
erties,  and  their  mutual  and  general  welfare." 

Trumbull  watched  the  operation  of  this  celebrated  instru 
ment,  till  the  close  of  his  life,  with  the  greatest  interest  and 
anxiety.  He  lived  to  see  negotiated  under  it  that  Treaty  of 
Peace  which  acknowledged  the  Independence  of  his  native 
land,  and  that  War  concluded  upon  which  he  so  lavished  the 
treasures  of  his  intellect  and  his  heart.  He  was  fully  sensi 
ble  of  its  defects,  as  time  disclosed  them — no  man  was  more 
so.  It  was  his  wish,  year  by  year,  to  remedy  them — in  order 
that  the  Federal  Government  might  "act,  and  move,  and 
guide"  independently  and  firmly,  "and  not  merely  totter  un- 

*  His  letter  to  Congress,  Dec.  12, 1778. 


412  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  17?8. 

der  its  own  weight,"  or  sink  into  a  drowsy  and  palsied  de 
crepitude.  But  the  remedy  did  not  come  in  his  own  day. 
He  did  not  survive  to  see  the  old  Confederation — its  glory 
departed — "its  days  of  labor  done" — stand  but  "as  a  de 
cayed  monument  of  the  past" — as  "but  the  shadow  of  a 
mighty  name."  Yet  while  he  lived,  he  gave  to  its  enforce 
ment  the  whole  strength  of  his  influence,  as  the  only  instru 
ment  of  government,  he  was  forced  to  think,  which,  under  the 
circumstances  of  the  day,  could  be  exacted  from  thirteen  jeal 
ous  Sovereignties.  And  when  he  passed  off  from  the  stage  of 
public  action — having  had  opportunity  to  see  some  of  the  steps 
of  its  decline  as  they  went  on  "numbering  and  finishing" — 
he  left  on  record,  as  we  shall  hereafter  find,  his  own  wise  and 
strong  counsel  for  its  extensive  and  radical  amendment. 

Its  progress  through  Congress  had  been  exceedingly  slow. 
Nearly  seventeen  months  had  elapsed  from  the  time  its  first 
draft  was  reported  till  the  instrument  was  finally  adopted. 
Trumbull  was  impatient  at  this  long  delay — impatient  at  the 
hesitation  and  unwillingness,  even  obstinate,  of  some  of  the 
States  to  ratify  it.  "I  am  exceedingly  anxious,"  he  wrote, 
August  twenty rfifth,  to  Eoger  Sherman — "  to  see  our  Con 
federation  completed.  The  four  States,"  he  added — alluding 
to  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  'Virginia,  which  had 
not  yet  signed  the  Articles — "  how  long  must  the  others  wait 
for  them  ?  If  they  are  not  like  to  comply  soon,  should  we 
not  confederate  without  them  f  "* 

"Why,  why  is  this  vital  matter  delayed,"  was  the  frequent 
burden  of  his  letters  to  others  in  Congressf — a  Body  which, 
towards  the  close  of  the  year  on  which  we  now  dwell' — "  for 
want  either  of  abilities  or  application  in  the  members,  or 
through  the  discord  and  party  views  of  some  individuals — 
"  had  become  quite  neglectful  of  the  important  concerns  of 

*  In  April  1779,  all  the  States  excepting  Maryland  having  ratified  the  Confeder 
ation,  the  State  of  Connecticut  authorized  its  Delegates  to  complete  this  Plan  of 
Union,  exclusive  of  Maryland. 

fe.  g.  "Am  sorry  to  find  Confederation  is  procrastinated,"  he  wrote  to  Dyer 
and  his  colleagues  from  Connecticut.  "  I  find  Maryland  has  something  plausible 
to  say— I  wish  that  obstacle  was  removed— yet  think  they  might  rely  on  what 
hath  been  already  done  by  Congress  on  that  head.  If  the  matters  they  mention 
were  settled,  it  would  be  well.  That  must  be  a  work  of  time.  A  delay  of  Con 
federation  is  very  detrimental." 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  413 

the  nation — and  which,  for  this  reason,  both  Washington  and 
Trumbull  chastised  with  free  and  just  censure.* 

"  It  is  most  devoutly  to  be  wished,"  exclaimed  the  former, 
in  November,  addressing  Joseph  Eeed — "  that  faction  was  at 
an  end,  and  that  those,  to  whom  everything  dear  and  valu 
able  is  entrusted,  would  lay  aside  party  views,  and  return  to 
first  principles.  Happy,  thrice  happy  country,  if  such  were 
the  government  of  it ! " 

"  Many  and  weighty,"  said  Trumbull,  in  October — preceding  the  Father 
of  his  country  in  similar  reproof — in  a  letter  which  is  worthy  of  special 
notef — "  are  the  objects  which  still  press  on  Congress  for  consideration.  I 
wish,  however,  it  did  not  seem  that  some  essential  things  appear  to  be 
protracted  to  a  greater  length  than  either  their  nature,  the  importance  of 
the  objects,  the  necessary  time  for  consideration,  or  the  public  expecta 
tion,  deem  necessary.  I  would  fondly  hope  that  no  time  is  lost  which 
might  be  employed  in  precious  deliberation — that  no  unnecessary,  un 
reasonable,  or  untoward  circumstances  conspire  to  make  delays.  Our 
situation,  altho'  the  dawn  of  happier  days  seems  to  lighten  upon  us,  is 
in  my  apprehension  very  critical.  Many  great  and  serious  points  remain 
to  be  settled.  I  would  hope  no  leaven  of  uneasiness  between  States,  Dis- 

*  A  letter  to  Gov.  Trumbull,  dated  Aug.  31,  1778,  from  Mr.  Hosmer,  a  Delegate 
in  Congress  from  Connecticut,  thus  corroborates  the  statement  in  the  text : — 

"The  idleness  and  captiousness  of  some  gentlemen,"  he  says — "maugre  the 
wishes  and  endeavours  of  an  honest  and  industrious  majority,  in  my  apprehen 
sion,  threaten  the  worst  consequences.  *  *  Some  States  have  Delegates  so 
very  negligent,  so  much  immersed  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  or  business,  that  it 
is  very  rare  we  can  make  a  Congress  before  eleven  o'clock  ;  and  this  evil  seems 
incapable  of  a  remedy,  as  Congress  has  no  means  to  compel  gentlemen's  attend 
ance,  and  those  who  occasionally  delay  are  callous  to  admonition  and  reproof, 
which  have  been  often  tried  in  vain. 

"  When  we  are  assembled,  several  gentlemen  have  such  a  knack  of  stating 
questions  of  order,  raising  debates  upon  critical,  captious,  or  trifling  amendments, 
protracting  them  by  long  speeches,  by  postponing,  calling  for  the  previous  ques 
tion,  and  other  arts,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  an  important  question  de 
cided  at  one  sitting,  and  if  it  is  put  over  to  another  day,  the  field  is  open  to  be 
gone  over  again,  precious  time  is  lost,  and  the  public  business  left  undone." 

u  Where  is  virtue" — wrote  Henry  Laurens,  President  of  Congress  to  Washing 
ton,  November  20,  1778 — "where  is  patriotism  now ;  when  almost  every  man  has 
turned  his  thoughts  and  attention  to  gain  and  pleasures,  practicing  every  artifice 
of  change-alley,  or  Jonathans ;  when  men  of  abilities  disgracefully  neglect  the 
important  duties  for  which  they  were  sent  to  Congress,  tempted  by  the  pitiful 
fees  of  practicing  attorneys ;  when  members  of  that  body  artfully  start  a  point, 
succeed,  and  then  avail  themselves  of  the  secrets  of  the  House,  and  commence 
monopolizers,  and  accumulate  the  public  debt  for  their  private  emoluments  ?  I 
believe  many  such  tricks  have  been  acted." 

t  It  was  addressed  to  Congress  through  the  Members  from  Connecticut. 
35* 


414  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  1T78. 

union,  or  opposition  of  North  to  South,  or  South  to  North,  is  creeping 
into  Congress  to  prevent  the  completion,  the  speedy  completion  of  those 
matters  which  are  of  essential  moment  to  the  duration  of  our  union,  and 
uninterrupted  happiness.  In  all  your  deliberations  I  hope  it  may  be  a 
fixed  principle,  that  virtue  alone  can  be  the  foundation,  that  virtue  alone 
can  be  the  support  of  any  government." 

This  wholesome  reproof  and  advice  from  the  Governor  of 
Connecticut,  applied,  among  other  things — as  Washington 
specially  applied  his  own — to  the  remissness  of  Congress  with 
regard  to  the  currency  of  the  country — particularly  to  its 
neglect  to  promote  "some  happy  expedient"  for  restoring 
credit  to  the  Continental  Paper  Money,  and  for  punishing  the 
"  infamous  practice  "  of  forestalling  those  articles  which  were 
vitally  necessary  to  the  existence  of  the  army. 

The  currency  was  ever  a  subject  of  deep  interest  to  Trum- 
bull — as  has  been  heretofore  suggested — and  this  year  espe 
cially  so,  as  no  less  than  sixty-three  millions  of  dollars  was 
added  to  the  already  enormous  circulation  of  previous  years. 
An  "amazing  sum,"  in  all — which  was  seven  or  eight  times 
more  than  was  wanted — which  consisted  of  bills  bearing  no 
interest — with  no  specific  fund  appropriated  for  their  redemp 
tion — and  whose  amount  ruinously  affected  prices — encour 
aged  speculation  and  dishonesty — kept  in  operation  the 
wretched  policy  of  penal,  tender,  and  limitation  laws — and 
produced  an  almost  total  stagnation  of  trade  and  purchases. 
The  "autmors,  aut  vita  decora"  which  figured  as  a  motto  on 
some  of  its  bills,  was  realized  in  the  alternative  of  fatal  de 
preciation,  and  its  "fugios  "  in  the  perpetual  flight  of  value. 

What  was  to  be  done?  The  army  was  harassed  to  death 
by  the  overriding  evil.  It  was  imperative  that  some  remedy 
should  be  applied.  Congress  during  the  year — down  to  its 
very  last  day — applied  it  only  in  the  shape  of  fresh  emissions 
of  paper,  which  but  augmented  the  ill  they  were  intended  to 
alleviate.  Trumbull  contemplated,  mainly,  but  one  remedy — 
and  this  the  only  sound  one — one  which — though  not  per- 
naps  at  the  time,  in  consequence  of  the  feeble  power  of  Con 
gress,  generally  practicable — was  yet,  so  far  as  he  is  con 
cerned,  urged  with  all  the  strength  he  could  bring  to  bear 
upon  it.  Tax — "pay  as  we  go"  At  all  events  pay  by  taxa- 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  415 

tion  so  far  as  we  can.  Emit  no  new  bills  of  credit.  Sink 
those  outstanding  speedily  as  possible.  Procure  a  loan  in  aid 
of  this  purpose,  if  rendered  necessary — a  foreign,  not  an  in 
ternal  one.  Fill  up  the  magazines  of  the  country  with  articles 
of  public  consumption,  that  speculators  may  not  have  oppor 
tunity  to  affect  prices  ruinously  by  imposing  an  artificial 
scarcity  and  demand.  Here  were  Trumbull's  remedies — the 
fundamental  one,  as  just  suggested — taxation! 

"The  necessity  of  immediate  taxation,"  he  said  in  his 
Message  early  in  February  of  the  present  year,  enforcing  his 
views  upon  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  over  which 
he  presided — "  will  now  occupy  your  serious  attention.  For 
my  own  part,  I  am  more  fully  convinced  that  this  is  the  only 
effectual  and  safe  method  of  extricating  ourselves  from  our 
present  difficulties,  and  of  giving  value  to  our  currency — and 
that  this  time  is  the  most  proper  for  adopting  this  remedy  is 
almost  self-evident.  Our  debts  must  be  paid — and  all  men 
must  allow,  that  it  is  more  easy  to  pay  a  nominal  sum,  when 
Money  is  plenty  and  cheaply  earned,  than  when  it  is  the 
scarcest,  and  consequently  the  dearest  Article." 

Trumbull  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  General  As 
sembly  adopt  his  own  wise  recommendation.  The  sum  of 
six  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which,  in  November  of  the 
preceding  year,  Congress  had  apportioned  on  Connecticut,  as 
its  own  quota  at  that  time  for  procuring  means  to  carry  on 
the  war — which  was  large,  and  save  the  quotas  upon  three 
States  only,  the  largest  of  any  apportioned  on  any  other  one 
in  the  Union — was  immediately  provided  for  by  a  tax  of  two 
shillings  on  the  pound,  on  the  list  of  the  polls  and  rateable 
estate  in  Connecticut — to  be  placed  in  the  Treasury  in  the 
course  of  the  year.  And  the  State  Treasurer  was  directed  to 
pay  it  over  to  the  order  of  Congress,  as  fast  as  it  should  come 
in,  and  debit  the  same  in  account  with  the  United  States. 

The  States  generally,  however,  did  not  take  this  course — 
did  not  comply  with  the  recommendation  from  Congress. 
The  Continental  Paper  Money,  therefore — that  expedient 
embraced  from  necessity — that  "  cheap  defence  of  the  nation," 
as  it  has  been  justly  styled,  of  which  our  emancipation  from 
oppression  is  the  rich  purchase — that  "  happy  illusion,  which 


416  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

worked  the  miracle  of  reality" — went  on  so  deepening  in 
depreciation,  that  Congress  soon  could  no  longer  force  its  cir 
culation  at  prescribed  rates.  And  this  Body  was  compelled, 
in  October — retracing  its  own  steps — to  take  off  all  limita 
tions  on  the  prices  of  gold  and  silver — and,  on  the  very  last 
day  of  the  year,  adopt  that  financial  policy  of  which  Trum- 
bull  had  ever  been  the  unwavering  advocate.  It  was  com 
pelled  to  resort  to  taxation — and  create  a  sinking  fund,  by 
establishing  an  annual  levy  on  the  country  of  six  millions  of 
dollars  for  eighteen  years. 

"You  are  sensible,"  wrote  Trumbull,  December  eighth— just  before 
this  plan  was  adopted  by  Congress,  to  the  Connecticut  Delegates  there — 
enforcing  again  at  the  close  of  the  year  the  same  sound  views  which  he 
had  expressed  at  the  beginning — "  you  are  sensible  of  the  sad  condition 
our  Finances  and  currency  are  in.  I  trust  Congress  is  meditating  a 
remedy.  'Tis  a  Continental  object  No  one  State  can  give  the  necessary 
relief— and  unless  some  relief  is  speedily  provided,  our  affairs  will  grow 
worse  and  worse. 

"The  remedy  for  the  public  is  the  same  as  for  a  private  person — that 
is  to  pay  his  debt  when  it  is  in  his  power.  'Tis  in  the  power  of  the  pub 
lic  to  pay  off  a  reasonable  part  of  its  debt.  The  Bills  are  yet  in  the 
hands  of  almost  everybody,  and  'tis  easier  paying  taxes  when  this  is  the 
case,  than  it  will  be  when  speculators  and  others  have  accumulated  the 
bills.  Is  not  taxation  the  plain  path  before  us." 

"  I  am,  I  confess,"  he  again  wrote  Congress,  December  tenth — "  I  am 
seriously  alarmed  at  the  State  of  our  Currency,  and  the  seeming  delay 
of  the  necessary  remedies.  *  *  Are  not  the  means,  by  which  we 
have  been  brought  into  this  situation,  instructive  lessons,  pointing  us  to 
the  cure?  So  long  as  our  magazines  were  kept  full,  and  our  stores  plen 
tifully  and  seasonably  provided,  Speculators  had  not  the  opportunity  of 
imposing  an  artificial  scarcity  and  demand  upon  the  Public,  and  thereby 
making  their  own  prices  upon  the  articles  of  public  consumption.  Is  it 
that  we  have  exhausted  our  resources,  that  our  supplies  are  now  so 
scantily  made  from  hand  to  mouth — perpetually  keeping  up  the  demand, 
and  playing  in  tune  to  the  desires  of  the  ungodly  seekers  of  gain  ?  Cer 
tainly  not.  Our  internal  resources  are  still  great;  our  magazines  can 
again  be  filled — they  must  be  filled ;  the  idea  of  scarcity,  from  this  arti 
ficial  demand,  must  be  removed.  This  appears  to  me  one  great  remedy. 
Another,  and  very  principal  one,  is  to  reduce  the  quantity  of  circulating 
Cash,  and  have  means  devised  to  prevent  the  necessity  of  constant  and 
perpetual  new  emissions  for  new  emergencies." 

And  the  Governor  goes  on  to  express  the  opinion  that 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  417 

"  Taxation  and  Loans  must  be  cooperative  " — that  as  regards 
loans,  a  foreign  is  to  be  preferred  to  an  internal  one* — that 
the  former,  should  the  Confederation  and  Confederate  Funds 
be  established,  can  "  undoubtedly  be  obtained  " — and  that  its 
improvement — a  part  by  its  realization  in  gold  and  silver  to 
be  brought  into  the  States,  and  a  part  by  the  sale  of  Bills  of 
Exchange  within  the  country — "  might  be  attended  with 
very  salutary  consequences."  "  At  the  same  time,"  he  says 
emphatically — "in  aid  of  this  remedy,  heavy  taxation  should 
be  kept  up ;  our  debts  should  be  paying ;  our  new  emissions 
should  be  as  small  as  possible ;  and  punctually  sunk  off; — our 
yearly  expenditures  should  certainly  be  reduced,  by  a  yearly 
payment  of  taxes,  and  as  much  of  the  public  funded  Debt 
paid,  from  time  to  time,  as  circumstances  will  admit.  A 
youthful,  growing,  vigorous,  and  industrious  nation,  need  be 
under  no  great  apprehension  from  a  very  considerable  public 
Debt.  Peace,  Arts,  Commerce,  and  Industry,  will  soon  ex 
onerate  such  a  State,  "f 

One  other  scheme  for  reducing  the  quantity  of  the  circu 
lating  medium,  and  so  of  reducing  the  unequal  and  exorbi 
tant  cost  of  articles,  was  at  this  period  recommended  by 
Congress — which,  though  it  received  Trumbull's  assent,  did 
not  receive  his  cordial  approbation.  It  was  that  of  regula 
ting  by  law  the  prices  of  labor,  manufactures,  internal  prod 
uce,  and  imported  commodities.  A  Convention  for  this  pur 
pose  of  the  New  England  States — and  of  New  York,  New 

*  "  I  don't  know,"  says  Trumbull,  "  how  an  internal  one  would  operate.  I  am 
rather  of  opinion,  that,  until  the  value  of  the  Paper  Currency  is  fully  ascertained 
by  the  Public,  and  so  long  as  a  rapid  depreciation  is  going  on,  your  monied  people 
will  rather  choose  to  make  the  best  of  their  money,  in  some  kind  of  business, 
than  to  trust  to  an  uncertain  future  redemption  in  the  hands  of  the  Public." 

t  The  scheme  of  a  foreign  loan,  above  suggested  by  Trumbull,  was  by  himself, 
and  one  Gossimus  Erkelaus — a  patriotic  foreigner  resident  in  Connecticut — urged 
particularly  upon  the  attention  of  Congress.  They  each,  at  the  same  time,  ad 
dressed  the  National  Council  on  the  subject — the  latter,  from  his  connections 
abroad,  his  zeal  in  behalf  of  America,  and  his  good  repute  as  a  business  man, 
being  employed  by  the  Governor  to  interest  himself,  in  Holland,  in  procuring 
funds  for  the  use  of  the  United  States.  Their  communications  were  both  referred 
to  the  national  Board  of  Finance.  But  Congress,  being  "not  yet  prepared  to 
adopt  the  scheme" — as  in  a  letter  to  Trumbull  and  his  coadjutor  they  declared — 
declined  the  proffered  negotiation.  It  was  an  instance  of  attention,  however,  on 
the  part  of  Trumbull,  to  the  financial  wants  of  the  country,  that  deserves  note. 


418  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL*  1778. 

Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware — was  held  at  Newhaven 
on  the  fifteenth  of  January,  1778,  and  Governor  Trumbull, 
in  introducing  their  proceedings  to  the  notice  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  Connecticut,  remarks  as  follows : — 

"  The  Doings  of  the  Convention  at  Newhaven.  in  the  Regulation  of 
prices,  &c.,  will  likewise  come  before  you,  and  will  demand  your  very 
serious  consideration.  As  it  is  a  matter  of  particular  concern  to  the 
whole  Body  of  the  People,  will  it  not  be  advisable  to  Defer  your  Deter 
mination,  until  it  can  be  referred  to,  and  considered  by  them  in  their 
Town  Meetings.  At  least  it  is  not  in  my  opinion  safe  to  attempt  the  reg 
ulation  of  those  Articles  which  are  immediately  necessary  for  the  support 
of  the  Army.  We  may,  it  is  true,  avail  ourselves  of  whatever  is  at 
present  on  Hand — but,  meantime,  if  we  affix  a  low  price  to  provisions, 
and  articles  of  importation,  we  shall  find  that  the  Farmer  will  cease  to 
till  the  Ground  for  more  than  is  necessary  for  his  subsistence,  and  the 
Merchant  to  resign  his  Fortune  on  a  small  and  precarious  prospect  of 
Gain.  These  things,  I  trust,  will  be  carefully  attended  to,  and  those 
measures  adopted  which  will  best  promote  the  public  good." 

It  is  plain  from  the  passage  now  quoted,  that  Trumbull 
was  rather  opposed  in  principle  to  the  regulation  of  prices 
by  law.  This  is  a  fact  which  redounds  to  his  credit  as  a  po 
litical  economist.  For  at  the  time — this  system — though 
now  by  universal  concurrence  deemed  a  solecism  and  fatal 
error  in  public  administration — was  in  vogue.  It  seemed  a 
good  purpose  to  take  from  the  hands  of  engrossers,  fore- 
stallers,  and  others,  such  articles — beyond  the  required  sup 
ply  for  families — as  were  wanted  for  the  Eevolutionary 
Army.  But  when  it  is  considered  that  the  only  and  true 
cause  of  the  derangement  of  prices,  at  the  period  now  under 
consideration,  was  the  excessive  issue  of  paper — and  that  all 
acts  of  limitation,  fixing,  under  high  penalties,  maximums  at 
which  property  should  be  sold,  are  in  their  nature  arbitrary, 
and  do  not  in  fact  tend  to  arrest  the  evil  against  which  they 
are  intended  to  provide — the  scruples  which  we  have  found 
Trumbull  to  entertain,  are  fully  justified.  He  earnestly  de 
sired  a  remedy  in  the  case,  but— like  Washington  in  this 
respect — was  not  satisfied,  it  is  obvious,  with  that  of  fixing 
prices  by  legal  enactment — nor,  among  expedients  proposed, 
did  he  ever  for  once  admit  that  which  in  modern  times  has 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXIV. — TRUMBULL.  419 

so  stained  the  faith  of  some  portions  of  our  Union — the  foul 
remedy  of  repudiation.  But,  with  our  own  Eevolutionary 
Congress — and  as  they  expressed  it — "knowing  the  value  of 
national  character,  and  impressed  with  a  due  sense  of  the 
immutable  laws  of  justice  and  honor" — he  looked  "with 
horror  on  such  an  execrable  deed"  as  that  of  leaving  the 
bills  of  the  country  unpaid. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

1778. 

A  DOMESTIC  affliction.  Death  of  his  son  Joseph,  and  his  feelings  in  conse 
quence.  Sketch  of  the  son.  The  father  memorializes  Congress  in 
behalf  of  his  son's  accounts  as  Commissary  General  of  the  United 
States.  Resolution  of  Congress  respecting  the  same.  The  Wyoming 
Massacre.  Trumbull's  special  interest  in  the  event.  He  prays  "both 
Washington  and  Congress  for  an  armed  force  to  avenge  it.  His  letters 
on  the  subject.  Through  his  influence,  particularly,  a  force  is  finally 
raised,  under  Gen.  Sullivan — the  savages  are  chastised — and  protec 
tion  is  given  to  frontier  inhabitants  He  proclaims  a  public  Thanks 
giving. 

THE  year  1778  brought  to  Trumbull,  among  other  events, 
a  severe  domestic  affliction.  On  a  Thursday — July  twenty- 
third — his  son  Joseph,  the  first  Commissary  General  of  the 
United  States,  breathed  his  last,  in  the  house  of  his  father  at 
Lebanon.* 

A  gentleman — as  Chief  Justice  Marshall  remarks — whose 
talents,  activity,  and  zeal,  fitted  him  well  for  the  important 
station  which  he  held,  for  two  years  and  more,  during  the 
most  perilous  and  trying  portion  of  the  [Revolutionary 
War — he  had  labored  in  the  Commissariat  Department  with 
exemplary  fidelity — with  in  fact  a  degree  of  anxiety  and  ex 
ertion  that  had  overtasked  his  constitution,  and  brought 
him,  at  the  comparatively  early  age  of  forty -two  years,  to 
his  grave.f  In  January  of  the  present  year,  he  was  unable, 

*  The  following  is  Gov.  Trumbull's  entry,  in  his  own  Family  Bible,  of  his  son 
Joseph's  death : — 

"  Joseph  d.  at  my  house— Thursd.  23rd  July  1778,  at  4  o'clock,  A.  M." 

t  "  The  fatigues  of  his  business,"  says  the  Governor,  writing  Henry  Laurens, 
President  of  Congress,  June  29th,  1778 — "  but  chiefly  the  trouble,  sorrow,  and 
grief  for  the  treatment  he  received  after  all,  broke  his  Constitution ;  bro't  him 
next  door  to  death,  and  renders  his  recovery  doubtful ;— former  health  and 
strength  never  to  be  expected." 

"  On  information,"  he  writes  in  a  paragraph  immediately  preceding  this  now 
quoted — "  that  my  son  Joseph  Trumbull,  late  Commissary  General,  from  fatigue 
beyond  his  strength,  being  dangerously  ill,  Lord's  day  morning,  14th  instant,  1 
left  Hartford,  and  came  to  Norwich ;  found  him  better  than  my  fears.  He  is  in  a 


^ 


an  OngmalPicture   mttic  possessioa  ul  Hon.  Josep"h  Trumbull 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXV. — TKUMBULL.  421 

on  account  of  failing  health,  to  take  his  seat  at  the  Board  of 
War,  as  his  father,  in  his  behalf,  informed  Congress  at  the 
time — and  in  April  he  was  compelled,  for  the  same  reason, 
to  resign  his  seat  altogether  at  that  Board — a  post  which  he 
occupied  for  about  one  year. 

Long  the  partner  of  his  father  in  business — long  associated 
with  him  in  Revolutionary  service — full  of  enthusiasm  in 
the  cause  of  his"  country — open,  frank,  engaging,  benevo 
lent — well-educated,  of  finished  manners — the  eldest  son — in 
the  prime  of  manhood — but  a  short  time  married,  and  to  the 
highly  accomplished  daughter  of  Eliphalet  Dyer — the  blow 
which  severed  him  from  the  love  and  presence  of  a  parent 
whose  locks  were  now  whitening  with  age,  though  endured 
by  the  latter  with  Christian  resignation,  was  yet  to  him  pe 
culiarly  painful. 

In  a  letter  at  the  time  to  Koger  Sherman  and  others,  he 
alludes  feelingly  to  his  own  "distresses,"  and  "melancholy 
of  mind"  in  connection  with  the  event.  It  occurred  directly 
in  the  midst  of  the  anxious  preparations  he  was  making  for 
the  Ehode  Island  Expedition — preparations  so  pressing  as  to 
require  a  session  of  his  own  Council  of  Safety,  at  Lebanon, 
on  the  very  day  of  his  son's  funeral.  "  His  Excellency  the 
Governor  not  present  sitting  with  us,  being  the  day  of  his 
son  Col.  Joseph  Trumbull's  interment" — reads  most  signifi 
cantly  the  Record  of  this  Body  for  August  twenty-fourth. 

What  a  hint  does  this  furnish  us  of  the  sad  urgency  of 
the  times,  that  the  Governor's  own  Council — themselves  his 
intimate  coadjutors  in  the  public  service,  and  warm  personal 
friends — coadjutors  and  warm  friends  too  of  the  deceased- 
should  by  the  public  dangers  be  compelled — in  his  own 
town — sitting  in  his  own  office — not  twenty  paces  from  the 
corpse  of  his  eminent  son — in  the  very  presence  as  it  were 

feeble  condition,  easily  overset.  I  visited  him  the  22d  instant,  and  left  him  on 
the  gaining  hand.  He  prays  his  best  compliments  to  you,  and  gratefully  ac 
knowledges  the  receipt  of  your  late  letters.  Hopes  he  will  be  able  so  far  to  at 
tend  his  Accounts,  as  to  send  his  Cash  Accounts.  Mr.  Hoskins,  his  head  clerk, 
and  others  employed  in  his  Accounts,  are  busy  on  them — not  to  equal  advantage 
without  his  assistance.  >Tis  easy  to  conceive  that  in  two  years  and  a  half  supply 
of  the  Army,  they  are  large  and  extensive.  He  had  reduced  his  business  into 
method,  and  got  into  a  good  train." 
36 


422  CHAP.    XXXV. — TRUMBULL.  1778. 

of  the  dead — to  forego  the  courtesy  of  an  adjournment,  and 
give  themselves  up  to  their  ordinary  cares  and  occupations — 
unable  to  ponder  upon  one  who  was  going  to  his  long  home — 
denied  the  melancholy  privilege  of  aiding  a  weeping  father 
"to  wrap  the  athletic  in  his  shroud,"  and  build  his  tomb.* 

From  the  first  moment  that  his  son  Joseph  was  introduced 
into  the  service  of  the  United  States,  Governor  Trurnbull 
had  watched  his  career — as  well  as  that  of  his  other  sons  in 
their  public  capacities — with  deep  parental  solicitude,  and 
with  the  ever-recurring  hope,  that  at  any  expense  on  their 
own  part  of  time  and  exertion,  and  at  the  sacrifice  even  of 
personal  emolument,  they  would  prove  eminently  useful  to 
their  country.  His  pride  as  a  parent  was  thoroughly  en 
listed  in  their  success — and  when,  in  1775,  Joseph  was  first 
appointed  to  his  office  as  Commissary,  he  did  not  fail  at  the 
time  to  make  his  satisfaction  known  both  to  General  Wash 
ington  and  to  the  American  Congress,  and  to  add  the  stim 
ulus  of  his  own  warm  personal  advice  to  the  good  purpose 
and  efforts  of  his  son. 

The  performance  of  his  duty,  in  a  manner  "answerable  to 
your  expectations,"  he  said  in  a  letter  to  Congress,  August 
fourth,  expressing  his  thanks — "  will  meet  your  approbation, 
and  afford  me  peculiar  satisfaction." 

"  These  instances  of  kindness,"  he  wrote  to  Washington, 
July  thirty-first — referring  both  to  his  son  Joseph's  appoint 
ment,  and  to  that  also  of  his  son  John  as  a  member  of  Wash 
ington's  military  family — "justly  claim  my  most  grateful 
acknowledgments." 

"  Enclosed,"  he  wrote  the  same  day  to  his  son  Joseph — "is 
a  letter  of  Thanks  to  the  General  for  his  kindness  to  you  and 
your  brother.  I  hope  you  will  both  conduct  with  honor, 
and  satisfaction  to  him." 

"I  apprehend,"  he  said  in  another  letter  to  the  same,  in 

*  The  following  is  his  epitaph  on  the  memorable  family  tomb  at  Lebanon : — 
"  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Joseph  Trumbull,  eldest  son  of  Governor  Trumbull, 
and  first  Commissary  Gen'l  of  the  United  States  of  America,  a  service  to  whose 
perpetual  cares  and  fatigues,  he  fell  a  sacrifice  A.  D.  1778,  M.  42.  Full  soon  in 
deed  may  his  person,  his  virtues,  and  even  his  extensive  Benevolence  be  forgot 
ten  by  his  friends  and  fellow-men.  But  blessed  be  God !  for  the  hope  that  in 
His  presence  he  shall  be  remembered  forever." 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXV. — TKUMBULL.  423 

September,  referring  on  this  occasion  to  his  son  Jonathan's 
office  also,  as  Paymaster  General  of  the  Northern  Army — "  I 
apprehend  danger  in  both  your  and  his  department  as  to 
your  emoluments  for  your  services" — but,  he  adds,  "the 
great  business  is  to  discharge  your  trusts  with  ability  and 
fidelity — to  do  all  you  can  to  serve  our  country,  devoted  to 
ruin  by  our  enemies." 

The  emoluments  to  which  the  Governor  refers,  and  the 
settlement  generally  of  his  son  Joseph's  accounts,  after  his 
decease,  gave  his  Excellency  much  anxiety  and  labor — and 
the  manner  in  which  he  discharged  his  duty  in  this  regard, 
is  so  honorable  to  his  character,  as  to  deserve,  in  connection 
with  his  son's  proceedings  previously,  particular  mention  here. 

In  July,  1777,  on  account  of  a  new  and  unfortunate  ar 
rangement  of  the  Commissariat,  Colonel  Joseph  Trumbull 
resigned  his  office  in  that  Department.  Congress  had  under 
taken  to  regulate  it  by  dividing  its  duties  between  a  Com 
missary  General  of  Purchases,  and  one  also  of  Issues — with 
four  deputies  under  each — all  to  be  appointed  by  Congress — 
and  the  deputies  not  to  be  removable  by  the  Head  of  the 
Department,  but  in  case  of  any  charge  against  them,  to  be  sus 
pended  only  by  him,  and  then  to  be  accused  before  Congress — 
which  Body  alone  was  to  have  power  to  examine  such 
charge,  and  either  remove  the  party  accused  from  his  office, 
or  restore  him  to  it,  as  circumstances  should  determine. 

In  the  opinion  of  Colonel  Trumbull,  this  was  taking  the 
proper  control  out  from  the  hands  of  the  proper  authority 
the  Commissary  General — upon  whom  the  selection  and  en 
tire  command  of  all  the  officers  under  himself,  as  "absolutely 
necessary  to  insure  uniformity  and  obedience,"  ought  to  de 
volve — and  creating,  in  favor  of  the  subordinate  officers,  an 
absurd  and  fatal  independence  of  their  legitimate  superior. 
It  was  a  plan  which  was  adopted  entirely  against  the  advice 
and  wishes  of  General  Washington.  It  was  a  plan,  which, 
persisted  in  by  Congress,  proved  misjudged,  and  abortive, 
and  had  the  effect  of  driving  Colonel  Trumbull  from  the 
office,*  which  under  the  new  arrangement  was  promptly 
offered  him  again — that  of  Commissary  General  of  Purchases. 

*  "  His  experience  taught  him  the  incongruity  and  impracticability  of  the  new 


424  CHAP.    XXXV. — TKUMBULL.  1778. 

"  In  my  humble  opinion,"  he  wrote  Congress,  July  nineteenth,  1Y77, 
stating  his  reasons  for  declining  the  commission  then  tendered  him — 
"  the  head  of  every  department  ought  to  have  the  control  of  it.  In  this 
establishment  an  imperium  in  imperio  is  created.  If  I  consent  to  act,  I 
must  be  at  continued  variance  with  the  whole  department,  and  of  course 
be  in  continued  hot  water.  I  must  turn  accuser,  and  be  continually  ap 
plying  to  Congress,  and  attending  with  witnesses  to  support  my  charges, 
or  I  must  sit  down  in  ease  and  quiet,  let  the  deputies  do  as  they  like, 
and  enjoy  a  sinecure.  The  first  situation  I  cannot  think  of — the  last  I 
never  will  accept.  It  never  shall  be  said  I  was  the  first  American  pen 
sioner.  I  am  willing  to  do  and  suffer  for  my  country,  and  its  cause — but 
I  cannot  sacrifice  my  honor  and  my  principles.  I  can  by  no  means  con 
sent  to  act  under  a  regulation,  which,  in  my  opinion,  will  never  answer 
the  purpose  intended  by  Congress,  nor  supply  the  army  as  it  should  be. 

"  I  must  beg  Congress  to  appoint  some  person  in  my  place  as  soon  as 
may  be ;  until  then  I  will  continue  to  furnish  the  army  as  heretofore." 

And  Colonel  Trumbull  did  as  he  promised.*  He  fur 
nished  the  army  until  his  health  rendered  it  impossible  for 
him  to  perform  the  task  any  longer — at  which  time  the  De 
partment — always  under  the  new  arrangement  in  difficulty — 
became  at  length  so  deranged  as  to  require — -just  what  Trum 
bull  had  anticipated  and  foretold — a  return  to  its  old  system 
of  management — at  which  period,  in  April,  1778,  it  was 
committed  anew  to  the  sterling  superintendence — as  the  sec 
ond  Commissary  General  of  the  United  States — of  another 
son  of  Connecticut — the  able  and  enterprising  Colonel  Jere 
miah  Wadsworth. 

It  was  indeed  a  most  arduous  and  important  duty — this  of 
feeding  the  armies  of  our  Revolution — and  it  involved  the 
officer  at  its  head  in  the  receipt  and  disbursement  of  vast 
sums  of  money,  and  in  most  extensive  and  ponderous  ac 
counts.  These  accounts,  so  far  as  the  first  Commissary  Gener 
al  is  concerned,  were  not  settled  by  Congress  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  though  Colonel  Trumbull  had  frequently  ap 
plied  for  the  purpose.  The  father,  therefore,  soon  after  his 
son's  decease,  renewed  solicitations  on  the  subject.  He 

regulation  of  the  Commissariate :  After  experience  teacheth  us  he  was  right. 
The  Army  feel  its  bad  effects  to  this  day." — Gov.  Trumbull  to  Laurens,  June  29, 
1778. 

*  "  He  is  honest  and  zealous  in  his  country's  cause.  He  cannot  bear  to  see  it 
suffer  for  want  of  any  assistance  in  his  power  to  afford." — Gov.  Trumbull  to  the 
President  of  Congress,  Jan.  24th,  1778. 


1778.  CHAP.     XXXV. — TRUMBULL.  425 

caused  a  full  and  clear  Statement  of  all  his  son's  transactions 
on  public  account  to  be  submitted  to  Congress,  in  order — as  in 
a  letter  to  this  Body  dated  October  third,  he  says—"  that  jus 
tice  should  now  be  done  the  Relict  and  heirs  of  the  deceased, 
upon  the  same  principles  as  he  ever  expected,  while  alive, 
should  be  done  to  himself — principles  of  at  least  equal  gener 
osity  and  liberality  as  are  allowed  to  the  present  Commissa 
ries  General  of  Purchases,  whose  task,  by  the  path  having 
been  in  a  great  measure  traced,  explored,  and  ascertained  by 
the  first  Commissary  General,  has  by  that  means  become  in 
a  measure  easy  and  familiar  to  them,  thro'  the  care,  the  atten 
tion,  industry,  and  application  of  him  who  may  perhaps  be 
said  to  have  lost  his  life  in  the  arduous  pursuit.  I  must  beg 
your  attention  to  this  object,"  he  adds,  "  that  it  may  be  speed 
ily  determined.  It  was  always  grievous  to  my  son  that  Con 
gress  were  never  pleased  to  take  up  the  matter  on  his  own 
representation."* 

Governor  Trumbull  had  the  pleasure  of  securing  at  last 
from  Congress  ample  attention  to  the  accounts  of  his  son — of 
having  them  fully  approved — and  all  due  allowances  made 
for  the  benefit  of  the  legal  representatives  of  the  deceased. f 

He  had  the  high  satisfaction  also  of  rinding  Congress  adopt 
a  Resolution  affirming  that  "the  late  Commissary  General 
Joseph  Trumbull,  coming  into  office  in  the  earliest  stage  of 

*  Writing  Congress  again,  Dec.  10th,  1778,  through  Henry  Laurens,  its  Presi 
dent,  he  says :  "  Your  esteemed  favor  of  the  10th  of  last  month,  is  now  before 
me.  I  feel  a  pleasure  in  the  estimation  you  express  of  the  services  of  my  late 
son,  the  first  Commissary-General.  My  own  thoughts  have  often  turned  in  the 
same  strain ;  and  I  fondly  think  still,  that  the  disadvantages  accruing  to  the 
States,  in  consequence  of  his  being  obliged  to  leave  that  service,  is  not  overrated 
by  your  estimation — but  that  is  passed.  He  is  gone.  I  now  only  wait  for  that 
justice  I  think  is  due  his  Estate,  from  the  Public,  for  those  services  he  actually 
performed."  And  he  goes  on  to  state  that  his  son  Jonathan  is  arranging  the  ac 
counts  of  the  Commissary,  and  will  shortly  exhibit  them  for  settlement  at  Phila 
delphia.  "Their  appearance,"  he  remarks,  "allowing  for  times  and  circum 
stances  in  which  the  business  was  conducted,  is  favorable  beyond  expectation." 

t  These  allowances  were,  a  commission  of  one  half  per  cent.,  on  the  gross  sum 
of  all  monies  received  and  issued  by  him  for  public  service— and  also  a  commis 
sion  of  two  and  a  half  per  cent.,  on  such  sums  as  were  laid  out  in  purchases  made 
by  himself.  His  brother  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Junior,  as  his  Administrator,  was 
principally  employed,  under  the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Treasury,  to  settle  the 
accounts  of  the  deceased.  They  were  settled  at  the  public  expense,  and  addi 
tional  clerks  were  authorized  by  Congress  to  aid  the  Treasury  Board  in  the  execu 
tion  of  the  trust.  # 


426  CHAP.     XXXV.— TRUMBULL.  1778. 

the  American  contest,  found  himself  without  a  system  by 
which  to  trace  the  plan  of  his  duty ;  that  with  great  care,  in 
dustry,  lator,  and  attention,  he  instituted  a  plan  by  which  the 
army,  during  his  continuance  in  office,  was  amply  supplied, 
with  much  economy  and  to  general  satisfaction ;  that  during 
his  comrnissariate,  he  was  obliged  to  act  not  only  in  capacity 
of  Commissary  General  of  purchases,  but  to  direct  all  the  is 
sues  of  provisions,  and  for  near  two  campaigns  had  the  addi 
tional  duty  of  purveyor  of  the  hospitals  and  Quartermaster 
General,  the  three  last  of  which  employments  greatly  in 
creased  his  care  and  trouble,  but  not  so  much  his  expenditure 
of  monies" — that  he  "made  great  savings  to  the  public  by 
his  large  and  seasonable  purchases  and  contracts,  out-running 
and  anticipating  in  many  instances  the  orders  of  Congress, 
by  which  means  he  kept  up  large  supplies,  thereby  modera 
ting  the  demands  of  the  seller,  intercepting  monopolies,  and 
keeping  down  prices  " — and  that  a  compensation  for  services 
by  the  said  Commissary  General  still  remained  to  be  made. 

We  have  now  reviewed  the  career  of  Trumbull  during  the 
fourth  year  of  the  Eevolutionary  War.  Our  pen  is  upon  its 
close.  Yet  ere  we  leave  it  quite,  one  other  fact  deserves  to 
be  commemorated,  of  which  just  at  this  time  the  Governor — 
in  letters  from  his  own  pen,  has  left  us  a  brief  memorial. 

It  relates  to  that  appalling,  almost  world-startling  assault, 
which,  beyond  the  Delaware — at  Wyoming — laid  eight  beau 
tiful  towns  belonging  to  Connecticut  in  ashes — consigned  an 
extensive  and  fertile  territory,  at  the  very  time  when  it  was 
loaded  with  most  luxuriant  crops,  to  desolation — and  de 
voted  the  larger  part  of  more  than  one  thousand  hardy  and 
enterprising  families — in  the  midst  of  a  supposed  security, 
and  under  the  guarantee  of  repeated  pacific  assurances — to 
the  hatchet  and  to  fire — to 

"  the  fatal  wile 

Of  Indian  ambuscade,  the  maddened  shout 
Of  massacre — the  flight  of  timid  forms, 
And  moan  of  sireless  orphans." 

The  event  was  sudden — was  almost  without  one  note  of 
warning.  The  able-bodied,  effective  men  of  the  Colony — 


1778.  CHAP.    XXXV.— TRUMBULL.  427 

nearly  one  thousand  of  them  in  all — were  away,  fighting  for 
their  country  in  the  Continental  Line.  Few,  save  grey -haired 
men  and  boys,  remained  at  home  to  protect  the  settlement, 
and  till  the  crops.  The  merciless  British,  tories  and  Indians, 
in  consequence,  had  full  opportunity  for  their  work  of  de 
struction,  and  neither  Washington  or  Trumbull  had  chance 
to  anticipate  or  provide  against  it.  On  the  ears  of  both, 
therefore,  the  blow  fell  like  a  thunderbolt. 

Trumbull,  particularly,  it  filled  with  the  most  poignant 
grief.  For  here  was  a  colony  from  Connecticut — flourishing 
towns  and  a  whole  county  from  the  loins,  and  still  within  the 
body  of  that  State  which  he  himself  governed — a  district  for 
whose  title  and  whose  vitality  as  a  member  of  his  own  good 
old  Commonwealth,  he  had  himself  painfully  toiled — a  dis 
trict  interwoven  in  all  civil,  political,  and  religious  affinities, 
and  by  the  ligament  too  of  a  regular  semi-monthly  post,  with 
that  by  which  he  was  himself  immediately  surrounded — here 
it  was  now,  draining  down  to  the  bitterest  dregs,  and  more 
deeply  than  any  other  portion  of  our  common  land,  the  cup 
of  revolutionary  afflictions.  Here  it  was,  "  given  up  a  total 
prey  to  pillage  and  conflagration" — with  but  one-twelfth 
only  of  its  property  left — with  but  a  little  fragment  only  of 
its  population  in  being — and  this  consisting  chiefly  of  wid 
ows  and  orphans,  who  were  now  either  wandering  through 
the  woods,  or  begging  their  way  back  to  their  friends  in  the 
east,  in  utter  beggary  and  destitution.* 

What  could  the  Governor  do?  Nothing,  under  the  cir 
cumstances — distance  from  the  scene  of  action  considered, 
and  the  active  employment  of  Connecticut  troops  in  other 
directions — nothing  but  interpose  his  prayer  to  Washington, 
and  to  Congress,  for  a  force  sufficient  to  avenge  on  the  foe  its 
onslaught,  and  give  new  and  lasting  protection  for  the  future, 

*  It  would  be  nearly  impossible  to  estimate  the  amount  of  damage  sustained, 
but  the  list  of  assessments  for  1777-8  amounted  to  £20,322.17  ;  and  in  November, 
1780,  the  list  of  Westmoreland  was  £2,353— making  the  difference  of  £17,969.17. 
The  miserable  state  of  destitution  at  Wyoming  was  such  that,  in  August,  1781, 
all  the  males  from  sixteen  to  seventeen  years  of  age  were  only  143 ;  they  all  had 
but  24  yoke  of  oxen,  14  three  year  old  steers,  and  18  two  year  old  steers  and 
heifers ;  while  at  the  same  tune  Connecticut  counted  sixty-one  soldiers  from 
Westmoreland  in  the  army  I 


428  CHAP.    XXXV. — TRUMBULL.  1778 

to  doomed  Westmoreland,  and  to  the  whole  western  frontier. 
This  he  did,  and  in  terms  of  earnest  entreaty. 

"  I  must  now  beg  leave,"  he  wrote  the  Commander-in-chief, 
August  twenty-seventh,  1778 — "  to  turn  your  attention  to  a 
case  of  peculiar  and  accumulated  distress  " — and  he  goes  on 
to  describe  the  devastation  on  the  Susquehannah — "a  particu 
lar  representation  whereof,"  he  says  he  has  received  from 
"Messrs.  Jenkins,  Gallup,  and  Harding,  persons  of  integrity," 
and  settlers  from  the  eastern  part  of  Connecticut  "who  had 
the  good  fortune  to  escape  the  carnage." 

"  Your  Excellency,"  he  proceeds,  "  hath  undoubtedly  been  made  ac 
quainted  with  the  distresses  of  this  People,  and  felt  the  tenderest  emo 
tions  for  them,  and  a  willingness  to  afford  them  all  the  relief  in  your 
power,  consistent  with  the  safety  and  good  of  the  whole. 

"I  have  this  day  written  to  Congress  on  the  subject,  and  proposed  to 
their  consideration  whether  it  would  not  be  advisable  that  a  sufficient 
force,  to  consist  of  1500  or  2000  men,  be  immediately  sent  to  that  part 
of  the  country,  under  whose  protection  the  inhabitants  would  return  and 
secure  their  crops — which  would  be  an  important  acquisition — and  also 
to  pursue  that  detestable  Banditti  into  their  own  country,  chastise  them 
for  their  insolence  and  cruelty  exercised  towards  the  innocent  inhabitants 
aforementioned,  and  effectually  prevent  their  making  any  further  depre- 
dations  on  that,  or  any  other  of  our  back  settlements.  Such  a  measure, 
I  am  persuaded,  would  produce  the  happiest  effects.  I  would  recom 
mend  it  to  your  Excellency's  consideration,  and  in  case  the  state  of  the 
army  and  present  appearance  of  things  will  permit,  that  your  Excellency 
would  order  a  sufficient  number  to  be  detached,  and  employed  for  the 
purpose  aforesaid." 

Congress,  in  the  judgment  of  Trumbull,  acted,  in  the 
emergency,  altogether  too  slowly  and  inadequately.  Again 
therefore,  and  in  terms  of  remonstrance — for  the  subject  was 
never  out  of  his  mind — he  addressed  this  Body. 

"  The  depredations,"  he  wrote  them,  December  eighth,  through  the 
members  from  Connecticut — "  which  were  made  last  summer  on  our  set 
tlements  at  Susquehannah  were  very  alarming — it  is  so  likewise  that  no 
provisions  are  made  for  the  security  of  those  inhabitants  who  returned 
to  take  care  of  what  the  enemy  did  not  destroy.  I  am  informed  that  the 
force  hitherto  sent  is  in  no  measure  sufficient  to  prevent  mischief  being 
done  there  very  frequently — that  there  are  great  quantities  of  pork  and 
grain  remaining,  but  that  many  of  the  inhabitants,  who  were  returning 


1778.  CHAP.     XXXV. — TKUMBULL.  429 

with  the  intention  to  re-settle  their  habitations,  are  discouraged,  and 
coming  off  through  fear  of  the  plunderers  that  often  appear  among  them. 
Ought  not  an  adequate  number  to  repel  the  Enemy  to  be  sent,  for  relief 
of  the  suffering  inhabitants  that  do  remain  there.  I  esteem  it  a  matter 
worthy  serious  and  early  consideration." 

And  soon — in  union  with  the  Governor  of  New  York — 
Trumbull  followed  up  the  remonstrance  now  quoted,  with 
another  letter,  and  with  carefully  prepared  memorials  respect 
ing  the  depredations  and  dangers  upon  the  western  frontier. 
These  papers,  by  special  order  of  Congress,  were  transmitted 
to  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  American  Army,  with 
particular  instruction  to  the  latter  to  take  " effectual  meas 
ures"  now  "for  the  protection  of  the  inhabitants,  and  chas 
tisement  of  the  savages  " — measures  which  Washington  did 
not  fail  to  pursue,  and  which,  in  1779 — through  the  instru 
mentality  of  a  thoroughly  equipped  and  resistless  force  under 
General  Sullivan — swept  in  turn  the  land  of  the  Six  Nations 
with  destruction  like  a  whirlwind,  and  effectually  shivered 
their  murderous  arm. 

Spite  of  the  disaster,  however,  at  Wyoming,  the  general 
result  of  the  Campaign  of  1778  was  favorable  to  the  Ameri 
can  cause.  The  enemy  made  no  important  headway.  The 
army  under  Washington  had  sustained  itself  well,  and  been 
encouraged  by  a  few,  though  small,  yet  brilliant  successes. 
France  had  become  openly  our  ally.  Spain  was  leaning  to 
our  side.  The  hearts  of  the  American  people  remained 
united. 

It  had  been  the  duty  of  Trumbull,  in  April,  to  proclaim  a 
day  for  fasting,  humiliation,  and  prayer.  It  became  his  duty 
now,  as  the  year  closed,  to  proclaim  a  day  for  public  thanks 
giving.  This  he  did — for  the  thirtieth  of  December — and  in 
his  usual  fervid  strain  upon  such  occasions,  called  upon  all 
the  people  under  his  charge — in  view  of  the  mercies  of  God, 
manifested  by  his  supporting  them  in  a  just  and  necessary 
war — by  his  affording  them  seasonable  supplies  for  their 
armies — by  his  disposing  the  heart  of  a  powerful  monarch  to 
enter  into  alliance  with  them — by  his  defeating  the  evil  de 
signs  of  their  enemies — and  by  his  continuing  that  union 
among  the  States  which  was  their  strength  and  glory — for 


430  CHAP.    XXXV. — TKUMBULL.  1778. 

these  reasons  lie  called  upon  his  people,  with  the  country  at 
large,  to  express  a  just  sense  of  the  Divine  Favor.  Pray — 
he  enjoined — that  under  the  smiles  of  Heaven  our  public 
counsels  may  continue  to  be  directed — our  arms  by  land  and 
sea  be  prospered — our  Liberties  and  Independence  secured — 
our  schools  and  seminaries  of  learning  flourish — our  trade  be 
revived — our  husbandry  and  manufactures  be  increased — and 
the  hearts  of  all  be  impressed  with  undissembled  piety,  and 
with  benevolence,  and  zeal  for  the  public  good. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 
177.9. 

STATE  of  the  Revolutionary  Struggle.  The  main  theatre  of  -war  now  at 
the  South.  The  campaign  of  this  year  marked  "by  comparative  debili 
ty.  Enlistments  difficult.  Trumbull  completes  the  quota  of  Con 
necticut  in  the  Continental  Army  "by  adding  eight  hundred  men — 
some  of  whom  participate  in  the  attack  on  Stony  Point.  He  also  furn 
ishes  troops  for  Rhode  Island,  and  supplies  the  famishing  there  with 
food.  His  Brief  for  the  purpose.  The  enemy,  much  to  his  joy, 
abandon  Newport.  He  calls  for  four  thousand  troops  to  cooperate  with 
D'Estaign,  upon  the  expected  return  of  the  French  fleet  to  the 
North.  His  Proclamation  for  the  purpose.  D'Estaign,  however,  sails 
for  the  West  Indies.  Trumbull  hears  from  various  quarters — and  par 
ticularly  from  Arthur  Lee  in  Paris — that  a  fierce  renewal  of  the  de 
vastating  policy  of  the  British  King  and  Ministry,  is  designed.  His 
precautions  in  consequence  The  enemy  land  and  pillage  Newhaven. 
Trumbull  hears  of  it  by  express — orders  out  fresh  troops — and  sends 
to  Washington  for  help. 

THE  year  1779,  and  Trumbull !  It  was  a  year,  fifth  in  the 
progress  of  the  Revolutionary  Struggle — and  marked,  like 
the  last,  so  far  as  the  country  at  large  is  concerned — save 
in  the  remarkable  successes  at  Stony  Point  and  Powles 
Hook — by  no  very  brilliant  results  in  favor  of  the  American 
arms. 

But,  on  the  other  hand — from  an  overweening  confidence 
engendered  in  the  public  mind  by  the  alliance  with  France, 
and  by  the  connection  which  soon  followed  with  Spain — 
from  a  reaction  in  point  of  effort  and  patriotism  on  the  part 
of  the  people — from  the  wretched  policy,  still  continued,  of 
short  enlistments — from  the  depreciation  of  the  currency, 
and  destructive  spirit  of  speculation — and  from  diversions 
and  factions  in  Congress — the  Campaign  was  characterized 
by  general  inaction  and  debility. 

The  theatre  of  war — except  so  far  as  Connecticut  territori 
ally  is  concerned — was  now  transferred  to  the  South — where 
Georgia  was  soon  overrun,  and  every  preparation  made  by 
the  enemy  to  invade  the  Carolinas,  and  to  extend  the  sphere 


432  CHAP.     XXXVI. — TRUMBULL.  m9. 

of  conquest  from  this  region  northward.  Congress  was  ex 
ceedingly  tardy  this  year  in  replenishing  the  national  army. 
It  was  not  until  the  ninth  of  March  even  that  requisitions 
were  made  upon  the  States  for  their  several  quotas.  Meas 
ures,  in  short,  were  not  adopted  for  raising  men,  until  the 
time  when  they  should  have  been  already  in  camp,  thor 
oughly  trained  and  prepared  for  service.  When  adopted, 
they  were  carried  into  effect  very  slowly — and  this  in  spite 
of  advice  and  entreaties  to  the  contrary  from  Washington — 
from  Trumbull — and  from  others  of  those  leading  spirits  of 
the  day,  who  in  no  respect  yielded  to  the  overwrought  ex 
pectation  of  the  country  in  regard  to  the  speedy  termination 
of  the  war — but  who,  on  the  other  hand,  foresaw  nothing 
but  disappointment  and  ruin  to  the  American  cause  from  the 
prevailing  false  hopes,  bewildering  apathy,  and  general 
neglect. 

It  waa  not  until  the  close  of  July,  that  Washington  re 
ceived  a  single  reenforcement  to  his  army,  since  the  last 
campaign,  save  four  hundred  recruits  from  Massachusetts. 
Yet,  so  far  as  Trumbull  is  concerned,  there  was  not  in  this 
particular  sphere  of  labor  the  same  necessity  for  exertion 
which  existed  in  previous  years.  The  Connecticut  quota  of 
troops  in  the  Continental  Line  of  the  preceding  year  was  so 
little  diminished  by  the  expiration  of  enlistments,  or  by  sick 
ness,  desertion,  or  other  causes,  as  that  but  eight  hundred 
more  effective  men  were  required  from  the  State  to  make  her 
battalions  complete.  These,  with  the  aid  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  granted  him  by  Congress  for  the 
purpose,  Trumbull  proceeded  with  due  expedition  to  raise, 
clothe,  and  equip.  And  he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them 
take  their  places,  quickly  as  possible,  in  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  country  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson— there,  some  of  them, 
to  achieve  glory  in  that  immortal  band  under  General  Wayne, 
which,  on  the  fifteenth  of  July — in  the  dead  of  night — with 
unsurpassed  intrepidity — without  a  bullet  in  their  muskets, 
or  a  whisper  in  their  mouths — under  a  tremendous  fire  of 
grape  shot  and  musketry — mounted  the  works  at  Stony 
Point — struck  the  British  standard  from  its  height — and 
made  the  hours  of  darkness  suddenly  vocal  with  Major  Po- 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVI. — TRUMBULL.  433 

sey's  soul-thrilling  cry — " The  fort's  our  own!"*  "May  we 
not  forget  on  this  event,"  wrote  the  grateful  Governor  at  this 
timef — "duly  to  notice  the  hand  of  the  Supreme  Director  of 
events,  who  causes  us  to  sing  of  mercies  in  the  midst  of 
judgments!" 

Two  calls  more  upon  Trumbull,  and  two  only — in  the  way 
of  providing  troops  for  the  general  service  of  the  country, 
outside  of  the  State — were  made  during  the  year  now  under 
consideration.  One  was  for  the  Connecticut  quota  for  Eh  ode 
Island,  as  settled  by  the  Springfield  Convention.  This  Trum 
bull  furnished  as  usual — and,  early  in  the  year,  he  performed 
another  duty  towards  the  State  in  question  which  deserves 
particular  mention. 

The  long  presence  of  the  enemy  there — sweeping  com 
pletely,  as  they  did,  with  their  power  the  whole  island  on 
which  they  were  posted,  and  lowering  like  a  storm-cloud 
ready  to  disgorge  itself  on  the  whole  adjacent  Main — had 
caused  very  great  distress  to  a  large  number  of  the  inhabit 
ants  there.  It  had  stripped  them  of  property.  It  had  de 
barred  them  from  cultivating  their  lands.  It  had  cut  off  their 
trade,  navigation,  and  fishery — and  thrown  them — women 
and  children  many — unhappy  fugitives  all — upon  the  com 
passion  and  charity  of  the  country.  Even  national  interven 
tion  was  called  out  at  last  for  their  relief.  "Many  must  in 
evitably  perish  unless  they  are  speedily  supplied  with  the 
necessaries  of  life  " — reported  to  Congress  the  Delegates  from 
Rhode  Island,  in  February.  And  Congress,  in  consequence, 
recommended  the  States  of  Connecticut  and  New  York — so 
far  as  the  supply  of  provisions  for  the  sufferers,  by  land,  is 
concerned — to  repeal  their  respective  embargo  acts. 

The  Governor,  and  Council,  and  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut,  had  anticipated  this  recommendation.  "  The 
State  of  Rhode  Island,"  wrote  Trumbull,  February  twenty- 
second,  to  Dyer  and  others  in  Congress — "has  received  a 
grant  for  seven  thousand  .bushels  of  grain  to  be  carried  from 
hence  thither — with  a  Brief  throughout  this  State  for  the 

*  He  was  the  first — standing  by  the  side  of  Col.  Henry,  who  first  struck  the 
British  standard — to  give  tongue  to  this  phrase  of  victory, 
t  His  letter  to  Maj.  Gen.  0.  Wolcott. 
37 


434  CHAP.    XXXVI. — TRUMBULL.  1779. 

sufferers  driven  from  the  Island  of  Ehode  Island — which 
will  raise  both  money  and  grain  for  their  relief.  I  have  re 
ceived  nothing  from  the  President  [of  Congress]  on  that  or 
any  other  head." 

The  Brief  to  which  Trumbull  here  refers,  was  an  Authority 
given  to  Jonathan  Otis,  and  Oliver  K.  "Warner,  of  Newport, 
to  collect  in  every  Eeligious  Society  in  Connecticut,  dona 
tions  for  the  sufferers  from  "the  charitable  and  well-disposed." 
Trumbull,  with  characteristic  humanity,  took  pains  to  pro 
mote  this  benevolent  purpose.*  He  granted  permits  freely 
for  the  transportation  of  flour,  and  other  necessaries,  into  the 
afflicted  region — and  the  succor  thus  afforded  he  continued, 
whenever  necessary,  until  the  British  pall  was  wholly  lifted 
from  the  territory  of  Khode  Island. 

That  was  indeed  to  him  a  gratifying  moment,  when  this 
event  took  place — when,  by  letter  from  Providence,  October 
thirtieth,  General  Gates  informed  him  that  the  troops  of  the 
enemy — stealing  surreptitiously  away  in  the  darkness  of  the 
night — all  their  heavy  artillery  and  a  large  quantity  of  stores 
left  behind — by  "an  extraordinary  and  precipitate  abandon 
ment,"  yielded  Newport — for  the  undisputed  possession  of 
whose  ramparts  Trumbull  had  so  long  and  so  earnestly 
toiled — into  American  hands. 

The  troops  of  Gates — all  the  Continental  troops  that  had 
been  employed  in  Ehode  Island — soon — about  the  middle  of 
November — marched  for  Head  Quarters  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson.  They  took  their  way — a  day  or  two  apart — in  two 
divisions — on  through  Plainfield,  Canterbury,  and  Wind- 
ham — to  encamp,  near  a  week,  at  Hartford,  ere  they  marched 
again  for  their  final  destination.  The  road  they  followed, 
was  at  some  points  but  five  or  six  miles  distant  from  the 
family  mansion  of  that  Governor,  who  was  among  the  fore 
most  to  feel  for  their  dangers,  to  supply  their  necessities,  and 

*  To  the  people  everywhere  he  said,  in  the  language  of  a  legislative  resolution 
of  the  time — that,  while  "they  adored  the  gracious  Providence,  which,  in  the 
course  of  a  wasting  and  distressing,  though  just  and  necessary  war,  had  exempted 
them  from  so  many  of  the  calamities  and  desolations  which  had  fallen  on  some 
of  the  sister  States"  of  the  Union— they  should  "cheerfully  and  liberally  con 
tribute,  each  one  according  to  his  ability,  for  the  relief  of  those  who  suffered 
tinder  the  rigorous,  inhuman,  and  vindictive  cruelly  of  our  common  enemy." 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVI. — TRUMBULL.  435 

to  pray  for  their  success.  How  pleasant  now  to  imagine, 
that — attracted  by  their  proximity  for  a  time  to  his  own 
house — Trumbull  might  have  ridden  over  to  gratify  his  eye 
with  the  spectacle  of  their  columns  on  their  winding  way— 
to  take  Gates,  their  chief  commander,  and  Livingston,  Jack 
son,  Webb,  Green,  Angell,  and  Sherburne,  their  colonels,  by 
the  hand,  in  mutual  congratulation — perhaps  to  receive  com 
plimentary  salutes,  heart-bestowed,  from  scores  of  drums  and 
ear-piercing  fifes — from  the  mouths  of  thousands  of  muskets, 
and  from  the  brazen  throats  of  Colonel  Crane's  artillery — the 
echoes  of  whose  thunder,  rolling  up  and  down  the  valley  of 
the  Shetucket,  and  upon  the  bosom  of  the  murmuring 
Thames,  may  have  been  borne  from  Tolland  Lake  to  the 
Falls  of  Yantic,  and  from  Yantic  to  the  sea.  Just  tribute,  if 
such  perchance  there  might  have  been,  to  one  of  the  most 
dauntless  of  Work-masters  for  Liberty ! 

The  other  of  the  two  calls,  this  year,  upon  Governor 
Trumbull  for  troops,  to  which  we  have  referred,  was,  in  Oc 
tober,  for  a  force  to  cooperate  with  Count  D'Estaign — just 
when  the  fleet  of  the  latter,  after  the  attack  on  Savannah, 
was  "  hourly  looked  for  "  on  the  northern  coast,  to  renew,  in 
conjunction  with  Washington,  assaults  upon  the  foe  at  New 
port  and  New  York.  Upon  this  occasion,  the  Commander- 
in-chief  made  a  requisition  on  Trumbull  for  four  thousand 
militia.*  Promptly,  as  usual — the  General  Assembly  assent 
ing — the  latter  issued  his  Proclamation  for  the  purpose. 
"  Taking  into  consideration,"  as  in  this  document  he  said, 
"the  foregoing  requisition — the  important  reasons  on  which 
it  is  granted,  and  the  happy  consequences,  which,  by  the 
blessing  of  Almighty  God,  may  attend  a  cheerful  and  vigor 
ous  exertion  in  this  peculiar  and  great  occasion — [taking  into 
consideration  also]  the  singularly  noble  and  generous  con 
duct  of  the  French  Admiral  in  leaving  to  hazard  his  acqui 
sitions  in  the  West  Indies,  and  coming  to  our  aid  at  the  re 
quest  of  Congress — and  the  emotions  he  must  feel  if  disap 
pointed  of  the  spirited  cooperation  he  has  been  made  to  ex- 

*He  at  the  same  time  required  from  Massachusetts  two  thousand — from  New 
York  twenty-five  hundred — from  New  Jersey  two  thousand — and  from  Pennsyl 
vania  one  thousand. 


436  CHAP.    XXXVI. — TKUMBULL.  1719. 

pect  from,  the  several  States  " — lie  the  Governor,  therefore, 
called  for  "  a  free,  cheerful,  and  immediate  enlistment "  of  the 
required  number  of  men. 

They  were  to  be  formed  into  two  brigades — which  were  to 
rendezvous  along  the  coast  and  western  frontiers  of  Connec 
ticut,  either  for  defence  in  these  directions,  or  for  cooperation 
with  the  French,  as  the  Governor  and  Council  should  direct. 
And  he  urged  officers  and  privates,  all,  to  provide  themselves 
with  necessary  arms,  blankets,  and  equipments — for  all  of 
which  he  promised  them  "a  reasonable  allowance  and  full 
compensation,  if  lost  without  their  default."  And  at  the 
same  time,  by  the  consideration  of  "  the  happiness  and  salva 
tion  of  their  country,"  he  earnestly  pressed  the  neighbors  and 
friends  of  those  who  enlisted  "to  lend  and  furnish  "with 
equipments  all  such  as  could  not  supply  themselves.  The 
brigades  were  raised.*  Every  thing  that  Congress  or  Wash 
ington  required  in  the  case,  was  fully  effected.  But  D'Es- 
taign  did  not,  as  expected,  sail  for  the  North,  but  away  for 
the  West  Indies.  The  force,  therefore,  which  the  energy  of 
Trumbull  had  thus  collected  for  cooperation  with  the  French, 
was  in  December  disbanded. 

Though  thus — as  regards  the  defence  of  the  country  at 
large — Governor  Trumbull  was  not  called  upon  the  present 
year  to  make  exertions  by  any  means  so  strenuous  as  those 
he  made  in  previous  periods  of  the  war — yet,  so  far  as  the 
home  defence  of  Connecticut  is  concerned,  there  was  no  year 
which  gave  him  so  much  anxiety  and  duty  as  this  of  seven 
teen  hundred  seventy -nine.  For  it  was  at  this  time  that  the 
enemy — in  order  at  any  event  to  drive  the  Colonies  into  sub 
mission,  or  to  render  their  accession  to  France,  if  such  was  to 
be  the  issue,  of  as  little  avail  as  possible — began  to  pursue  sys 
tematically,  and  relentlessly,  the  system  of  making  the  Ameri- 

*  "  The  time,"  wrote  Trumbull  to  Washington,  November  fifth,  "  when  the 
arrival  of  the  fleet  under  Count  D'Estaign  may  be  expected,  being  so  far  advanced 
that  the  utmost  readiness  to  cooperate  with  him  is  become  necessary,  should  he 
appear  on  this  coast,  and  the  immediate  danger  to  which  our  own  seaports  will  be 
exposed  from  the  collected  force  of  the  enemy,  should  he  be  prevented  from  com 
ing  this  way,  have  prevailed  to  induce  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State  to 
order  the  militia,  requested  by  your  Excellency,  to  be  assembled  at  the  places  of 
rendezvous  proposed,  as  soon  as  possible." 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVI. — TRUMBULL.  437 

can  coasts  scenes  of  perfect  desolation.  And  Connecticut 
was  now  the  first  among  the  States  to  feel — and  to  feel  more 
deeply  than  any  other  one  in  the  Union — the  effects  of  this 
ill-fated  and  detestable  policy. 

Johnson,  Carlisle,  and  Eden,  the  King's  Commissioners  to 
America  of  the  preceding  year,  had  threatened  this  course. 
"  The  policy  as  well  as  benevolence  of  Great  Britain,"  they 
said  in  their  boastful  Proclamation  to  the  Colonies — "  have 
thus  far  checked  the  extremes  of  war."  But  when  America, 
they  menacingly  added,  "  professes  the  unnatural  design,  not 
only  of  estranging  herself  from  us,  but  of  mortgaging  her 
self  to  our  enemies,  the  whole  contest  is  changed,  and  the 
question  is,  how  far  Great  Britain  may,  by  any  means  in  her 
power,  destroy  and  render  useless  a  connection  contrived  for 
her  ruin,  and  for  the  aggrandizement  of  France."  Instruc 
tions  to  the  same  effect  came  from  the  British  Ministry  to 
Sir  Henry  Clinton.  "  Keep  the  coasts  of  the  enemy  con 
stantly  alarmed  " — wrote  Lord  George  Germain.  "  Destroy 
their  ships  and  magazines.  Prevent  the  rebels  from  becom 
ing  a  formidable  maritime  power,  and  obstructing  the  com 
merce  of  his  Majesty's  subjects,  and  from  sending  out  that 
swarm  of  privateers  which  has  enabled  and  encouraged  them 
to  persevere  in  their  revolt !  " 

The  instructions  thus  given — notwithstanding  a  counter- 
manifesto  from  the  American  Congress  that  "  exemplary 
vengeance  "  should  be  taken,  if  the  policy  they  contemplated 
was  attempted — were  yet  to  a  great  extent  executed — and 
with  a  Vandal-like  ferocity — as  Connecticut,  unfortunately, 
experienced — she  particularly  at  this  time  having  been  se 
lected  by  the  foe  for  a  victim. 

Governor  Trumbull  early  heard  that  such  was  to  be  the 
future  policy  of  the  English  King  and  Ministry.  It  was  in 
fact  foreshadowed,  towards  the  close  of  February,  by  the 
invasion  of  Greenwich — when  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred  of 
the  enemy,  under  General  Tryon,  destroyed  some  salt-works 
and  a  store,  burnt  a  schooner,  plundered  the  inhabitants  of 
the  principal  part  of  their  effects,  broke  furniture  and  win 
dows,  and  stripped  many  families  even  of  the  clothes  on  their 

backs.     But  Trumbull  had  better  information  of  British  de- 
37* 


438  CHAP.    XXXVI.— TRUMBULL. 

signs  than  this  foray  alone  would  give  him— ^and  he  had  it 
from  abroad. 

"I  have  received  intelligence,"  wrote  to  him  Arthur  Lee 
from  Paris,  April  sixth — "  that  it  is  just  determined  in  the 
British  Cabinet  to  send  over  immediate  orders  to  New-York, 
for  an  expedition  through  the  Sound  up  Connecticut  Eiver. 
The  enemy  are  to  land  at  Wethersfield,  and  proceed  by  land 
to  Newhaven  Bay,  where  they  are  to  embark,  after  having 
plundered,  burnt,  and  destroyed  all  in  their  way."  "  The 
English  Parliament  have  given  orders  to  burn  the  sea-coast 
of  New  England — particularly  to  burn  Newhaven,  Hartford, 
and  Boston  " — reported  also  to  Trumbull  Captain  Niles,  on 
his  return  from  the  European  seas.  Such  at  this  time  was 
the  complexion  of  news  from  abroad. 

"  Sixteen  transports,  I  am  informed,"  he  was  apprized  by  Washington 
in  March — "  with  a  flat-boat  each,  a  sloop-of-war  of  sixteen  guns,  and 
five  or  six  strong  privateers,  went  up  the  Sound  a  few  days  ago  with  a 
view  of  joining  the  Scorpion  and  Thames  of  twenty  guns.  The  advices 
also  say,  that  the  Admiral  [Gambier]  in  a  sixty-four,  with  a  sloop-of-war, 
sailed  from  the  Hook  about  the  same  time,  with  a  pilot  acquainted  with 
Long  Island  and  the  Sound,  that  the  supposed  design  of  the  expedition  is  to 
take  the  frigates  at  New  London,  and  that  their  determination  now  is  to 
plunder  and  distress  the  coast.  There  are  accounts,  besides  these,  that 
troops  have  been  drawing  towards  the  east  end  of  the  island,  and 
some  flat-boats  building  under  the  direction  of  Sir  William  Erskine.  It 
is  added,  that  General  Clinton  is  gone  there  himself." 

Such  was  the  complexion  of  advices  at  this  time  which 
Trumbull  received  from  Washington. 

In  this  conjuncture,  therefore,  he  made  every  preparation 
in  his  power  to  ward  off  the  impending  calamity.  Two  regi 
ments  had  been  regularly  ordered  in  the  spring  for  the  de 
fence  of  the  State.  These  he  hurried  to  their  stations.  He 
added  new  guards  along  the  sea-coast.  He  improved  signals, 
multiplied  expresses,  increased  the  munitions  of  war,  and 
strengthened  all  works  of  defence.  In  particular  he  largely 
augmented  the  troops  at  New  London,  and  General  Putnam 
went  there  to  take  the  command.  He  ordered  the  militia 
everywhere  to  be  ready  for  instant  service.  "  Call  out  your 
brigade."  he  specially  instructed  General  Wolcott — "and 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVI. — TKUMBULL.  439 

guard  the  stores  at  Danbury,  and  the  whole  western  frontier, 
and  the  pass  from  Fishkill  to  Fredericksborough !  " 

But  spite  of  all  these  precautions,  the  blow  came — like  a 
thief  in  the  night,  came  unexpectedly  in  the  quarters  where 
it  fell — and  with  a  devastating  force.  Monday,  July  fifth — 
at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  that  very  day  on  which 
the  citizens  of  Newhaven  were  to  assemble  to  celebrate  the 
Declaration  of  Independence — the  Camilla  and  Scorpion, 
British  men-of-war — with  forty-eight  tenders  and  transports, 
bearing  from  twenty-six  hundred  to  three  thousand  men — 
anchored  off  the  beautiful  city  of  Davenport,  and  Eaton,  and 
Sherman,  and  Wooster. 

Sunrise — and  the  foe  landed.  In  vain  the  small,  but  brave 
and  spirited  force  of  militia  and  volunteers  which  opposed 
them.  Noon — and  they  entered  the  town.  Afternoon  and 
night — and  Newhaven  was  given  up  to  pillage  and  to  out 
rage.  Houses  were  sacked — many  burned.  Stores,  and 
magazines,  and  shipping,  at  Long  Wharf,  were  reduced  to 
ashes.  Individuals,  even  women  and  children — shocking 
execrations  in  their  ears,  and  the  bayonet  at  their  breasts — 
were  everywhere  insulted,  lacerated,  and  robbed.  The  vener 
able  President  of  Yale  College,*  while  pleading  for  his  life, 
was  gashed  four  times  to  the  skull-bone,  and  then  plundered. 
Worthy,  inoffensive  old  Mr.  Beers,  was  shot  in  his  own  door 
way.  The  aged  and  helpless  Mr.  English  was  murdered  in 
his  own  house.  An  insane  man  had  his  tongue  cut  out,  and 
was  then  killed.  The  honored  widow  of  General  Wooster 
was  seized,  hurled  mercilessly  about,  cursed,  and,  with  a 
bayonet  levelled  at  her  bosom,  made  to  give  up  her  plate,  and 
part  of  her  attire.  Some  women,  less  fortunate  than  herself, 
escaped  the  reigning  brutality  only  with  ravishment. 

Tuesday  morning — and  this  execrable  scene  of  British 
barbarity  was  ended.  The  foe  suddenly  retired — with  plun 
der,  much  of  it — with  about  forty  inhabitants  taken  cap 
tive — having  killed  outright  no  less  than  twenty-seven 
others,  wounded  nineteen,  and  despoiled  Newhaven — in  the 
teeth  of  their  lying  proclamation  of  immunity  to  all  who 

*  Dr.  Napthali  Daggett. 


440  CHAP.    XXXVI. — TRUMBULL.  1779. 

should  remain  peaceably  within  their  own  dwellings — of 
more  than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  worth  of  property. 
Expresses  flew  with  the  news  of  this  invasion  to  Trumbull 
at  Lebanon — and  to  the  commanding  officer  also  at  New 
London.  The  Governor  at  once  sent  the  intelligence  to 
General  Wolcott,  and  to  General  Ward,  with  fresh  incite 
ments  to  vigilance,  and  fresh  orders  to  establish  posts  wher 
ever  necessary  on  the  sea-coast,  and  to  watch  the  frontiers. 
He  at  once  also  transmitted  the  intelligence  to  General  Wash 
ington,  and  prayed  for  help.  The  militia  in  the  region 
around  him  were  ordered  under  arms,  and  to  be  ready  to 
march  to  the  scene  of  danger.  But  news  quickly  reached 
him — on  July  the  eighth — that  General  Tryon  had  left  New 
Haven.  Here  was  a  pause,  therefore,  now  for  his  anxiety. 


C  HAPT  ER    XXXVII. 
1779. 

THE  attack  on  Fairfield,  and  report  of  a  projected  attack  on  Hartford. 
Trum~buH's  measures  in  consequence.  The  attack  on  Norwalk,  and  his 
measures.  The  alarms  upon  other  parts  of  the  Connecticut  coast,  and 
his  successful  -watchfulness  against  future  hostile  descents.  Maritime 
losses  and  gains  this  year.  Loss  of  the  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  of  the 
privateer  Governor  Trum/bull.  The  whaleboat  system  again,  and 
Trumbull. 

THE  pause  for  Trumbull,  with  which  our  last  Chapter 
closes,  was  brief  indeed — but  for  a  few  hours  only.  The 
very  next  day  after  he  heard  of  the  evacuation  by  the 
enemy  of  Newhaven,  he  received  news  of  their  attack  on 
Fairfield. 

Sure  enough!  There  they  were — July  seventh — in  an 
other  beautiful  town  of  Connecticut — the  scattered,  desultory 
fire  from  a  few  intrepid  militia-men  and  volunteers  who  op 
posed  them,  having  proved  fruitless — there  they  were,  the 
bloody  Hessian  and  Yager  bandits,  again  let  loose  for  plun 
der  and  rapine — again  sacking  houses — breaking  open  desks, 
trunks,  and  closets — seizing  pocket-books,  and  even  but 
tons — dashing  glasses,  ware  of  china  and  stone,  and  furni 
ture  of  all  kinds,  in  pieces — threatening  lives,  and  taking 
many.  Wrapping  one  poor  victim  in  a  sheet  saturated  with 
rum,  they  burned  him  to  death.  They  knocked  down,  and 
rifled,  the  old  and  infirm.  They  stripped  with  violence  rings 
and  buckles  from  feeble  women.  They  robbed  them  of  their 
bonnets,  their  aprons,  their  handkerchiefs.  Pouring  into 
their  ears  language  the  most  foul  and  profane,  they  left  them 
with  but  just  strength  enough  to  escape,  stunned,  bruised, 
and  fainting,  from  a  "horrid  conflict"  in  defence  of  their  vir 
tue.  And  at  last  they  consummated  their  hellish  work  by 
firing  the  town — the  conflagration — while  a  sudden  thunder 
storm  overspread  the  heavens — illumining  "the  earth,  the 
skirts  of  the  clouds,  and  the  waves  of  the  Sound,  with  an 


442  CHAP.     XXXVII. — TRUMBULL.  1T79. 

union  of  gloom  and  grandeur  at  once  inexpressibly  awful 
and  magnificent."* 

Ninety-seven  dwelling  houses — sixty -seven  barns,  most  of 
them  just  filled  with  wheat,  from  a  harvest  that  was  extraor 
dinarily  bountiful — when  the  fields  had  borne  a  "load" 
more  "ponderous"  than  for  many  years  before — forty-eight 
stores — two  school  houses — one  County  House — two  Meeting 
Houses,  and  one  Episcopal  Church — nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  worth  of  property  in  all — these  were  the 
sacrifices  which  at  this  time  "  pleasant  Fairfield  "  made  to  its 
ferocious  assailants.  Such  "the  smoking  ruins,  marks  of 
hostile  ire,"  to  which  it  was  devoted  when  Try  on  "  sealed  its 
melancholy  doom."f 

*  What  a  scene  I  The  sky,  in  the  vivid  language  of  Dr.  Dwight — "  speedily 
hung  with  the  deepest  darkness,  wherever  the  clouds  were  not  tinged  with  the 
melancholy  lustre  of  the  flames" — the  lightnings  at  intervals  blazing  " with  a 
livid  and  terrible  splendor" — the  thunder  rolling  above — beneath,  the  waving  of 
the  fires  filling  up  the  intervals  "with  a  deep  and  hollow  sound,  which  seemed 
to  be  the  protracted  murmur  of  the  thunder,  reverberated  from  one  end  of  heaven 
to  the  other !  Add  to  this  convulsion  of  the  elements,  and  to  these  dreadful  ef 
fects  of  vindictive  and  wanton  devastation,  the  trembling  of  the  earth,  the  sharp 
sound  of  muskets,  occasionally  discharged,  the  groans  here  and  there,  of  the 
wounded  and  dying,  and  the  shouts  of  triumph."  Then  let  the  Reader  place  be 
fore  his  eyes  "crowds  of  the  miserable  sufferers,  mingled  with  bodies  of  the 
militia,  and  from  the  neighboring  hills  taking  a  farewell  prospect  of  their  property 
and  their  dwellings,  their  happiness  and  their  hopes,"  and  he  "will  form  a  just 
but  imperfect  picture  of  the  burning  of  Fairfield."  It  needed  "  no  great  effort  of 
imagination"  on  the  part  of  those  who  were  witnesses  of  the  event,  adds  Dr. 
Dwight — "to  believe  that  the  final  day  had  arrived,  and  that,  amid  this  funeral 
darkness,  the  morning  would  speedily  dawn  to  which  no  night  would  ever  suc 
ceed,  the  graves  yield  up  their  inhabitants,  and  the  trial  commence,  at  which  was 
to  be  finally  settled  the  destiny  of  man." 

t  Language  from  an  elegy  written  by  Col.  Humphreys,  in  1779,  on  the  spot 
where  the  town  stood.  The  following  interesting  entry  was  made  in  the  Eecord 
of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Fairfield,  by  its  pastor  at  the  time  when  Tryon 
laid  the  town  in  ashes — the  Rev.  Andrew  Elliot. 

"  1779,  July  7.  A  part  of  the  British  enemy,  consisting  of  Britons,  Germans, 
and  American  refugees,  under  the  command  of  Maj.  Gen.  Tryon  and  Brig.  Gen. 
Garth,  landed  in  this  town  from  a  fleet,  commanded  by  Sir  George  Collier. 

"In  the  evening  and  night  of  the  same  day,  great  part  of  the  buildings  in  the 
town  plot  were  consumed  in  the  flames  by  said  troops. 

"  July  8th.  In  the  morning  the  Meeting  House,  together  with  the  Church  of 
England  buildings,  the  Court  House,  Prison,  and  almost  all  the  principal  build 
ings  in  the  Society,  were  laid  in  ashes. 

"  Our  holy  and  our  beautiful  house 
Where  our  fathers  praised  thee,  is 
Burnt  up  with  fire ;  and  all  our 
Pleasant  things  are  laid  waste. 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVII. — TKUMBULL.  443 

Again  quickly,  expresses — which,  in  the  present  emergency 
Trumbull  had  established — at  but  fourteen  or  fifteen  miles 
only  apart — all  the  way  from  Lebanon  to  the  New  York 
line — bore  to  him  the  news  of  this  fresh  invasion.  And 
with  this  news  came  also  a  report  that  a  formidable  body  of 
the  enemy,  six  thousand  in  number,  were  advancing  into 
Connecticut  by  the  western  frontier — were  already  at  Eye 
Neck — bent  on  devastation — and  on  making  Hartford,  more 
particularly  now,  feel  their  vengeance. 

Again  therefore  Trumbull  armed  the  State  for  a  crisis. 
He  augmented  to  its  full  complement  the  two  battalions  that 
had  been  already  ordered  for  home  defence.  He  sent  three 
hundred  Lighthorse  to  Newhaven.  He  directed  all  the  mili 
tia  of  the  third  brigade,  and  one-quarter  of  the  two  brigades 
of  General  Douglass  and  General  Wolcott,  to  assemble  at 
New  London — Washington  had  informed  him  by  express 
that  he  had  instructed  General  Glover — who  about  this  time 
was  on  his  way  from  Providence  to  join  the  Main  Army  on 
the  banks  of  the  Hudson — to  take  his  course  not  far  from 
Long  Island  Sound,  and  cooperate  with  the  troops  of  Connec 
ticut  in  case  the  enemy  should  make  a  descent.  Trumbull 
immediately,  therefore,  sent  an  urgent  request  to  Glover  to 
bring  his  brigade  on  by  Norwich  to  New  London.  That  is  a 
post,  he  wrote,  which  must  "not  be  left  naked  for  a  day." 

He  again  also  urged  Washington  for  further  aid  from  the 
Continental  Army.  "Mine  of  this  morning,"  wrote  Wash 
ington  in  reply,  from  his  Head  Quarters  at  Windsor,  July 
twelfth — "will  inform  you  that  on  hearing  of  the  enemy's 
movement  from  below,  I  had  detached  a  body  of  troops  un 
der  Major  General  Heath  to  counteract  them.  It  gives  me 
pain  that  I  have  it  not  in  my  power  to  afford  more  effectual 
service  to  our  country  ;  but  the  smallness  of  my  force  obliges 

The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken 
Away :  Blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them 
That  love  God— to  them  that  are  the 
Called  according  to  his  purpose. 

ALLELUIA. 
The  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reigneth. 

AMEN." 


4M  CHAP.     XXXVII. — TRTJMBULL.  1779. 

me  to  confine  my  attentions  so  entirely  to  one  essential  point, 
that  I  can  do  little  more  than  lament  the  depredations  of  the 
enemy  at  a  distance." 

Trumbull  was  not,  however,  disconcerted  by  this  inability 
on  the  part  of  Washington  to  render  him  the  full  assistance 
he  desired — but  at  once,  on  consultation  with  his  Council, 
applied  to  Massachusetts  and  to  New  Hampshire  for  aid — 
and  from  the  former  State  received  it,  promptly.  One-sixth 
of  its  militia  from  the  counties  of  Berkshire  and  Hampshire, 
and  Frothingham's  company  of  artillery  at  Springfield — con 
sisting  of  thirty  men,  with  a  train  of  six  field  pieces — were 
ordered  to  his  relief.  And  he  distributed  them  for  defence, 
part  on  the  sea-coast  of  Connecticut — part  at  Hartford — and 
part  at  Middletown.* 

Force,  however,  could  not  be  assembled  and  stationed  in 
the  western  part  of  the  State  in  time  sufficient  to  ward  off 
another  most  serious  blow  from  the  enemy  at  Connecticut. 
July  eleventh,  Try  on  crossed  the  Sound  from  Huntington  Bay 
to  Norwalk — there  to  crown  himself  "plentifully,"  as  General 
Parsons  remarked  at  the  time,  with  laurels  from  another  "fiery 
expedition" — there  "upon  the  rebellious  women,  and  formi 
dable  host  of  boys  and  girls,"  in  another  defenceless,  hapless 
town  of  Connecticut,  to  wreak  his  "master's  vengeance." 

Yain  the  opposition  of  a  little  band  of  Continental  soldiers 
under  the  intrepid  Captain  Betts.  Yain  that  of  a  few  mili 
tia,  and  of  one  hundred  horsemen,  from  the  northern  heights 
of  the  town.  Yain  that  of  a  small  force  under  General  Par 
sons — save,  after  the  work  of  destruction  was  accomplished, 
to  hasten  the  enemy's  retreat.  Seated — a  table  by  his  side — 
in  a  chair,  on  the  top  of  Grummon's  Hill — whose  sides,  in 
the  graphic  description  of  an  eye  witness, f  were  "all  red  with 

*  "From  every  appearance,"  he  wrote  "Washington,  August  second— " there  is 
no  reason  to  think  our  enraged  enemy  are  satisfied  with  the  plunder  and  destruc 
tion  they  have  already  made  in  this  State,  but  that  it  is  yet  an  object  of  their 
determined  pursuit,  and  especially  the  town  and  port  of  New  London,  which, 
from  a  variety  of  circumstances  and  intelligence,  I  have  reason  to  apprehend  they 
will  attack  in  a  few  days— and  should  they  be  able  to  carry  it,  that  they  will  en 
deavour  to  make  it  a  post  from  which  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  dislodge 
them" — and  he  goes  on  renewedly  to  urge  the  great  importance  of  its  harbor, 
and  the  overruling  necessity  for  its  defence. 

t  Nathaniel  Kaymond,  of  Norwalk. 


1779.  CHAP.     XXXVII. — TRUMBULL.  445 

the  British " — with  beautiful  Norwalk,  and  the  river  flowing 
through  its  midst,  the  Sound,  the  long  train  of  islands  front 
ing  the  town,  and  neighboring  Long  Island,  all  full  in  his 
view — Tryon  wrote  his  fiery  orders.  And  from  this  his  seat 
he  beheld  eighty  dwelling  houses — all  in  the  town  but  six- 
two  churches,  eighty-seven  barns,  that  were  many  of  them 
overflowing  with  wheat  and  hay,  seventeen  shops,  four  mills, 
and  four  vessels — in  all  a  property  of  nearly  one  hundred 
and  sixty-seven  thousand  dollars — reduced  to  ashes.  He  be 
held  a  thriving  population — amid  abuse  and  pillage — amid 
bloody  menaces,  and  mortal  stabs,  such  as  sent  poor  John 
Waters,  and  John  Eich,  to  their  graves — burned  out  of  house 
and  home. 

July  eleventh,  the  report  of  this  disaster — third  in  the 
list  of  startling  forays  upon  Connecticut  within  but  about  a 
single  week — reached  Trumbull.  Not  his  the  disposition,  in 
consequence,  to  relax  one  nerve  of  effort.  The  power  of  the 
enemy,  thus  far  superior  and  resistless,  but  fired  his  energy 
anew — and  he  proceeded,  with  his  Council,  to  take  fresh 
measures  for  defence. 

11  Can  the  whole  strength  of  your  province  cope  with  the 
force  which  may  at  any  moment  be  poured  through  every 
district  in  your  country  ?  " — was  the  taunting  inquiry  which 
Tryon  and  Collier  made  in  their  Proclamation  at  this  period 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Connecticut.  Four  thousand  men, 
ordered  anew,  August  second,  to  stations  along  the  whole 
coast  of  the  State — from  Stonington  to  Byram  Biver — was 
Trumbull's  answer.* 

"  You  who  lie  so  much  in  our  power,"  continued  the  in 
vading  commanders,  in  the  same  vaunting  document — "  afford 
the  most  striking  monument  of  our  mercy."  You,  therefore, 
"ought  to  set  the  first  example  of  returning  to  your  allegi 
ance.  We  hoped  that  you  would  recover  from  the  frenzy 
that  has  distracted  this  unhappy  country.  We  offer  you  a 
refuge  against  the  distress,  which,  you  universally  acknowl- 

*  "  Four  thousand  troops,"  he  wrote  Washington,  August  second—"  are  detailed 
for  the  defence  of  the  State — besides  the  complement  of  men  we  are  filling  up  for 
the  Continental  Army — by  all  which  we  are  greatly  distressed,  and  the  agricul 
ture  of  the  State,  so  important  for  our  own  and  for  the  supply  of  the  army,  is  in, 
danger  of  suffering  material  injury." 


446  CHAP.     XXXVII. —  TKUMBULL. 

edge,  broods  with  increasing  and  intolerable  weight  over 
your  whole  country  ! " 

That  "frenzy"  you  charge  us  with,  answered  by  their 
conduct,  Trumbull  and  his  State — is  the  enthusiasm  of  lib 
erty.  We  are  the  "monument,"  not  of  your  "mercy,"  but 
of  your  barbarity.  We  owe  no  "  allegiance  "  to  your  master, 
and  shall  never  "set  the  example  of  returning"  to  it,  "first" 
or  last.  The  people  of  Connecticut,  in  the  memorable  lan 
guage  of  Colonel  Whiting's  response  to  Try  on  at  Fair- 
field — "having  nobly  dared  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
cruel  despotism  of  Great  Britain  " — and  having  had  "  the 
flames  precede  the  answer  to  your  flag — will  persist  to 
oppose  to  the  utmost  the  force  exerted  against  injured 
innocence."* 

Such,  as  now  described,  were  the  devastations  of  the  ene 
my,  in  the  year  1779,  upon  Connecticut.  They  were  devas 
tations  by  which  half  a  million  of  dollars  worth  of  property — 
the  painful  accumulation  and  sole  stay  of  a  large  mass  of 
frugal  human  life — was  wantonly  immolated — and  defence 
less  men,  women,  and  children,  by  crowds — through  the 
ferocity  of  a  foe  that  boasted  of  its  superior  humanity  and 
civilization — were  suddenly  forced  to  hide  themselves  "in 
the  dens  and  in  the  rocks  of  the  mountains,"  and  to  say  "  to 
the  mountains  and  the  rocks,  fall  on  us,  and  hide  us  from  the 
face  "  of  those  to  whom  it  hath  been  given  "  to  kill  with  the 
sword,  and  with  hunger,"  and  "to  hurt  the  earth  and  the 
sea." 

But  Trumbull's  watchfulness  was  not  confined  solely  to 
those  particular  marauding  expeditions  which  we  have  now 
sketched.f  He  had  also,  as  in  former  times,  other  inva 
sions — that  were  menaced  on  the  coast  during  almost  every 
period  of  the  present  year — to  note  and  guard  against.  And 

*  Trumbull  sent  the  intrepid  Eesponse  referred  to  in  the  text,  together  with  the 
hostile  Proclamation  which  elicited  it,  to  General  Washington.  "I  thank  your 
Excellency  for  the  Proclamation  and  answer,"  wrote  back  Washington,  July 
twelfth.  "  The  first  is  truly  ridiculous,  and  must  tend  to  incense  rather  than 
intimidate ;  the  last  is  laconic,  but  to  the  purpose."  The  Eesponse  was  dated 
"7th  July,  1779." 

t  He  took  special  note,  however,  it  should  be  stated  in  this  connection,  of  all  the 
losses  they  occasioned — which,  carefully  collected  by  Committees  of  the  General 
Assembly,  were  by  him  transmitted  to  Congress. 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVII. — TRUMBULL.  447 

alarms  in  1779  were  particularly  rife — more  so  than  during 
any  other  season  of  the  War.  They  shook  the  seaboard  and 
the  State. 

Conspicuous  among  these  was,  first,  that  which,  in  April, 
was  occasioned  by  the  appearance  of  a  British  fleet  of  thirty- 
one  sail — then  by  that  of  another  of  thirty  sail — which,  pass 
ing  both  up  and  down  the  Sound — now  seizing  some  Ameri 
can  schooner  laden  with  "West  India  goods — now  other 
craft — now  rocking  at  anchor  near  Gull  Islands — now  off 
Fisher's  Island — were  reported  as  meditating  a  speedy  at 
tack  upon  the  Connecticut  Main — and  pointedly  upon  New 
London. 

Next  came  an  alarm,  in  June,  from  a  fleet  of  twenty  hos 
tile  ships,  which  anchored  off  Fisher's  Island,  and  again 
menaced  New  London. 

Next,  in  July,  another  was  occasioned  by  the  landing  of  a 
detachment  from  the  enemy's  fleet  on  Fisher's  Island,  which 
blew  up  a  house — fired  outbuildings — fired  hay — and  threat 
ened  other  serious  mischief  on  the  adjacent  coast.  Next — 
far  more  startling  than  the  preceding,  and  in  the  same 
month — came  an  alarm  that  a  most  formidable  British  fleet 
of  fifty  sail  had  appeared  off  Point  Judith,  and  would  soon 
move  on  a  plundering  and  burning  expedition  to  Connecti 
cut.  And  next,  towards  the  close  of  autumn,  there  was  still 
another  and  extensive  alarm,  when — the  fleet  of  D'Estaign 
having  failed  to  appear  at  the  North — fresh  inducement  and 
opportunity  were,  in  consequence,  offered  to  the  foe  to  renew 
their  depredations. 

Upon  some  of  these  emergencies — as,  particularly,  when 
that  immense  British  flotilla  was  expected  from  Point  Judith, 
and  the  roar  of  cannon,  from  Stonington  and  New  London, 
roused  the  militia  of  the  whole  surrounding  country  to  arms — 
the  consternation  created  was  universal — and  the  energies  of 
the  Captain  General  of  Connecticut,  and  of  the  forces  under 
his  command,  were  tasked  to  the  utmost.  At  the  very  be 
ginning  of  the  year,  when  the  western  Sound  was  filled  with 
the  armed  craft  of  the  enemy — for  the  purpose  of  either  tak 
ing  or  destroying  them — he  concerted,  with  the  Marine  Com 
mittee  at  Philadelphia,  a  plan  for  joining  two  ships  of  Con- 


448  CHAP.    XXXVII. — TRUMBULL.  1779. 

necticut  to  a  Continental  armed  vessel* — and  by  his  judicious 
arrangements,  fresh  troops,  as  emergencies  happened,  were 
poured  to  every  exposed  point.  He  gave  orders  to  the  Brig 
adier  Generals  of  the  State  to  hold  more  in  constant  readi 
ness  to  march.  Men  from  the  County  of  Hampshire  in  Mas 
sachusetts,  and  from  the  hills  of  Berkshire,  were  at  times 
stationed  at  menaced  New  London — and  the  defences  there 
were  freshly  inspected  and  strengthened. 

"Should  the  advanced  season,"  he  wrote  Washington,  towards  the 
close  of  this  eventful  year,  November  fifth — "  or  any  other  unforeseen 
cause,  prevent  the  Count  [D'Estaign]  from  coming  this  way,  and  the  in 
tended  enterprise  against  the  enemy  in  New  York  be  laid  aside,  the  front 
iers  and  sea-coasts  of  this  State  will  be  eminently  exposed  to  the  depre 
dations  and  ravages  of  the  enemy.  We  would  flatter  ourselves  it  will  be 
in  your  Excellency's  power  to  send  a  part  of  the  troops,  under  your  com 
mand,  into  this  State,  to  take  post  so  as  to  cover  and  protect  the  most 
exposed  part  of  our  sea-coast  and  frontiers ;  and  desire  you  to  inform  us 
whether  we  may  expect  that  our  hopes  and  wishes,  in  this  respect,  may 
be  realized."! 

Thus  did  Trumbull  make  every  preparation  to  receive  the 
enemy,  at  all  times,  should  they  attempt  a  landing,  or  an  as 
sault.  Fortunately  they  did  not.  His  own  and  the  signal 
activity  of  the  State,  at  the  perilous  periods,  averted  farther 
attack. 

And  while  thus  active  to  guard  against  fleets  of  formidable 
size,  Trumbull  did  not  forget  to  keep  his  eye,  as  heretofore, 

*  "  By  an  Express  from  the  Navy  Board  of  the  Eastern  Department,"  wrote  to 
him,  February  10th,  1779,  Samuel  Adams,  Chairman  of  the  Marine  Committee — 
this  Committee  "had  the  honor  of  receiving  your  letter  to  them  of  the  22d  of 
January,  respecting  the  enemy's  armed  vessels  in  the  western  Sound,  and  the 
probability  of  taking  or  destroying  them  by  joining  the  force  of  the  Confederacy 
to  the  two  State  ships.  They  were  very  anxious  of  adding  the  Confederacy  to 
the  number  of  those  ships  destined  for  another  service ;  but  the  object  vou  have 
in  view  is  so  very  desirable,  and  the  accomplishment  of  it,  from  your  representa 
tion,  attended  with  so  little  danger  or  delay,  that  they  have  fallen  into  the  meas 
ure,  and  consented  to  join  the  Confederacy  to  the  State  ships." 

t  "  The  keeping  up  large  guards  of  the  militia  on  the  coasts,"  he  proceeds — 
"besides  the  enormous  expense  attending,  injures  the  public  service  by  with 
drawing  the  men  from  the  field,  and  lessening  our  ability  to  supply  the  army  with 
men  or  provisions.  But  I  persuade  myself,  I  need  not  use  arguments  to  prevail 
on  your  Excellency  to  indulge  our  request,  if  consistent  with  the  public  service 
and  a  due  regard  to  the  general  interests  of  the  States." 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVII. — TRUMBULL.  449 

on  all  the  smaller  British  craft  that  infested  the  Sound — and 
upon  Long  Island  particularly,  where  most  of  the  refugee  and 
torj  privateers  were  harbored  and  equipped.* 

Nor  did  he  forget  the  little  Marine  of  Connecticut — but, 
as  usual,  kept  the  armed  vessels  of  the  State  in  constant 
motion.  And  not  infrequently,  by  direction  of  his  Council, 
he  chartered  other  vessels  to  cruise  in  the  Sound.  Privateers, 
which  he  commissioned,  continued  to  dart  out  for  British 
prey,  whenever  they  could,  and  met,  on  the  whole,  with  great 
success. 

The  Oliver  Cromwell,  it  is  true,  was  lost  this  year — having 
been  taken — June  fifth,  off  Sandy  Hook — after  a  most  gallant 
defence  against  a  superior  British  force,  consisting  of  the  frig 
ate  Daphne,  and  one  or  two  other  smaller  British  vessels.f 
So  too  was  lost — infelicitous  reverse  indeed — that  privateer 
twenty  gun  ship  to  which  we  have  heretofore  referred,  as 
having  been  named  after  the  patriot  we  commemorate — the 
Governor  Truinbull.  While  cruising  off  the  West  Indies,  in 
March,  she  was  captured,  and  taken  into  St.  Kitts,  by  the 
Yenus — with  this  only  consolation  attending  her  loss,  that 
the  British  frigate  which  took  her  was  originally  a  patriot 
vessel,  owned  by  Massachusetts,  and  was  first  named  the 
Bunker  Hill!  Add  to  these  losses  now,  that  of  the  sloop 
Wooster,  Captain  Brintnall  of  New  Haven — of  the  sloop 
Maccaroni,  Captain  Eldridge  of  Stonington — which  were 
both  captured  and  carried  into  the  West  Indies — and  of  a 
few  other  inconsiderable  vessels  and  small  craft — and  we 
have  the  sum  total  of  prizes  which  the  enemy  made  this  year 
from  the  Connecticut  Marine — while,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
State  counted  her  prizes  taken  from  the  enemy,  by  scores. 

*  "  A  fleet,"  he  wrote  Deputy  Governor  Bowen  of  Ehode  Island,  August  ninth — 
"  is  fitting  out  at  Huntington,  of  Tories  to  come  on  another  plundering  and  burn 
ing  expedition  on  our  coasts."  This  is  an  example  of  his  watchfulness  to  secure 
information,  and  communicate  it,  for  cooperation  in  defence,  to  adjacent  States 
whose  coasts  also  were  exposed. 

t  Connecticut  had  the  mortification  of  finding  this  vessel — her  name  changed  to 
that  of  the  Restoration — advertised,  July  31st,  in  Kivingston's  Gazette,  as  then 
fitting  for  sea  "to  join  the  Associated  Eefugee  Fleet  in  Huntington  Harbor," 
with  the  intention  of  soon  paying  "a  visit  to  the  rebel  coast" — the  coast  of  the 
very  State  which  had  built  her,  and  for  which  she  had  been  employed  to  fight 
many  a  brilliant  battle  on  the  seas. 
38* 


450  CHAP.    XXXVII. — TRUMBULL.  1779. 

In  June,  no  less  than  eighteen  of  the  latter  were  libelled 
in  a  Court  of  Admiralty  held  at  New  London,  on  one  and  the 
same  day.  On  another  day,  preceding,  no  less  than  one  brig, 
three  schooners,  and  seven  prize  sloops,  with  all  their  cargoes 
and  tackle,  were  advertised  for  sale  at  public  auction.  Nine 
New- York  or  tory  privateers,  captured  between  the  first  of 
March  and  the  thirteenth  of  June — the  brig  Ranger,  a  refu 
gee  privateer  of  twelve  guns,  that  was  cut  out  from  Sag  Har 
bor  early  in  the  year — the  privateer  Ariel,  of  twelve  guns, 
also  taken — eleven  vessels  captured  in  the  spring,  all  of 
which  were  loaded  with  valuable  produce,  most  of  it  from 
the  West  Indies — a  ship  from  Liverpool  freighted,  among 
other  articles,  with  thirty  thousand  pounds  of  steel — a  rich 
ship  from  Halifax,  likewise  taken — these,  together  with  innu 
merable  smaller  prizes,  far  outbalanced  any  losses  that  Con 
necticut  sustained. 

The  American  Revenue,  the  Eagle,  Washington,  Gates,  the 
Eevenge,  Gull,  Rattlesnake,  Beaver,  Hancock,  and  Young  Crom 
well — these  privateers  particularly — spite  of  the  almost  over 
powering  presence  of  the  enemy  in  the  Sound — distinguished 
themselves  by  their  dashing  exploits,  and  amply  justified  the 
commissions  their  owners  had  received  at  the  hands  of  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull.  Armed  whaleboats  too,  by  their  descents 
on  Long  Island,  continued  to  add  much  to  the  general  stock 
of  acquisitions  from  the  enemy.  True  very  few  of  these,  as 
has  been  heretofore  intimated — on  account  of  irregularities 
which  had  crept  into  their  system  of  warfare — received  com 
missions  from  the  Governor  this  year.  Still  the  temptation 
to  retaliate  upon  the  enemy  on  the  opposite  coast  was  irre 
sistible — and  many  bold  men  ventured,  without  license,  to 
pounce  upon  the  cattle,  horses,  goods,  plate,  furniture,  and 
other  property  on  the  Island,  and  bring  them  over  to  the 
Connecticut  Main — accompanied  often  by  prisoners  whom 
they  made,  from  one  to  little  groups  of  eight,  ten,  and  thir 
teen  in  number. 


CHAPTER     XXXVIII. 
1779. 

Q-REAT  -want  of  money.  Depreciation  of  national  Bills  of  credit  deep 
ened.  Eight  millions  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  apportioned  on 
Connecticut  "by  Congress.  The  impossibility  of  raising  this  sum. 
Trumbull's  anxiety  on  the  subject— and  his  confidence  in  the  future 
ability  of  the  nation.  His  views  on  the  finances  of  the  country  shown 
in  a  letter  to  Henry  Laurens.  He  hears  from  Baron  Capellan,  asking 
for  an  American  Agent  to  reside  secretly  among  the  Dutch — and  so 
liciting  also  from  him  a  circumstantial  account  of  American  transac 
tions,  resources,  and  prospects.  Trumbull  gives  the  account  in  a  let 
ter  of  great  length  and  ability.  The  letter.  It  -was  shown  to  the  Presi 
dent  and  Members  of  Congress  before  it  was  sent,  and  was  highly  ap 
proved  Capellan  delighted  with  it  as  a  most  energetic  defence  of  the 
American  cause — and  makes  advantageous  use  of  it  to  counteract  Eng 
lish  views  and  opinions  regarding  America.  He  so  writes  Trumbull — 
and  in  his  letter  speaks  feelingly  of  himself,  and  his  own  life.  Tribute 
to  the  patriot. 

THE  addition  made  to  the  means  of  Connecticut,  from  the 
sources  indicated  at  the  close  of  our  last  chapter,  was  this 
year  felt  as  peculiarly  valuable — for  it  was  more  than  ordi 
narily  difficult  to  obtain  supplies.  Trumbull,  it  is  true,  suc 
ceeded  in  procuring  his  usual  quota  of  food  and  clothing  for 
the  country — and  closed  his  labors  in  this  respect,  in  Decem 
ber,  by  furnishing  eight  thousand  barrels  of  flour  for  the 
Continental  Army,  which  Congress  had  apportioned  on  Con 
necticut.  But  so  far  as  money  is  concerned  for  the  general 
service,  this  could  not  be  raised,  in  the  way  either  of  taxa 
tion  or  of  loans,  to  any  considerable  extent — either  in  Con 
necticut,  or  in  any  other  State — and  the  fact  gave  Trumbull 
great  anxiety. 

Such  were  the  wants,  difficulties,  and  dangers  of  the  time — 
so  sadly  was  that  great  instrument  of  the  war,  Paper  Money, 
now  depreciated — no  less  than  seventy-two  millions  of  dol 
lars  having  been  this  year  added  to  its  former  amount — so 
large  had  been  previous  -draughts  on  the  resources  of  the 
country — so  completely  deranged  was  the  course  of  regular 
industry — and  so  feeble  the  powers  of  the  General  Govern- 


452  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TRUMBULL. 


1179. 


ment — that  taxation,  under  these  circumstances,  was  almost 
wholly  impracticable.  Of  specie,  there  was  hardly  any  in 
the  country.  But  the  pitiful  sum  of  seventy-three  thousand 
dollars,  in  gold  and  silver,  reached  the  National  Exchequer 
during  the  entire  year !  How  then  could  Connecticut — these 
things  considered — be  expected  to  raise  by  taxation  the  enor 
mous  sum  of  eight  millions  and  five  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars,  with  which  she  was  charged  this  year  by  Congress,  as 
her  quota  of  the  general  expense  ?  It  was  impossible. 

Trumbull  deeply  felt  her  powerlessness  in  this  respect. 
But  he  at  the  same  time  felt,  as  ever  before,  an  abiding  con 
fidence  in  the  ability  of  his  country  ultimately  to  redeem  all 
its  pecuniary  obligations.  It  must  necessarily  increase  in 
population,  he  reasoned — in  accordance  with  the  confiding 
Congress  of  the  nation.  "Extensive  wildernesses,  now 
scarcely  known  or  explored,  remain  yet  to  be  cultivated,  and 
vast  lakes  and  rivers,  whose  waters  have  for  ages  rolled  in 
silence  and  obscurity  to  the  ocean,  have  yet  to  hear  the  din 
of  industry,  become  subservient  to  commerce,  and  boast  de 
lightful  villas,  gilded  spires,  and  spacious  cities  rising  on 
their  banks."  Such  resources  in  prospect  then,  the  national 
debt  can,  and  must  be  paid.  "Let  it  never  be  said,"  was  his 
own,  as  well  as  the  noble  language  of  Congress  at  this  peri 
od — "  let  it  never  be  said  that  America  had  no  sooner  become 
independent  than  she  became  insolvent,  or  that  her  infant 
glories  were  obscured  and  tarnished  by  broken  contracts  and 
violated  faith,  in  the  very  hour  when  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  were  admiring  and  almost  adoring  the  splendor  of  her 
rising ! "  And  his  remedy,  he  said,  for  all  the  pecuniary 
embarrassments  of  the  day,  was  embraced  in  two  words — 
"Do  Justice " — as  in  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  ad 
dressed  from  Hartford,  November  second,  1779,  to  the  Presi 
dent  of  Congress,  Henry  Laurens,  he  repeats — and  at  the 
same  time,  in  connection,  expresses  other  important  views. 

"  I  sincerely  lament  with  you,"  he  proceeds,  "  the  prospect  before  us 
respecting  our  Finances.  Yet  I  am  far  from  being  discouraged.  Wheth 
er  the  remedy  applying  by  Congress  will  prove  the  radical  cure  we  wish, 
I  will  not  absolutely  decide.*  I  wish,  however,  the  aspect  in  my  view 

*  The  remedy  to  which  Trumbull  here  alludes,  was  the  attempt  by  CongresB, 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  453 

had  a  more  favorable  appearance.  A  remedy  might  I  think  be  applied — 
a  remedy  simple,  easy,  and  perfectly  right.  In  short,  two  words  will 
express  it — Do  Justice.  If  this  remedy  in  our  present  circumstances 
cannot  have  its  full  operation,  come  as  near  to  it  as  we  can,  and  do  the 
best  we  can.  Let  our  creditors  be  assured,  in  the  most  absolute  terms, 
it  shall  be  done.  Remove  false  weights  and  measures.  Fix  the  curren 
cy,  if  circumstances  will  admit — if  not,  fix  on  some  standard  measure  by 
which  the  variation  may  be  ascertained — and  let  the  variation  be  con 
stantly  made  up.*  Continue  the  present  currency  a  legal  tender  to  all 
intents  and  purposes — but  when  so  used,  let  the  quantity  tendered  make 
up  the  quality  or  value.  Make  good  all  contracts,  equal  to  the  value 
contracted.  Remove  the  deception  of  sounds,  and  let  not  nominal  value 
attempt  to  drown  the  idea  of  intrinsic  worth.  In  short,  use  this  substi 
tute  for  money  as  it  ought  to  be  used — measuring  it  by  some  real  stand 
ard.  In  this  track  I  think  our  political  safety  must  be  secured.  We 
have  tried  too  many  devious  paths  already.  The  more  we  deviate,  the 
more  we  stray.  The  only  sure  way,  in  my  mind,  is  the  simple  road  of 
justice  and  equity,  as  near  as  we  can  practice  it — and  in  that  only  shall 
we  find  our  security. 

"  Great  resources  to  relieve  our  coming  necessity  might  be  found  from 
internal  loans,  were  these  loans  on  a  proper  footing.  How  long  are  the 
lenders  to  want  the  assurance  that  the  value  lent  shall  be  repaid,  or  se 
cured  ?  Was  this  assurance  given  in  the  most  positive  terms,  the  pres 
ent  creditors  would  be  perfectly  easy,  and  might  be  induced  to  trust 
large  further  sums.  Till  that  takes  place,  I  think  all  prospects  from 
loans  must  fail." 

The  views  on  finance,  which,  in  this  letter  to  Laurens,  Trum- 
bull  presents,  and  his  firm  conviction  also  of  the  ability  of 
the  country  to  redeem  its  plighted  faith,  were  repeated  by 
him  this  year,  in  various  forms,  to  numerous  other  corres 
pondents,  both  at  home  and  abroad — and  among  those  abroad 

this  year,  to  call  in  and  destroy  two  of  its  emissions  of  Bills  of  credit — one  of 
1777,  and  one  of  1778 — and  at  the  same  time  to  impose  heavy  taxes,  and  estab 
lish  a  prospective  sinking  fund. 

*"Is  there  no  means  to  prevent  the  farther  depreciation  of  our  currency" — 
inquired  Trumbull,  writing  Congress  September  sixth,  and  again  urging  taxa 
tion.  " Can  there  be  no  radical  cure?  The  measures  used  formerly,  in  the  case 
of  the  old  Tenor  bills,  answered  the  end  at  that  time — why  not  at  the  present  ? 
The  bills  are  of  the  nature  of  Tallies,  that  each  individual  may  know  and  bear 
his  burden  in  equal  proportion.  An  appreciation  will  prove  more  pernicious 
than  depreciation.  Justice  ought  to  be  sought  for  and  done  to  all,  as  far  as  is 
possible.  Taxation  is  an  infallible  remedy.  A  tax  nominally  high  is  as  easily 
borne  as  one  of  a  lower  denomination,  where  the  value  is  the  same.  'Tis  always 
best  to  pay  our  debts,  when  the  means  for  doing  it  are  in  our  power,  which  is 
assuredly  the  case  while  the  bills,  or  tallies,  are  so  equally  distributed." 


454  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1779. 

to  no  one  so  fully  and  earnestly  as  to  Baron  Yan  der  Capel- 
lan  in  Holland — that  ardent  friend  to  America,  and  to  the 
cause  of  liberty  in  general,  to  whom  we  have  heretofore  re 
ferred.  This  will  appear  in  the  course  of  a  letter,  mainly 
upon  other  topics,  which  we  are  now  about  to  introduce  to 
our  readers.  It  is  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  important  that 
ever  came  from  the  hands  of  Trumbull,  and  with  it  we  shall 
close  our  review  of  his  life  for  the  present  year.  To  appre 
ciate  this  document  fully,  however,  some  preliminary  re 
marks  and  statements  are  necessary — to  which  we  now  invite 
attention. 

In  a  letter  to  Trumbull,  dated  Amsterdam,  July  sixth, 
1779,  Capellan  assures  the  Governor  of  his  still  unwavering 
attachment  to  the  American  struggle  for  Independence,  and 
of  his  endeavors  still  to  promote  the  same  both  by  his 
"  mouth  and  pen."  And  in  proof  of  his  sincerity — at  a  time 
when  the  conciliation  of  Holland — both  for  the  sake  of  her 
pecuniary  aid,  and  of  commercial  and  political  alliance — was 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  United  States — but  when, 
unfortunately,  the  English  party  and  influence  were  still  pre 
dominating  there,  and  wholly  false  accounts  of  the  situation 
and  resources  of  America  were  everywhere  rife — at  this  criti 
cal  time  he  urged  upon  Trumbull — as  he  did  also  upon  Gov 
ernor  Livingston  of  New-Jersey* — the  appointment  of  some 
able  agent  from  the  United  States  to  go  over  and  reside 
among  the  Dutch.  There,  privately  for  awhile — "under  the 
rose"  as  Capellan  expressed  it — he  wished  him  to  form  useful 
connections,  become  acquainted  with  the  language  and  dispo 
sitions  of  the  country,  and  promote  the  interests  of  America, 
until  such  time  as  circumstances  might  allow  him  to  appear 
openly  in  a  public  character.f 

At  the  same  time  that  Capellan  urged  upon  Trumbull  this 

*  Capellan  refers  to  Livingston  in  his  letter  to  Trumbull,  and  says  that  he  has 
desired  the  former  to  communicate  specially  with  the  Governor  of  Connecticut 
upon  the  subject  of  his  epistle. 

t "  Congress,"  wrote  Capellan,  "  would  do  well  to  send  over,  the  sooner  the 
better,  a  gentleman  of  distinction  and  capacity,  to  be  incognito  among  us,  and  as 
a  private  gentleman  to  form  connections  and  acquaintances,  to  obtain  a  sufficient 
knowledge  of  the  maxims,  dispositions,  and  even  language  of  the  country,  and  at 
the  same  time  promote  the  interests  of  America  (under  the  rose)  until  the  proper 
season  arrive  openly  to  appear  in  and  assume  his  public  character." 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  455 

scheme — and  upon  other  occasions  also — he  warmly  solicited 
the  Governor,  himself  to  prepare  and  send  over  to  him  a  cir 
cumstantial  account  of  American  transactions,  resources,  and 
prospects — in  order  that  upon  information  thus  obtained,  he 
might  be  fully  armed  to  resist  English  statements,  ideas,  and 
influence  in  Holland,  and  better  aid  the  rising  Republic  of 
the  New  World  to  take  her  place  among  the  free  and  inde 
pendent  nations  of  the  earth.* 

With  this  request  Trumbull  complied  in  a  letter  of  great 
lengthf — in  which  he  describes  New  England,  and  the  origin 
and  progress  of  the  Revolutionary  War — shows  that  the  Brit 
ish  are  masters  of  but  little  more  than  they  possessed  at  the 
outbreak  of  this  war — and  replies  most  fully  to  all  the  leading 
false  reports  against  his  country.  He  compliments  Dutch 
valor,  and,  advantageously  for  the  United  States,  compares  the 
Dutch  and  American  contests  for  liberty.  He  describes  the 
American  governments,  soil,  climate,  productions,  and  induce 
ments  for  settlement.  He  treats  of  the  Continental  currency, 
and  American  indebtedness — and  concludes  with  a  grateful 
reference  to  Capellan's  generous  exertions  in  Holland,  and 
with  some  allusions  to  his  own,  the  writer's  family.:): 

It  is  a  document  full  of  value  to  the  cause  of  that  abused 

*  "A  description  of  the  present  state  and  advantages  of  United  America," 
says  Capellan  in  his  letter  to  Trumbull — "  of  the  forms  of  government  in  its 
different  republics  ;  of  the  facility  with  which  strangers  can  there  establish  them 
selves,  and  find  subsistence ;  of  the  price  of  lands,  both  cultivated  and  unim 
proved  ;  of  cattle,  provisions,  &c. ;  with  a  succinct  history  of  the  present  war, 
and  the  cruelties  committed  by  the  English,  would  excite  astonishment  in  a 
country  where  America  is  known  but  through  the  medium  of  gazettes." — "I 
shall  be  much  honored,"  he  wrote,  "with  your  Excellency's  correspondence, 
which  in  future  I  intend  (as  good  as  I  can,)  to  answer  in  English." 

t  It  fills  thirty  printed  pages  in  Volume  sixth,  Series  of  the  Massachusetts  His 
torical  Society's  Collections. 

J  "Another  cause  of  distrust,  in  relation  to  the  credit  of  America,  is  the  false 
intelligence  which  the  English  incessantly  circulate,  and  the  effect  of  which  the 
friends  of  the  Americans  cannot  destroy,  from  want  of  information.  It  would  be 
of  the  last  importance  to  enable  them,  by  authentic  relations,  which  should  con 
tain  nothing  but  what  was  precisely  true,  and  in  which  even  the  disadvantages 
inseparable  from  the  chance  of  war,  should  not  be  concealed,  to  enable  them,  I 
say,  from  time  to  time,  to  give  an  idea  of  the  actual  state  of  things,  and  of  what 
is  really  passing  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean.  If  you  choose,  Sir,  to  honor  me 
with  such  a  correspondence,  be  assured  that  I  shall  make  a  proper  use  of  it. 
Communications,  apparently  in  confidence,  have  much  stronger  influence  than 
those  which  appear  in  public." — Capellan1 s  Letter. 


456  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TEUMBULL. 

and  suffering  country,  for  whose  particular  vindication  it  was 
written.  It  will  compare  most  favorably  in  point  of  ability, 
and  is  in  its  general  nature  and  aim  the  same,  with  that  cele 
brated  Memorial,  which,  at  a  little  later  period — in  1781 — 
John  Adams  addressed  to  the  States  General  of  Holland,  in 
order  to  promote  their  recognition  of  American  Independ 
ence.  It  was  shown  to  the  President  and  Members  of  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  ere  it  was  sent  abroad — was 
by  them  highly  approved — and  with  their  "knowledge  and 
consent,"  as  we  are  assured  by  Capellan,  was  transmitted  to 
himself.* 

Let  those  who  read  it  now,  we  would  further  remark,  not 
fail  to  bear  fully  in  mind  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  written — that  the  period  of  its  composition  was  one  of 
deepest  anxiety  for  the  American  cause  abroad — that  the 
Cabinet  of  Great  Britain,  as  already  intimated,  was  busy 
poisoning  the  mind  of  Europe,  and  particularly  of  Holland, 
with  the  idea  that  America — from  divisions  and  factions  in 
her  Congress  and  among  her  people,  from  discord  between 
the  French  and  Americans,  from  a  rapid  increase  of  royalists, 
from  her  depreciated  currency,  ruined  credit,  and  almost  total 
lack  of  resources — could  not  much  longer  maintain  her  con 
test  for  Independence — nay  was,  upon  the  whole,  disinclined 
to  persist  in  it — and  that,  therefore,  neither  Holland,  or  any 
other  European  country,  ought  to  look  with  an  eye  of  pity, 
least  of  all  with  a  helping  hand,  upon  her  condition  of 
revolt. 

Add  to  these  circumstances  the  consideration,  that — spite 
of  all  these  efforts  of  Great  Britain — there  was  a  growing 

*  A  part  of  it  also  was  placed  under  the  inspection  of  the  Minister  of  France 
at  Philadelphia,  the  Chevalier  de  Luzerne — with  what  comment  upon  it,  on  his 
part,  we  do  not  learn.  Trumbull  was  in  the  hahit  of  transmitting  important 
letters  from  Capellan,  to  Congress,  by  which  Body  they  were  carefully  scanned. 
Writing  to  its  President  Sept.  6th,  1779,  he  says :  "I  have  lately  received  an  an 
swer  to  my  letter  of  the  27th  June,  1777,  addressed  to  Baron  Van  der  Capellan. 
Enclosed  is  his  original  with  its  enclosures,  written  in  French.  *  *  Enclosed 
is  a  packet  for  him,  prepared  in  answer — left  open  for  Congress  and  your  observ 
ation — to  communicate  so  far  as  you  think  fit  and  prudent.  Please  to  seal  and 
forward  the  same  by  the  first  good  conveyance.  I  entertain  raised  expectations 
of  some  solid  benefit  to  the  public  from  this  nobleman.  Money  and  goods  may 
be  had  most  advantageously  from  the  Hollanders." 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  457 

disposition  in  Holland  to  favor  America* — that  her  mer 
chants,  particularly,  were  all  anxious  to  share  in  that  com 
merce  which  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  would 
open  to  the  world,  and  were  at  this  period  deeply  irritated  at 
the  aggressions  which  England  had  committed  upon  their 
trade  in  naval  stores  with  France — and  we  have  a  series  of 
facts  which  cannot  fail  to  render  the  document  we  are  now 
about  to  present,  of  absorbing  interest  to  those  who  will  pe 
ruse  it.  Surely  it  was  of  vital  importance  to  secure  on  the 
side  of  the  American  Revolution — and  against  its  armed 
foe — a  Sovereignty  so  distinguished  as  Holland  then  was — 
she  being  rich  in  resources,  and  one  of  the  first  and  most 
formidable  maritime  Powers  of  Europe.  It  is  to  this  end 
that  the  letter  of  Trumbull  is  directed.  Let  us  proceed  now 
to  look  at  it.  It  is  dated  "Lebanon,  Aug.  1779,"  and  thus 
opens : — 

"Dear  Sir.  I  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  your  first  and  triplicate  letter,  dated  7th  December,  1778;  the  former 
came  to  hand  the  18th  instant,  the  latter  about  three  weeks  ago  by  Capt. 
Niles,  from  France.  The  duplicate  came  to  Philadelphia ;  Mr.  Erkelaus 
took  it,  and  unhappily  irrecoverably  lost  it  in  Connecticut  River,  to  his 
and  my  grief.  I  do  sincerely  thank  you  for  the  communication ;  and 
your  kind  offer  of  correspondence  is  very  freely  embraced.  The  letters  I 
sent,  I  feared  were  not  received,  or  neglected.  Col.  Derks  kindly  offered 
to  see  the  quadruplicate  delivered.  That  gentleman's  polite  and  agree 
able  behaviour  and  disposition  inclined  me  to  make  another  attempt,  to  be 
sure  of  its  delivery.  Before  the  receipt  of  that,  sent  by  him,  I  am  agree 
ably  entertained  by  yours.  In  consequence,  I  shall  embrace  every  op 
portunity  to  carry  on  a  correspondence,  which,  I  trust,  may  be  mutually 
acceptable,  and  prove  beneficial  to  the  public,  especially  to  this  spring 
ing  in  the  wilds  of  America." 

The  Governor  goes  on  now  to  describe  succinctly,  yet  with 
great  accuracy,  the  early  settlement  of  New  England — the 
first  hostilities  at  Lexington,  Concord,  and  Bunker  Hill — the 
establishment  by  Congress  of  an  army — the  taking  of  Crown 
Point  and  Ticonderoga — and  the  military  affairs  in  Canada, 

*  "  The  people  of  Holland  begin  to  think  now  more  favorably  of  America," 
wrote  Capellan  at  this  period—"  so  that  this  would  be  the  very  time  to  establish 
its  rising  credit." 


458  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TKUMBULL.  1779. 

before  Quebec  and  elsewhere,  under  Montgomery,  Arnold, 
and  Schuyler.  He  sketches  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  with 
its  military  causes — the  defeat  of  General  Clinton  in  South 
Carolina — the  naval  fight  under  Arnold  on  Lake  Champlain, 
and  the  subsequent  retreat  and  despondency  of  the  American 
Army.  He  notes  the  Declaration  of  Independence — the  mili 
tary  proceedings  at  New  York,  and  Battle  of  Long  Island— 
the  retreat  of  the  American  Army  through  New  Jersey — 
their  return  and  victories — the  Expedition  for  Philadelphia, 
and  Battle  of  Brandywine.  Leaving  the  British  in  quiet 
possession  of  the  metropolis  of  America,  he  proceeds  to  out 
line  the  Northern  Campaign,  and  surrender  of  General  Bur- 
goyne — the  Treaty  with  France — the  evacuation  of  Philadel 
phia — the  military  proceedings  and  battles  at  Newport, 
Ehode  Island — the  military  events  in  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina — the  expedition  of  the  enemy  up  the  North  Eiver — 
their  plundering  and  burning  expeditions  to  Newhaven, 
Fairfield,  and  Norwalk,  in  Connecticut — the  recapture  of 
Stony  Point  by  General  Wayne — the  expedition  to  Penob- 
scot — and  the  defeat  of  the  English  in  the  West  Indies  by 
Count  D'Estaign.  His  description  of  these  events,  because 
of  their  great  familiarity  to  the  Eeader,  we  do  not  here  pre 
sent — but  proceed  with  his  letter  from  this  point. 

"  The  foregoing  account,"  he  continues,  "  gives  you  a  general  idea  of 
the  operations  of  the  war,  in  which,  notwithstanding  their  many  con 
quests,  whether  boasted  or  real,  you  find  the  British  actually,  at  this  day, 
masters  of  little  more  than  they  first  possessed.  New  York,  Staten  Is 
land,  Long  Island,  Rhode  Island,  Savannah  in  Georgia,  and  Penobscot 
in  Massachusetts,  are  the  extent  of  their  present  dominions,  all  of  which, 
you  will  naturally  remark,  owe  their  preservation  much  more  to  the  navy, 
whose  superiority  we  have  no  power  to  dispute,  than  to  the  army,  whom 
we  are  now  ready  to  meet  in  the  field. 

"  I  can  well  conceive  the  address  and  perseverance  of  our  enemies,  in 
disseminating  false  and  disgraceful  reports  of  our  resources  and  move 
ments  ;  but  a  very  little  knowledge  of  mankind  will  be  sufficient  to  teach 
even  the  most  simple,  what  confidence  is  to  be  reposed  in  the  assertions 
of  those,  whose  actions  are  seen  to  deviate  widely  from  every  rule  of 
right.  They  assert,  that  '  of  32,000  electors  of  Congress,  only  600  have 
taken  the  oath  of  abjuration.'  But  I  affirm  to  the  world,  that  only  in  the 
little  state  over  which  I  have  the  honor  to  preside,  there  are  10,000  elect 
ors,  every  one  of  whom  has  abjured  his  allegiance  to  the  king  of  Great 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  459 

Britain,  and  sworn  to  support  with  his  life  and  fortune  the  liberties  and 
independence  of  his  country — these  oaths  being  one  established  and  irre 
vocable  condition  on  which  the  right  of  election  is  founded.  They  assert 
that  'the  people  are  disgusted  with  the  measures  of  the  new  Congress.' 
On  the  contrary,  the  recommendations,  only,  of  this  worthy  body  of  men, 
have  every  effect  of  laws,  in  guiding  the  actions  of  their  constituents; 
and  it  may  be  truly  said,  that  they  have  taken  no  one  material  step, 
which  has  not  been  received  with  the  most  hearty  approbation.  It  would 
be  strange  indeed,  and  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of  mankind,  if,  in  the 
establishment  of  a  new  empire,  under  the  numberless  embarrassments 
through  which  we  have  struggled,  no  errors  had  been  committed  which 
an  after  prudence  might  find  to  correct. 

"  *  The  number  of  royalists  is  said  to  have  increased  with  rapidity.' 
General  Johnson  should  have  learned  to  discriminate  between  people  who 
voluntarily  declare  in  favor  of  a  party,  and  those  whom  misfortune  re 
duces  to  the  necessity  of  partial  and  temporary  submission  to  avoid  the 
horrible  alternative  of  fire,  captivity,  and  slaughter.  Experience,  or  his 
tory  might  have  taught  him,  that  a  submission,  thus  forced,  is  but  the 
prelude  to  revenge ;  if  he  demands  example,  let  him  look  at  New  Jer 
sey,  or  the  modern  instances  of  Georgia,  Carolina,  and  Connecticut. 

" '  Discord  already  reigns  between  the  French  and  Americans,  and 
even  among  the  Americans  themselves.'  Let  the  French  gentlemen,  who 
have  been  in  America,  relate  the  reception  they  have  met  with  in  this 
country ;  or  inquire  of  my  countrymen  what  treatment  they  receive  in 
France.  The  answer  will  decide  on  individual  affection ;  and  the  une 
quivocal  conduct  of  the  Courts  of  France  and  Spain  leave  as  little  doubt 
of  the  subsistence  of  national  harmony.  For  ourselves,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  war,  the  southern  and  northern  States  were  almost  as 
unacquainted  as  two  different  nations ;  but  now,  not  only  political,  but 
individual  union  subsists  on  the  firmest,  most  amicable  foundations. 

" '  That  many  of  the  States  are  on  the  point  of  following  the  example 
of  Georgia,  Carolina,  and  Connecticut,  in  returning  to  their  allegiance,' 
is  an  assertion  too  impudently  false,  almost,  to  merit  an  answer.  How 
ever,  let  the  present  state  of  Georgia  and  Carolina,  let  the  late  opposi 
tion  of  two  or  three  hundred  raw,  surprised  militia,  and  the  children  of 
a  college  at  Newhaven,  to  as  many  thousand  veteran  troops  in  the 
field,  and  the  precipitate  retreat  of  those  veterans  in  less  than  eighteen 
hours,  be  considered,  and  I  will  grant  that  America,  in  general,  is  upon 
the  point  of  returning  to  her  allegiance  in  the  very  same  manner. 

"  The  history  which  you  already  have,  of  the  operations  and  misfor 
tunes  of  the  war,  with  their  causes,  furnishes  a  ready  answer  to  the  in 
quiries  of  your  countrymen,  and  gives  the  true  reason  why  '  we  did  not 
improve  the  opportunity  of  General  Burgoyne's  defeat,  and  the  support 
of  Count  D'Estaign,  to  dispossess  our  enemy,  entirely,  of  the  small  part 
of  the  continent  which  still  groans  under  their  dominion.'  It  was  want 
of  power.  New  York,  Newport,  and  Penobscot,  with  the  islands,  are  to 


460  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TKUMBULL.  1719. 

us  real  Gibraltars,  impossible  to  be  reduced  so  long  as  the  enemy  com 
mand  the  seas  ;  and  this  command  we  can  have  no  power  to  dispute  for 
many  years  to  come,  except  by  the  support  of  our  allies. 

"  I  acknowledge,  my  dear  Sir,  that  no  one  action  of  the  present  war 
merits  any  comparison  to  the  fury,  and  the  rage  of  valor,  which  was  dis 
played  at  the  sieges  of  Harlem,  Leyden,  &c.,  and  which  rendered  your 
ancestors  so  justly,  so  illustriously  celebrated.  But  when  we  compare 
the  circumstances  of  the  two  countries,  perhaps  we  may  be  induced  to 
believe,  that  the  collective  conduct  of  the  present  has  been,  by  no  means, 
less  arduous  than  that  of  the  former  war. 

"  At  the  time  of  your  revolt,  Holland  might  already  be  called  old  in 
population,  in  government,  in  war,  and  in  arts.  Your  country,  though 
not  of  wide  extent,  was  crowded  with  cities  and  inhabitants.  You  had 
many  men  of  extensive  knowledge  and  experience :  your  people  were  in 
ured  to  the  fatigues  and  discipline  of  war,  by  land  and  sea.  Cultivation 
and  manufactures  were,  by  you,  carried  to  an  height  of  perfection  un 
known  to  almost  any  part  of  the  world :  trade  and  commerce  you  had 
almost  engrossed  to  yourselves :  your  cities  and  harbors  were  already 
covered  with  extensive  and  very  strong  fortifications :  and  to  these  must 
be  added,  your  real  dominion  over  the  seas,  whether  on  the  ocean,  where 
your  fleets  were  nearly  equal,  if  not  almost  superior  to  those  of  your 
enemy,  or  by  your  inundations,  which  formed  a  new,  and  absolutely  un 
conquerable  style  of  defence.  On  the  other  hand,  we  see  America  al 
most  in  a  state  of  infancy.  We  are  three  millions  of  inhabitants  indeed, 
but  thinly  scattered  over  an  immense  country,  whose  extent  on  the  sea  is 
not  less  than  fifteen  hundred  miles,  and  to  the  back  country  more  than 
three  hundred ;  destitute  of  a  single  fortified  town,  or  the  engineers,  the 
men,  or  the  revenue,  necessary  for  works  of  the  kind ;  without  a  civil 
officer  informed  in  independent  government,  or  a  military  of  higher  rank 
than  a  colonel  of  irregulars ;  without  almost  a  man  who  had  ever  served 
on  board  a  ship  of  war,  or  in  a  disciplined  army.  Cultivation  is,  from 
the  youth  of  the  country,  but  very  imperfect ;  and  manufactures,  espe 
cially  of  arms,  ammunition,  and  the  requisites  of  war,  from  the  policy  of 
our  connections,  were  almost  unknown  in  the  smallest  degree.  These 
are  disadvantages,  which  already  form  a  striking  contrast  to  the  re 
sources  of  Holland,  and  might  have  well  been  sufficient  to  deter  the  most 
heroic  people  from  an  attempt,  which,  thus  embarrassed,  reason  would 
almost  stamp  with  the  character  of  madness  and  despair. 

14  But  let  us  go  further,  and  compare  our  naval  situation  with  yours  (to 
say  nothing  of  the  advantage  derived  from  your  inundation.)  Our  com 
merce  has  always  been  so  cautiously  restricted  to  our  mother-country, 
that  we  were  almost  unknown,  by  name,  to  the  other  nations  of  the 
earth.  Thus  destitute  of  commercial  connections,  or  political  acquaint 
ance,  we  had,  at  first,  little  to  expect  from  the  friendship  or  alliance  of 
strangers ;  while  the  same  mediocrity  of  commerce,  in  itself,  deprived 
us  of  seamen,  the  soul  of  a  marine.  In  fine,  there  was  not,  at  the  com- 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TBUMBULL.  461 

mencement  of  the  war,  a  single  armed  ship  on  the  continent,  to  defend, 
even  the  smallest  point  of  our  vast  extended  coast,  against  a  navy,  which, 
but  a  few  years  before,  had  triumphed  over  the  united  powers  of  the 
world.  The  innumerable  .misfortunes,  which  were  the  inseparable  con 
sequence  of  this  inferiority,  are  obvious ;  it  was  impossible  to  combat  to 
advantage  an  enemy  who  could  thus,  in  a  moment,  evade  an  attack,  and 
transport  himself  to  a  thousand  different  defenceless  quarters  of  the 
country.  Devastation  and  plunder  were  continually  in  his  power,  while 
supplies,  of  ammunition,  and  military  stores,  were  almost  more  precari 
ous  from  abroad  than  the  manufacture  of  them  was  unknown  at  home. 
Thus  friendless,  and  thus  destitute  of  resources,  the  maxims  of  Fa- 
bius  were  necessarily  adopted,  and  we  have  hitherto  'conquered  by 
delaying.' 

"  You  will  find  in  the  enclosed  answers  to  the  inquiries  of  the  British 
Court,  an  accurate  description  of  the  form  of  government,  population, 
soil,  climate,  produce,  and  trade  of  the  State  of  Connecticut.  The  gov 
ernments  of  the  other  States  are  founded  on  democratic  principles  like 
wise,  and  nearly  similar  to  ours ;  most  of  them  are  already  established, 
though  some  (from  peculiar  difficulties  of  situation,)  are  still  scarcely 
arranged. 

"  The  climate,  the  soil,  and  the  productions  of  a  continent,  extending 
from  the  thirtieth  to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  latitude,  and  in  longitude 
an  unknown  width,  are  various  beyond  description,  and  the  objects  of 
trade  consequently  unbounded.  There  is  scarce  a  manufacture,  whether 
in  the  useful  or  ornamental  part  of  life,  of  which  you  will  not  find  the 
materials,  collected,  as  it  were,  in  an  immense  magazine.  In  every  req 
uisite  for  naval  armaments  we  abound  :  our  forests  yielding  prodigious 
quantities  of  timber  and  spars ;  our  mountains  vast  masses  of  iron,  cop 
per,  and  lead ;  and  our  fields  producing  ample  crops  of  flax  and  hemp. 
Provisions  of  all  kinds  are  raised  in  much  greater  quantities  than  are 
necessary  for  our  own  consumption  ;  and  our  wheat,  our  rye,  our  cattle, 
and  our  pork,  yield  to  none  in  the  world  for  quality. 

"The  price  of  cultivated  lands  is  by  no  means  extravagant;  and  of 
uncultivated,  trifling ;  twelve  thousand  acres,  situated  most  advan 
tageously  for  future  business,  selling  for  three  hundred  guineas  English, 
i.  e.,  little  more  than  sixpence  sterling  the  acre.  Our  interests  and  our 
laws  teach  us  to  receive  strangers,  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  with 
open  arms.  The  poor,  the  unfortunate,  the  oppressed,  from  every  coun 
try,  will  here  find  a  ready  asylum ;  and  by  uniting  their  interests  with 
ours,  enjoy  in  common  with  us  all  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  plenty. 
Neither  difference  of  nation,  of  language,  of  manners,  or  of  religion,  will 
lessen  the  cordiality  of  their  reception,  among  a  people  whose  religion 
teaches  them  to  regard  all  mankind  as  their  brethren. 

"  The  only  obstacle  which  I  foresee  to  the  settlement  of  foreigners  in 
this  country,  will  be  the  taxes,  which  must  inevitably,  for  a  time,  run 
high,  for  the  payment  of  the  debts  contracted  during  the  present  war. 
39* 


462  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1779. 

Those,  indeed,  will  be  much  lightened  by  the  care  which  has  been  taken 
to  confine  these  debts,  as  much  as  possible,  among  ourselves,  and  by 
emitting  a  paper  currency  in  place  of  borrowing  from  abroad.  But  this 
method,  though  it  secures  the  country  from  being  drained,  hereafter,  of 
immense  sums  of  solid  coin,  which  can  never  return,  has  exposed  us  to 
a  new  and  very  disagreeable  embarrassment  by  its  monstrous  deprecia 
tion — an  evil  which  had  its  rise  in,  and  owes  all  its  rapid  increase  to,  the 
single  cause  of  our  not  having  provided,  at  a  sufficiently  early  period,  for 
its  reduction  and  payment  by  taxes.  This  measure  was  indeed  rendered 
impracticable,  at  the  proper  time,  by  the  radical  derangement  of  the  sys 
tem  of  government,  and  consequently  of  revenue,  in  many  of  the  United 
States ;  and  its  necessary  delay,  till  the  removal  of  these  impediments, 
gave  time  for  avarice  and  suspicion  to  unite  in  sapping  the  foundations 
of  our  internal  credit.  Many  methods  have  been  attempted  for  the  pre 
vention  of  a  further  depreciation ;  and  among  others,  the  regulation  of 
prices  and  markets  has  been  repeatedly  essayed ;  but  all  efforts  of  the 
kind  must  forever  prove  fruitless,  Mrhile  they  do  not  strike  at  a  radical 
cure ;  and  the  evil,  after  each  momentary  restraint,  springs  up,  like  the 
hydra's  head,  redoubled  and  renewed  in  vigor ;  each  new  attempt  con 
stantly  evincing  to  us,  what  we  ought  at  first  to  have  received  as  a  fixed 
principle,  that  the  value  of  money,  whether  real  or  artificial,  will  forever 
be  determined  by  the  proportion  of  its  own  quantity  to  the  quantity  of 
all  the  objects  of  trade  in  the  country  where  it  is  current. 

"  Taxes,  therefore,  are  now  adopted,  and  the  evil  seems  at  a  stand.* 
The  continuation  of  this  system,  and  stopping  the  emission  of  additional 
sums,  we  now  begin  universally  to  acknowledge  as  the  only  effectual 
remedy ;  and  the  increasing  union  of  sentiment,  which  pervades  all 
classes  of  men,  will  soon  produce  the  desired  effect.  The  danger  of  ex 
travagant  taxes,  indeed,  is  much  more  imaginary  than  real.  We  have 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  for  four 

*  This  was  particularly  true  as  regards  Connecticut.  "Washington,  in  a  letter 
to  Edmund  Pendleton,  Nov.  1st,  1779,  after  alluding  to  the  "capital  injury"  to 
the  country  from  the  depreciation  of  the  Continental  money,  thus,  with  a  com 
pliment  to  the  State  over  which  Trumbull  presided,  urges  the  restoration  of 
public  credit. 

Let  the  enemy,  he  says,-"  once  see,  that,  as  it  is  in  our  power,  so  it  is  our  in 
clination  and  our  intention,  to  overcome  this  difficulty,  and  the  idea  of  con 
quest,  or  hope  of  bringing  us  back  to  a  state  of  dependence,  will  vanish  like 
the  morning  dew.  They  can  no  more  encounter  this  kind  of  opposition,  than 
the  hoar  frost  can  withstand  the  rays  of  the  all-cheering  sun.  The  liberty  and 
safety  of  this  country  depend  upon  it.  The  way  is  plain,  the  means  are  in  our 
power.  But  it  is  virtiie  alone  that  can  effect  it.  For  without  this,  heavy  taxes 
frequently  collected  (the  only  radical  cure,)  and  loans,  are  not  to  be  obtained. 
Where  this  has  been  the  policy,  in  Connecticut  for  instance,  the  prices  of  every 
article  have  fallen,  and  the  money  consequently  is  in  demand ;  but  in  other 
States  you  can  scarcely  get  a  thing  for  it ;  and  yet  it  is  withheld  from  the  public 
by  speculators,  while  everything  that  can  be  useful  is  engrossed  by  this  tribe  of 
black  gentry,  who  work  more  effectually  against  us  than  the  enemy's  arms." 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVIII.— TEUMBULL.  463 

years.  These  expenses  are  almost  entirely  within  ourselves ;  and  one 
hundred  bushels  of  wheat  will  at  this  day  discharge  the  pay  of  a  man  as 
readily  as  at  the  commencement  of  the  war.  What  matters  it  then  (so 
long  as  our  country  continues  to  produce  an  equal  quantity  of  essential 
wealth,)  whether  that  wheat  is  nominally  called  one  hundred  pounds,  or 
an  hundred  shillings  ?  The  real  value  (that  is  in  any  foreign  market,  or 
in  solid  coin,)  is  still  the  same,  however  we  may  vary  the  denomination 
of  our  internal  currency. 

"  You  find  I  am  not  an  advocate  for  internal  or  foreign  loans ;  in  my 
opinion,  they  are  like  cold  water  in  a  fever,  which  allays  the  disease  for  a 
moment,  but  soon  causes  it  to  rage  with  redoubled  activity ;  temporary 
alleviations,  but  ultimately  real  additions  to  the  burden.  The  debts 
which  we  have  already  contracted,  or  may  hereafter  be  necessitated  to 
contract  abroad,  I  have  no  doubt  but  will  be  paid  with  the  utmost  punc 
tuality  and  honor ;  and  there  can  be  no  surer  foundation  of  credit  than 
we  possess  in  the  rapidly  increasing  value  and  importance  of  our  country. 

"  Indeed  it  is  not  so  much  my  wish,  that  the  United  States  should 
gain  credit  among  foreign  nations,  for  the  loan  of  money,  as  that  all  na 
tions,  and  especially  your  countrymen  in  Holland,  should  be  made  ac 
quainted  with  the  real  state  of  the  American  War.  The  importance  and 
greatness  of  this  rising  empire,  the  future  extensive  value  of  our  com 
merce,  and  the  advantage  of  colonization,  are  objects  which  need  only  to 
be  known,  to  command  your  attention,  protection,  and  support. 

u  Your  k  Tertia,'  with  its  enclosures,  will  (together  with  this,)  be  imme 
diately  forwarded  to  Congress,  where,  I  doubt  not,  the  services  you  have 
already  rendered  this  country,  and  the  affectionate  attachment  you  are 
pleased  to  testify  to  our  interests,  will  meet  that  acknowledgment  of 
gratitude  which  pity  and  relief  demand  in  return  from  the  unfortunate. 

"  Give  me  leave,  most  sincerely,  to  express  my  grief  that  the  efforts 
you  have  made  for  the  removal  of  oppression  in  your  own  country,  and 
for  extending  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  plenty  to  the  poor,  should  have 
met  with  so  ungrateful  a  return  of  persecution  and  insult.  Unhappy 
state  of  man !  where  opulence  and  power  conspire  to  load  the  poor,  the 
defenceless,  and  the  innocent,  with  accumulated  misery !  where  an  un 
worthy  few  join  to  embitter  the  life  of  half  their  fellow-men,  that  they 
may  wallow  in  the  excess  of  luxurious  debauch,  or  shine  in  the  splendid 
trappings  of  folly! 

"  Go  on,  however,  my  dear  Sir ;  continue  to  assert  the  liberties  of 
mankind,  and  support  the  cause  of  this  injured  and  unfortunate  country. 
And  may  heaven,  in  return  for  your  generous,  benevolent,  and  virtuous 
exertions,  crown  your  life  with  the  enjoyment  of  every  public  and  do 
mestic  blessing.  And  if  future  events  should  render  it  convenient  or 
agreeable  to  you  to  visit  this  new  world,  and  share  with  us  the  enjoyment 
of  universal  freedom,  may  you  be  happy. 

"  For  myself,  sixty-nine  years  which  I  have  already  lived,  allow  me 
but  a  few  days  at  best,  of  which  I  can  even  hope  for  the  enjoyment. 


464  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TRUMBULL. 


1779. 


But  I  have  children,  in  whom  I  am  happy  to  anticipate  an  elongation  of 
life ;  and  in  whom,  you  may  be  assured,  you  will  meet  with  faithful 
friends,  though  you  should  not  chance  to  see,  My  dear  Sir,  your  most 
obliged,  most  obedient,  and  grateful  humble  servant, 

"  JONATHAN  TEUMBULL." 

To  the  letter  from  Trumbull  now  given,  Capellan  replied, 
from  Zwoll,  early  in  December  of  the  present  year.  He  was 
"  delighted,"  he  said,  with  the  communication.  He  had  made 
it  known,  "  with  discretion,"  in  Amsterdam — down  to  De 
cember  "without  giving  any  copies  "—he  reported — and  it 
had  made  "  a  strong  impression  "  upon  all  who  read  it.  "  All 
regret,"  he  added,  "that  so  handsome,  so  energetic  a  defence  of 
the  American  cause,  should  be  shut  up  in  the  portfolio  of 
an  individual." 

Such,  however,  was  the  necessity  in  Holland,  just  then.  It 
was  not  quite  time  yet,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Baron,  to 
publish  it  openly  to  the  Dutch — for  the  Court  of  London 
stood  ready  to  pounce  upon  this  nation  at  once  with  the  talons 
of  war,  in  case  of  any  active  interference  in  behalf  of  Ameri 
ca — and  indeed  had  succeeded,  at  the  moment,  in  deepening 
the  prejudice  against  the  American  cause.  The  United  States 
will  break  off  from  France — they  do  not  defend  themselves 
"  with  that  exasperation  and  fury  manifested  by  Hollanders 
in  past  days  " — such  were  the  "  disparaging  reports,"  among 
others,  with  which  Capellan  said  he  was  himself  "  mortified 
every  day."  Are  there  "no  true  heroes  in  America  as  in 
Switzerland,"  he  asked  of  Trumbull  in  this  connection — in 
true  affliction  of  soul,  yet  still  with  unyielding  confidence  in 
American  bravery.  "  Should  America  not  have  her  sacred 
Phalanx  as  well  as  Thebes  ?  Yes,  certainly  I " 

For  himself,  he  added — he  was  rejoiced  to  be  the  object  of 
the  public  esteem  of  America — and  but  for  an  aged  father, 
and  wife,  and  child,  would  go  over  and  take  up  his  abode 
there — shut  out  still,  as  he  was,  on  account  of  his  attachment 
to  liberty,  from  the  Council  of  his  Province — and  feeling  the 
ties,  therefore,  which  united  him  to  his  native  land,  sensibly 
impaired.  His  own  political  proscription,  however,  he  said, 
he  did  not  regret;  for  he  greatly  preferred  "a  quiet,  unoffi 
cial  life " — especially  as  it  was  plainly  manifest  to  himself, 


1779.  CHAP.    XXXVIII. — TRUMBULL.  465 

that,  though  but  thirty-eight  years  of  age — because  of  sick 
ness,  great  application  to  business,  and  trouble — he  was  "  old 
before  the  ordinary  time,"  and  unable,  therefore,  "to  do 
much." 

Still  what  he  could,  he  would  do,  he  promised,  for  the  in 
fusion,  and  spread  of  liberty.  He  had  himself  subscribed,  he 
stated,  to  a  loan  for  the  United  States — was  still  busy  urging 
others  to  subscribe — and  wished  Trumbull  to  continue  to 
send  him  full  accounts  of  his  country — the  refuge  and  the 
hope  of  freedom,  and  always  inexpressibly  dear  to  his  heart. 
What  Trumbull  had  already  sent,  he  was  anxious,  were  it 
prudent,  to  publish  at  once.  It  should  be  used,  however,  he 
assured  him — as  all  else  that  he  would  transmit — for  the 
benefit  of  America.  And  it  was  so  used — most  effectively. 
Holland  became  at, last,  though  slowly,  inoculated  with  the 
views,  and  with  the  arguments  sustaining  them,  which  Trum 
bull  had  presented — and  no  longer  distrustful  of  American 
credit — but  propping  it  with  her  own  funds — took  her  station 
side  by  side  with  the  struggling  Eepublic  of  the  "Western 
World — an  open  foe  to  its  great  Oppressor. 

Philanthropic,  self-sacrificing  Capellan!  Thou  wast  one 
among  the  first  of  the  nobles  of  Europe,  that — stepping  off 
from  the  platform  of  hereditary  rank — bursting  every  bar 
rier  with  which  wealth  and  power  in  the  Old  World  have  en 
trenched  and  palisadoed  man  from  his  fellow-men — didst 
come  with  thy  cheering  sympathy,  thy  purse,  and  thy  influ 
ence,  upon  the  arena  of  oppressed  America,  and  bid  her — 
Be  free !  At  a  time  when  she  was  rocking,  at  utter  hazard, 
in  the  stormy  cradle  of  war,  thou  didst  say  to  her — Be  of 
good  cheer!  Honor  then  to  thy  name,  thy  bounty,  and  thy 
love !  Honor  for  that  undying  confidence  in  the  final  tri 
umph  of  liberty  here,  which  thou  wouldst  permit  no  arrow 
barbed  from  our  distress  ever  to  wound !  The  shield  thou 
thus  lifted  for  American  defence,  should  be  emblazoned  with 
gratitude,  wherever  thy  good  deeds  are  known !  Fame,  in 
fair  guerdon  of  thy  worth,  should  tell  to  posterity  thy  vir 
tues,  and  keep  the  temple  thou  hast  erected  in  the  American 
heart,  ever  vocal  with  thy  praise ! 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 
1780. 

THE  Campaign  of  1780.  Another  Valley  Forge  scene.  The  Continental 
Army  starving  again  in  its  winter  quarters.  The  portion  of  it  upon 
the  North  River  relieved  by  Trumbull.  Testimony  of  George  Wash 
ington  Parke  Custis  on  this  point.  The  army  distressed  for  support 
during  most  of  the  year.  Trumbull,  therefore,  called  upon  for  extra 
ordinary  exertion.  A  change  made  by  Congress  in  the  Department  of 
Supplies.  Trumbull  under  the  new  organization.  He  furnishes  pro 
visions,  tents,  camp  equipage,  and  gabions  and  fascines,  to  Washington. 
He  supplies  Ethan  Allen  with  powder.  His  task  rendered  doubly  diffi 
cult  on  account  of  the  wretched  state  of  the  national  currency.  Yet 
he  achieves  it.  The  whole  subject  of  finance  in  Connecticut  is  com 
mitted  to  his  special  care.  Favorable  results.  A  new  Congressional 
plan,  started  this  year,  for  improving  the  currency,  is  sustained  in 
Connecticut. 

THE  Campaign  of  1780  opened  under  favorable  auspices. 
France,  we  were  assured,  was  to  help  us.  Spain  looked  upon 
us  with  a  cautious,  yet  with  a  kindly  eye — she  was  at  least 
pledged  against  Great  Britain.  The  combined  navies  of  these 
two  Powers  were  in  the  waters  of  the  West  Indies  to  threat 
en  there  the  annihilation  of  British  armaments  and  commerce. 
Eussia,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Holland,  had  combined  in  an 
Armed  Neutrality  that  was  profoundly  humiliating  to  British 
naval  power  and  pride.  Lord  George  Gordon  was  beginning 
to  rock  London  with  civil  convulsions.  Ireland  was  restive 
under  the  oppression  of  her  master,  and  threatened  retalia 
tion.  Disturbances,  directed  against  the  English  Gov 
ernment,  were  rife  in  Scotland.  Prospects  then  for  Amer 
ica  were  auspicious.  The  hour  of  deliverance  seemed  at 
hand. 

But,  alas,  no  deliverance  came.  The  campaign  of  the 
year  was  tardy — and,  upon  the  whole,  fruitless  but  of  gain 
to  the  enemy.*  A  capital  city  of  the  South — beleaguered 

*  True,  in  some  respects,  America  was  profited.  Hurricanes  and  assaults  in 
the  West  Indies,  had  wounded  Great  Britain  in  her  "tenderest  point,"  her 


1780.  CHAP.    XXXIX. — TRUMBULL.  467 

Charleston — fell.  Upon  the  blood-soaked  plains  of  Camden, 
Gates  was  defeated,  and  the  heroic  Baron  de  Kalb  expired. 
The  bloody  Tarleton  ravaged  and  plundered,  almost  with 
impunity,  from  the  slopes  of  the  Alleghany  down  to  the  sea 
upon  which  his  master's  fleet  rode  quite  triumphant.  Lord 
Cornwallis,  not  without  reason,  regarded  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina  as  conquered  provinces — and  his  foot  was  planted, 
with  apparent  firmness,  on  a  part  of  North  Carolina,  ready 
for  an  advance  northward  into  Yirginia,  and  beyond — an  ad 
vance  which  nothing  seemed  able  to  prevent. 

Yet  though  the  main  theatre  of  the  war — transferred  at 
the  close  of  1779  to  the  South — remained  there  during  the 
whole  of  the  year  now  under  consideration — a  full  thousand 
miles  away  from  the  immediate  observation  of  that  Governor 
we  commemorate — who  for  the  five  years  that  preceded,  had 
been  accustomed  to  see  battle  rage  in  his  own  neighbor 
hood — still  at  home — for  the  military  departments  directly 
around  him — he  had  his  usual  amount  of  labor  and  duty  to 
perform — at  one  period  of  the  year  indeed,  as  we  shall  see, 
more  than  an  ordinary  share. 

The  year  opened  with  another  call  upon  his  services  in  the 
way  of  supplies  for  the  Continental  Army,  which  involves  a 
scene  of  great  interest — and  one  peculiarly  illustrative  of  his 
promptness.  To  this,  therefore,  we  first  direct  the  Eeader's 
attention. 

On  going  into  quarters — in  a  winter  again  signally 
severe — in  the  first  month  of  the  year — the  scene  of  Valley 

trade — source  of  her  wealth  and  credit.  Portugal  had  insulted  her,  fearlessly 
and  without  provoking  retaliation,  by  shutting  her  ports  against  her  ships-of- 
war,  and  her  prizes.  Strangely  enough,  the  petty  principalities  of  Germany, 
which  had  heretofore  sold  her  Hessians  and  Waldeckers  for  a  few  shillings  a  head, 
now  paused  in  the  mercenary  traffic,  and  rendered  additions  to  her  troops  des 
tined  for  America  from  this  source  impracticable.  The  American  cause  too  in 
Europe  had  gained  in  credit.  There  was  satisfaction  and  even  joy  felt  there  at 
the  expected  circumscription  of  English  domination.  Though  expending  all  her 
finesse  to  detach  France  from  her  alliance  with  the  United  States,  yet  England 
had  not  succeeded.  Though  she  had  labored  to  weaken  the  friendliness  of  Spain 
and  Holland,  she  had  not  succeeded.  All  these  circumstances — forcing  her,  as 
they  did,  to  maintain  her  belligerent  attitude — still  to  muster  her  battalions,  and 
task  her  resources,  for  a  continued  contest  with  America — left  her,  at  the  end  of 
the  Campaign  of  1780,  upon  the  whole,  in  a  posture  by  no  means  favorable. 
God,  "  in  bounty,"  seemed  to  be  "working  up  storms"  about  her. 


468  CHAP.    XXXIX. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

Forge,  as  regards  distress  for  want  of  food,  was  renewed 
among  the  American  troops,  with  even  aggravated  horrors. 
"  The  present  situation  of  the  army,  with  respect  to  provis 
ions,"  wrote  Washington,  January  eighth — "is  the  most  dis 
tressing  of  any  we  have  experienced  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war.  For  a  fortnight  past,  the  troops,  both  officers  and 
men,  have  been  almost  perishing  for  want.  They  have  been 
alternately  without  bread  or  meat  the  whole  time,  with  a  very 
scanty  allowance  of  either,  and  frequently  destitute  of  both. 
They  are  now  reduced  to  an  extremity  no  longer  to  be 
supported." 

Such  at  this  period,  was  the  melancholy  picture  drawn  by 
the  Commander-in-chief.  And  it  was  but  too  true.  There 
they  were,  the  poor  soldiers — both  those  in  quarters  in  New 
Jersey,  and  those  cantoned  on  the  North  Eiver — on  the  very 
verge  of  famine — reduced  to  half,  and  sometimes  to  less  than 
half  allowance — five  or  six  days,  at  times,  without  either 
bread  or  meat — compelled  to  eat  every  kind  of  horse-food 
excepting  hay — their  magazines  absolutely  exhausted — their 
medical  department  without  sugar,  tea,  chocolate,  wine  or 
liquors  of  any  kind,  and  driven  to  the  alternative  either  of 
perishing  with  cold  and  hunger,  or  of  dispersing  to  relieve 
their  biting  wants  by  indiscriminate  plunder — honest  and 
honorable  though  their  intentions,  and  heroic  and  unex 
ampled  their  patience. 

To  those  of  them  that  were  in  winter  quarters  in  New  Jer 
sey,  Washington,  under  the  menace  of  military  impress 
ments — fortunately,  on  account  of  the  magnanimous  exertions 
of  the  people  and  magistrates  of  that  State,  seldom  carried 
into  effect — was  compelled  to  extort  an  irregular  and  preca 
rious  subsistence. 

But  for  those  cantoned  upon  the  North  Eiver  he  ap 
pealed — just  at  their  extremest  point  of  suffering — to  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  of  Connecticut — as  did  also  General  Heath — 
and  Congress  also,  in  pressing  terms,  twice  within  six  days — 
to  a  State  that  was  apparently,  from  her  previous  exhausting 
contributions,  destitute  of  any  provisions  beyond  those  im 
mediately  necessary  for  the  subsistence  of  her  own  inhabit 
ants.  Of  the  manner  in  which  Trumbull  responded,  the  fol- 


1780.  CHAP.    XXXIX. — TKUMBULL.  469 

lowing  account,  gathered  from  the  personal  statements  of  the 
late  venerable  George  Washington  Parke  Custis — the  adopted 
son  of  the  great  Father  of  his  Country — will  give  the  Eeader 
a  vivid  idea.* 

"  It  seems  that  once,"  proceeds  the  account,  "  when  Gen.  "Washington 
was  quartered  in  New  York,  the  necessities  of  the  army  were  at  a  dis 
couraging  extremity,  and  such  frequent  and  exhausting  calls  had  been 
made  upon  the  various  States,  that  he  despaired  of  being  able  to  draw 
any  substantial  quantity  of  supplies  from  any  quarter.  However,  as  a 
last  resort,  he  wrote  to  Gov.  Trumbull  on  the  subject,  expressing  his 
mind  with  perfect  frankness,  and  sending  his  letter  by  a  special  messen 
ger.  The  Governor  received  the  letter  in  the  afternoon,  and,  after  read 
ing  it,  told  the  messenger  to  rest  for  the  night,  and  call  the  next  morn 
ing  to  take  his  answer.  The  envoy  supposed  the  case  was  desperate,  and 
as  he  galloped  his  horse  back  to  New  York  the  next  day,  believed  that 
he  was  carrying  information  of  the  utter  inability  of  Connecticut  to  sup 
ply  the  provisions  asked  for. 

"The  letter  was  opened  by  Gen.  Washington,  and,  much  to  his  sur 
prise,  informed  him  that  on  a  stated  day  he  might  expect  a  certain  num 
ber  of  barrels  of  beef,  a  certain  number  of  barrels  of  pork,  and  other 
provisions  in  detail.  The  news  was  joyfully  received,  for  the  Governor 
was  never  known  to  prove  false  to  his  promise.  On  the  day  assigned, 
squads  of  American  soldiers  might  have  been  seen  on  the  highest  hills  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  camp,  straining  their  eyes  down  the  line  of  road  from 
the  East,  in  which  the  longed-for  wagons  were  expected  to  appear  in 
sight. 

"  Within  half  an  hour  of  the  time  assigned  by  Governor  Trumbull  for 
the  arrival  of  the  stores,  the  expectant  eyes  almost  filled  with  tears  of 
joy  at  discovering  through  the  mists  of  the  valley  the  teamsters  cheering 
along  their  jaded  horses.  It  was  like  the  cry  of  "sail  ho"  to  the  ship 
wrecked.  Every  heart  bounded  with  gratification,  and  Gen.  Washing 
ton  was  delighted  to  receive  fresh  evidence  of  the  trustworthiness  of  the 
sterling  people  and  punctual  Governor  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  dur 
ing  the  "times  that  tried  men's  souls." 

"With  respect  to  provisions,"  wrote  Washington,  January 
twenty-ninth — "the  situation  of  the  army  is  comfortable 
[now,]  on  this  head.  I  ardently  pray  it  may  never  be  again 
as  it  has  been  of  late."  But  the  prayer  of  the  Commander- 

*  The  facts  were  communicated  to  the  Hon.  Charles  Eockwell,  then  of  Nor 
wich,  Connecticut,  upon  occasion  of  a  visit  paid  by  himself  and  lady  to  Mr. 
Custis.  By  Mr.  Eockwell  they  were  communicated  to  Charles  Hosmer,  Esq.,  of 
Hartford— by  Mr.  Hosmer  to  L.  F.  Kobinson,  Esq.,  of  this  city}  and  by  the  latter 
were  written  out  and  published. 
40 


470  CHAP.    XXXIX. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

in-chief  was  not,  however,  answered — for  though  relieved  at 
the  time  he  describes,  yet  spring,  and  summer,  and  autumn 
too — the  whole  year  in  fact — saw  the  same  distress  painfully 
renewed.  May — and  the  troops  were  at  a  half,  a  quarter, 
and  even  an  eighth  allowance,  for  subsistence.  September — 
and  the  destitution  in  camp  caused  Washington  to  send  fif 
teen  hundred  of  the  militia  of  Connecticut,  as  well  as  militia 
from  other  States,  home — just  to  procure  their  "  daily  bread." 
Instances  these  of  want  which  are  "so  reiterated  and  con 
stant,"  said  the  Commander-in-chief  about  this  time,  as  "  can 
not  but  lead  to  alarming  consequences."  And  the  conse 
quences  predicted  did  ensue.  Two  regiments  of  the  Con 
necticut  Line  were  forced  into  seeming  mutiny — as  were  sub 
sequently  portions  of  the  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey 
lines. 

Trumbull,  therefore,  as  at  the  beginning,  so  during  the 
whole  course  of  the  year,  was  compelled  to  do  extraordinary 
duty  in  the  department  of  supplies — a  fact  which  leads  us  to 
dwell  somewhat  on  this  duty  here.  Though  it  is  familiar  to 
those  who  have  thus  far  followed  us  in  this  work,  still  its 
round  at  this  time,  for  Trumbull,  varies  a  little  from  that  of 
former  years,  and  injustice  to  him  should  not,  though  under 
some  aspects  analagous,  be  untrodden  either  by  his  Biog 
rapher,  or  the  Reader. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  Congress  new-modelled  the  De 
partment  of  Supplies — and  for  the  old  system  of  Continental 
purchases  by  Continental  agents,  substituted  the  plan  of 
making  requisitions  upon  the  States  for  specific  articles — to 
be  procured  under  State  authority,  by  State  agents,  with 
State  money.  Connecticut,  therefore,  appointed,  for  herself, 
a  Commissary  and  Assistants,  to  make  requisite  purchases — 
and  Trumbull  superintended  their  performance  of  duty. 
From  time  to  time,  in  order  to  ensure  supplies,  this  State,  as 
has  been  observed,  decreed  embargoes.  Trumbull  pro 
claimed  and  enforced  these — this  year  as  before — and  as 
against  all  exportations  that  might  interfere  with  demands 
for  the  public  service.  Connecticut  again,  passed  careful  acts 
for  collecting  and  storing  provisions  and  refreshments,  and 
for  impressing  them  even,  if  otherwise  they  could  not  be  ob- 


1780.  CHAP.    XXXIX. — TRUMBULL.  471 

tained.  The  Governor  saw  these  Acts  too,  faithfully  exe 
cuted — nor  did  he  forget  to  add  beef  and  pork  to  the  general 
stock,  from  prizes  brought  into  New  London  by  American 
privateers.* 

So  that  when  the  Army,  during  the  year,  was  in  need, 
Trumbull  was  always  prepared  with  a  supply — greater  or 
less — generally  all,  and  often  more  than  was  the  just  quota 
of  the  State.  When  the  French  troops — arriving  this  year — 
were  in  want,  he  relieved  them — and  frequently  also  during 
the  year,  supplied  some  of  the  people  of  neighboring  States, 
from  the  strangely  exhaustless  magazines,  as  they  seemed,  of 
old  Connecticut.  The  Manager  of  a  forge  in  New  Jersey, 
for  example,  on  which  the  army  was  dependent,  wrote  him 
that  unless  he  received  aid  in  provisions,  his  workmen  must 
be  dismissed.  The  provisions  were  sent.  The  people  of 
Nantucket,  in  March,  were  suffering  from  want  of  bread. 
He  gave  them  permits  to  barter  their  oil,  salt,  and  rum,  in 
Connecticut,  for  this  great  necessary  of  life. 

Congress  called  upon  him,  in  March,  for  one  thousand  bar 
rels  of  pork,  and  one  thousand  five  hundred  barrels  of  flour — 
to  replace  stores  that  had  been  borrowed  from  the  French 
Marine.  They  were  furnished.  In  June,  De  Corn  ay  came 
to  him  with  a  letter  from  the  President  of  Congress,  request 
ing  his  aid  for  the  steady  supply  of  the  French  force,  and  for 
the  prevention  of  all  competition  in  purchases  between 
France  and  the  United  States.  This  aid  Trumbull  cheerfully 
bestowed.  He  commissioned  agents  to  go  to  Boston  for  a 
conference  and  arrangement  on  the  subject  with  agents  from 
other  States.  Twenty  thousand  pounds  were  advanced  to 
the  French  Commissary  from  the  Treasury  of  Connecticut — 
and  wagon  after  wagon,  loaded  down  with  provisions — un 
der  permits  which  Trumbull  granted  to  Commissary  Wads- 
worth — rolled  along  the  roads  from  Connecticut  to  the 
French  Army  at  Newport. 

In  September  again,  Congress  asked  him  for  five  hundred 
and  thirty-nine  head  of  cattle — for  the  "full"  number,  and 

*  As  once,  for  example,  in  May,  when  he  sent  Commissary  Champion  to  New 
London,  to  seize  such  stores,  then  lately  captured,  and  convert  them  to  the 
public  use. 


472  CHAP.    XXXIX. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

''immediately."  The  cattle  were  sent.  In  the  same  month 
again,  General  Heath — the  militia  and  troops  under  his  com 
mand  at  Newport  being  in  extreme  want  of  bread,  and  in 
the  "utmost  danger,"  in  consequence,  he  said,  of  a  mutiny 
and  desertion — sent  to  him  for  three  or  four  hundred  bushels 
of  Indian  corn.*  Permission  was  given  to  take  five  hund 
red.  Washington  wanted  four  or  five  hundred  barrels  of 
salted  beef  for  exhausted  Fort  Schuyler.  "I  desired  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull,"  he  wrote  Governor  Clinton  of  New  York, 
uto  hurry  them  on,  that  they  might  be  got  up,  in  all,  this 
month."  The  barrels  of  beef  were  "hurried"  on. 

In  November  again,  Congress  asked  him  for  fifteen  hund 
red  barrels  of  beef — twenty -five  thousand  hundred  weight  of 
beef — three  thousand  barrels  of  pork — twenty -five  thousand 
gallons  of  West  India  rum — eight  hundred  and  thirteen 
bushels  of  salt — and  two  hundred  and  two  thousand  three 
hundred  and  ninety -nine  dollars  and  one-third,  in  money.  It 
was  an  enormous  demand.  Trumbull  communicated  the 
call  to  the  General  Assembly.  Make  what  purchases  you 
can — said  the  Assembly  to  himself  and  his  Council — but  at 
the  same  time  represent  to  Congress  their  own  tardiness  in 
making  the  requisition,  its  magnitude,  its  disproportion,  and 
our  own  inability,  at  present,  to  comply  with  it  fully. 

This  representation  Trumbull  made.  The  requisition,  he 
wrote  to  Congress,  is  so  "dilatory  as  to  render  a  reasonable 
compliance  absolutely  impracticable  " — why  was  not  Congress 
more  prompt?  It  is  "large  and  untimely,"  especially  in  the 

*  The  following  is  the  letter  of  Gen.  Heath  to  Governor  Trumbull,  upon  this 
occasion. 

"Newport,  Sept.  30, 1780.  Sir.  Since  I  had  the  honor  to  address  your  Ex 
cellency  on  the  22d,  we  have  been  in  extreme  want  of  bread,  and  the  militia  on 
the  point  of  a  mutiny  and  dispersing. 

"  A  temporary  relief  of  flour  and  meal  arrived  yesterday  from  Massachusetts : 
but  your  Excellency  well  knows  that  the  resources  of  that  State  in  grain,  espe 
cially  in  the  neighbouring  parts  of  it,  are  but  small.  Permit  me  therefore  again 
to  request  some  aid  from  your  State,  if  possible.  Capt.  Collins  will  bring  300  or 
400  bushels  of  Indian  corn  from  your  State,  if  he  can  gain  permission.  As  this 
can  be  ground  here,  and  the  meal  mixed  with  wheat  and  rye  flour,  it  will  be  a 
great  relief  to  the  troops." 

"Had  it  not  been  for  Connecticut,"  says  a  newspaper  account,  speaking  of  this 
period — "the  whole  south-eastern  part  of  Massachusetts  would  have  been  deso 
lated  by  a  famine." 


1780.  CHAP.    XXXIX. — TRUMBULL.      •  473 

article  of  salted  provisions — and  "vastly  beyond"  the  just 
proportion  for  Connecticut.  Congress  is  not  sufficiently  care 
ful  of  its  supplies,  when  obtained.  There  is  the  article  of 
clothing,  for  example,  in  which  there  has  been  "great  loss 
and  spoil."  Still  Connecticut  is  patriotic,  and  though  much 
exhausted,  "  will  make  every  proper  effort."  Such  were  the 
views  he  presented. 

"  'Tis  difficult  and  ever  will  be,"  he  wrote  again  to  Congress  upon  an 
other  occasion  this  year — "  for  Governors  and  Executive  Councils  to  be 
Commissaries  and  Quarter  Master  Generals.  But  we  must  struggle 
through  the  present  campaign  as  we  can.  The  winter,  I  think,  will  be 
employed  in  systematizing  still  farther.  Is  it  not  already  time  to  be  form 
ing  your  estimates  for  another  year — that  the  States  may  know  what 
they  have  to  obtain — that  their  procurements  may  be  in  their  season — 
and  that  we  may  not  have  the  misfortune  and  embarrassment  to  look  up 
our  salted  meats,  &c.,  after  they  have  all  passed  to  markets.  I  wish 
Congress  would  for  once  economize  in  point  of  time  as  well  as  money." 

But  it  was  not  provisions  alone,  but  supplies  of  every 
other  kind  wanted  for  the  war,  that  Trumbull,  this  year,  was 
more  than  ordinarily  active  in  procuring.  Washington,  for 
example,  in  July,  called  for  a  large  quantity  of  tents  and 
camp  equipage.  Trumbull  made  them  ready.  Gabions  and 
fascines  were  wanted.  One  thousand  militia-men  were,  in 
July,  set  to  work  cutting  them  on  and  near  the  banks 
of  the  Connecticut  Eiver.  "Washington  again,  in  August, 
called  on  him  for  fifteen  hundred  arms.  They  were  furnished. 
Ethan  Allen,  in  February,  and  again  in  December,  ap 
pealed  to  him,  in  behalf  of  Yermont,  for  powder  with 
which  to  ward  off  an  expected  invasion  from  Canada.  El- 
derkin  and  Wales,  by  Trumbull's  order,  sent  two  tons  in 
all  to  the  "Green  Mountain  Boys"  from  their  powder-mill  at 
Windham. 

Labors  like  these  now  described,  in  the  department  of  sup 
plies,  were  achieved  by  Trumbull,  it  should  be  remembered, 
when  the  medium  of  purchases — Continental  Money  main 
ly — now  thirty-nine  fortieths  at  least  below  its  nominal  val 
ue — was  fast  verging  to  the  point  of  utter  annihilation — when 
in  fact,  at  times,  there  was  no  available  money  at  all — as,  in 
September,  Commissary  Champion  declared  before  the  Coun- 


474  •        CHAP.    XXXIX. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

cil  of  Safety,  when  pressed  by  this  Body  to  "do  his  utmost" 
for  supply.  True  Congress — early  in  the  year — had  taken 
measures  to  reduce  the  quantity  of  bills  in  circulation — and 
to  establish  and  appropriate  specific  funds  for  the  punctual 
redemption  of  a  new  paper  substitute,  which  they  endeav 
ored  to  render  equivalent  to  specie.*  True,  their  appeal  to 
the  States  for  cooperation  in  their  plan  was  kindly  met  by 
Governor  Trumbull,  and  the  people  of  Connecticut — who,  in 
their  General  Assembly — for  the  purpose  of  sinking  the 
wretched  outstanding  paper  of  the  country — authorized  a 
lottery — and  imposed  an  annual  tax  of  seven  pence  on  the 
pound,  for  six  years,  on  all  the  polls  and  rateable  estate  of 
the  State. 

But  all  these  proceedings  did  not  suffice  to  make  money, 
in  the  language  of  Wall  Street,  either  "  plenty  "  or  "  easy  " — 
and  the  business  of  supply  therefore,  to  Trumbull,  the  pres 
ent  year,  was  on  this  account — as  well  as  on  account  of  a 
disposition  still  existing,  among  some,  to  engross  and  fore 
stall  commodities — an  arduous  task.  Yet,  aided  somewhat 
by  a  fresh  emission  of  State  bills  of  credit — spite  of  all  em 
barrassments — he  achieved  it. 

It  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  confidence  felt  in  his  financial 
ability  and  integrity — that  the  General  Assembly,  this  year, 
specially  empowered  him  "to  superintend"  the  whole  subject 
of  Finance  in  Connecticut — to  supervise  and  direct  the  Treas 
ury,  and  the  Pay  Table — to  examine  into  the  state  of  the 
public  debts  and  credits — to  make  a  proper  estimate  of  the 
amount  of  public  expenses,  and  of  the  ways  and  means  pro 
vided  for  their  discharge — and  to  take  effectual  measures  for 
securing,  from  the  towns  of  Connecticut,  their  respective 
arrearages  of  the  public  taxes.  All  this  duty  he  performed — 
and  he  inspired  confidence.  The  people  began,  after  a  while, 
to  accept  cheerfully  the  new  system  of  finance  devised  by 
Congress.  "  The  Connecticut  traders  " — was  the  compliment 
which,  at  this  time,  the  Honorable  James  Duane  of  Con- 

*  By  issuing  them  on  the  funds  of  particular  States — by  guaranteeing  their 
payment,  and  making  them,  principal  and  interest,  redeemable  in  specie,  or,  at 
the  election  of  the  holder,  in  sterling  bills  of  exchange  drawn  by  the  United 
States  on  their  Commissaries  in  Europe,  at  4s.  Qp.  sterling. 


1780.  CHAP.    XXXIX.— TRUMBULL.  475 

gress,*  paid  to  the  State  over  which  Trumbull  presided — 
"  have  done  themselves  great  honor,  as  well  as  the  principal 
farmers.  The  former,  in  an  Address  to  the  Assembly,  de 
clare  their  readiness  to  receive  the  new  money  at  its  value 
specified  by  Congress,  in  payment  for  their  commodities. 
New- York,  I  am  sure,  will  concur." 

*  In  a  letter  to  General  Washington. 


CHAPTER    XL. 
1780. 

TRUMBULL  and  military  affairs  at  the  North.  Devastations  "by  the  ene 
my  in  the  Jerseys,  and  elsewhere.  The  forces  raised  by  Trumbull 
for  Continental  service,  and  for  Home  Defence.  Enlistments  difficult. 
An  alarm  upon  the  Hudson  River.  Washington  applies  to  Trumbull 
for  aid.  Arrival  of  a  French  land  and  naval  force  at  Newport.  High 
expectations  of  the  country  in  consequence.  Preparations  for  cooper 
ation.  Trumbull,  through  La  Fayette,  congratulates  Count  Rocham- 
"beau  and  Admiral  Ternay,  upon  their  arrival.  Arbuthnot,  however, 
blockades  the  French  fleet  Trumbull  orders  on  troops  to  that  quar 
ter.  Another  alarm..  Clinton,  with  a  formidable  armament,  is  report 
ed  to  be  in  Long  Island  Sound.  The  Governor's  measures  in  conse 
quence.  A  meeting  between  the  American  and  French  Commanders- 
in-chief,  at  Hartford,  to  arrange  a  combined  plan  of  operations.  Their 
expenses  in  Connecticut  are  paid  from  the  State  Treasury.  Their  im 
posing  reception  at  Hartford,  the  Governor  being  present.  Their  first 
interview  in  the  street  near  the  State  House.  Their  subsequent  inter 
view  and  consultation  at  the  house  of  Col.  Jeremiah  Wadsworth. 
Trumbull  shares  in  all  their  deliberations.  The  result.  Escorted  by 
the  Governor's  Guards,  and  amid  the  roar  of  artillery,  the  Command- 
ers-in-chief  depart  for  their  respective  Head  Quarters.  Washington 
on  his  way  hears  of  Arnold's  treason. 

So  much  for  Trumbull's  labors  in  the  department  of 
finance  and  supplies,  for  the  present  year — a  year  which, 
though  the  arena  of  war,  as  has  been  stated,  was  chiefly  at  the 
South,  yet  did  not  pass  at  the  North  without  dyeing  some 
portions  of  this  quarter  with  blood,  and  keeping  the  expecta 
tion  of  armed  collision  almost  momentarily  alive.  And  it  is 
to  Trumbull's  connections  with  military  affairs  in  this  quar 
ter  that  we  now  turn. 

It  was  during  this  year  that  large  detachments  from  the 
British  army,  advancing  upon  the  Jerseys,  reduced  Spring 
field  and  Connecticut  Farms  to  ashes — and  that  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  having  settled,  as  he  supposed,  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  in  firm  allegiance  to  the  King,  returned  from  his 
successes  southward  to  New- York — thence,  with  a  veteran 
army,  now  become  immense,  to  menace  the  American  battal- 


1780.  CHAP.    XL.— -TRUMBULL.  477 

ions  around  Morristown,  and  all  the  posts  in  the  Highlands 
upon  the  North  Eiver.  It  was  in  this  year  that  the  alarm 
ing  treachery  of  Arnold  came  near  throwing  West  Point 
into  the  hands  of  the  British  Commander.  It  was  in  this 
year  that  the  French  naval  armament  under  Admiral  Ternay 
arrived  at  Newport,  and  cooperation  with  the  United  States 
for  the  expulsion  of  their  formidable  foe  was  carefully 
planned.  It  was  in  this  year  also  that  Major  Carlton  and 
Sir  John  Johnson — with  their  motley  hordes  of  Europeans, 
Indians,  and  tories — dashed  upon  the  northern  parts  of  New 
York — and,  reducing  two  hundred  dwellings  and  immense 
quantities  of  wheat  and  forage  to  ashes,  startled  the  dwellers 
upon  the  upper  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk  with  fresh  scenes 
of  terrific  waste  and  conflagration. 

The  period,  therefore,  was  a  most  anxious  one  at  the 
North,  as  well  as  at  the  South.  It  exacted  constant  military 
watchfulness.  It  consequently  called  on  Governor  Trumbull 
not  only  for  the  supply  of  provisions  and  munitions  of  war, 
but  largely  also  for  the  supply  of  troops.  These  he  had  to 
raise,  as  usual,  both  for  regular  service  in  the  Continental 
Army,  and  for  Home  Defence. 

Of  the  former  there  was  required,  first,  in  January,  a  force 
of  eighteen  hundred  men  to  make  up  a  deficiency  in  troops 
that  had  been  previously  ordered  by  Congress  from  Connec 
ticut — second,  in  May,  a  force  of  twenty -five  hundred  and 
twenty  men  to  complete  a  quota  of  three  thousand  two  hund 
red  and  thirty-eight  that  in  February  was  assigned  to  the 
State  by  Congress,  for  the  Campaign  of  1780 — and  third,  in 
October,  a  force  of  about  two  thousand  to  complete  a  quota 
of  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  ordered  by 
Congress  for  the  ensuing  Campaign  of  1781,  to  serve  for 
three  years,  or  during  the  War,  and  which  was  to  be  made 
ready,  and  be  in  the  field  by  the  succeeding  first  of  Janu 
ary — at  which  time — through  the  expiration  of  enlistments, 
and  other  causes,  it  was  calculated  that  the  old  regular  army 
would  be  diminished  one-half — down  to  six  thousand  men — 
to  but  a  shadow  and  a  name. 

Add  now  to  these,  two  regiments  which  in  January  were 
ordered  for  Home  Defence — to  serve  steadily — and  other 


478  CHAP.    XL. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

troops  that  were  only  occasionally,  in  some  emergency, 
raised  for  the  same  sphere  of  duty — as  once  one  thousand 
men  for  Horseneck — add  a  body  of  two  thousand  militia 
that,  in  June,  upon  an  alarm  in  the  Highlands,  was  suddenly 
made  ready,  and  marched  to  West  Point — add  also  a  body 
of  about  one  thousand,  which,  in  July,  was  detached,  and 
sent  on  to  Greenwich,  Khode  Island,  upon  occasion  of  an  ex 
pected  attack  upon  the  French  at  Newport — and  we  have,  in 
all,  a  force — distributed  through  the  year — of  about  twelve 
thousand  men,  that  was  newly  raised  for  public  service  in 
1780 — with  the  superintendence  of  which  Governor  Trum- 
bull  was  occupied. 

To  raise  it  was  at  many  times — as  in  days  that  had 
passed — a  difficult  task.  Once,  in  May — in  order  to  secure 
men — it  became  necessary  to  lay  an  embargo  on  the  priva 
teers,  letters  of  marque,  and  armed  vessels  of  Connecticut — • 
which  the  Governor  proclaimed  and  enforced — making,  how 
ever,  such  exceptions  as  in  his  own  judgment  were  expedi 
ent.  Empowered  as  he  was,  with  his  Council,  to  fill  up  all 
deficiencies  in  the  army — make  peremptory  detachments,  if 
necessary — call  out,  if  thought  best,  the  whole  military 
strength  of  the  State — and,  at  discretion,  regulate  bounties — 
which,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  were  raised  to  the  amount 
of  even  three  hundred  dollars  a  man — he  had  occasion  to 
exercise  these  powers,  nearly  every  one  of  them,  more  or 
less.  And  though  through  the  country  generally — partly 
from  dilatoriness  in  Congress — partly  from  jealousy  of  a 
large  standing  army,  such  as  was  contemplated,  of  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty-five  thousand  men — and  partly  from  an 
overstrained  reliance  on  the  French  auxiliary  force — there 
was  tardiness  in  completing  the  Continental  battalions — yet, 
so  far  as  Trumbull  is  concerned,  his  own  exertions  in  the 
case  were  put  forth  with  his  usual  energy.  "With  the  hu 
manity  also  which  ever  characterized  him,  he  labored  assidu 
ously  to  make  the  condition  of  all  the  officers  and  soldiers 
comfortable  as  possible — and,  in  May,  united  cordially  with, 
the  General  Assembly  in  a  Public  Act  which  was  intended 
to  secure  to  all  of  them  the  balances  which  were  already  due, 
and  those  additional  which  would  become  due  on  the  ensu- 


1780.  CHAP.    XL.— TRUMBULL.  479 

ing  first  of  January — a  purpose  which  was  achieved  by  hav 
ing  every  soldier  registered  at  the  Pay  Table,  and  his  wages, 
together  with  interest  thereon,  provided  for  in  installments 
that  were  secured  and  made  payable,  from  time  to  time, 
within  a  few  years. 

Two  occasions,  particularly,  this  year,  drew  upon  the  Gov 
ernor's  energies.  One  was  an  alarm  at  West  Point,  and  upon 
the  Hudson  Kiver  generally,  in  the  beginning  of  summer — 
and  the  other  was  the  American  plan  of  cooperation  with 
the  French  land  and  naval  force  at  Newport. 

The  alarm  to  which  we  refer  occurred  about  the  middle  of 
June — at  the  period  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton's  return  from  the 
South  to  New  York.  At  this  time  everything  indicated  that 
the  British  Commander  would  proceed  immediately  to  attack 
the  American  posts  in  the  Highlands — while  General  Knyp- 
hausen,  having  just  burned  the  flourishing  settlement  of 
Connecticut  Farms,  should  continue  to  harass  New  Jersey, 
and  threaten  the  American  army  and  stores  around  Morris- 
town.  In  pursuance,  to  all  appearance,  of  this  project,  Clin 
ton  assembled  transports,  and  embarked  his  troops.  His  des 
tination  was  believed  to  be  West  Point.  He  had  at  this  time, 
in  and  around  New  York,  an  army  of  no  less  than  twelve 
thousand  men,  while  Washington  had  an  operating  force  of 
but  about  three  thousand  only — a  fearful  disparity.  It  was, 
therefore,  a  most  auspicious  time  for  the  British  general  to 
undertake  the  scheme  he  threatened — but  one  of  gloomy 
prospect  indeed,  and  pressing  danger,  for  the  American 
troops. 

Washington  fully  apprehended  "some  alarming  scene 
shortly  to  open,"  as  he  expressed  it — some  "serious  misfor 
tune  "  in  the  quarter  of  the  Highlands.  Prepare,  therefore, 
he  wrote  to  General  Howe,  who  was  then  in  command  at 
West  Point.  Circulate  ideas  of  having  the  militia  ready 
for  a  sudden  call.  Apply  to  Governor  Trumbull  for  the  ad 
vance  of  the  Connecticut  regiments.  Collect  boats,  sufficient 
to  carry  two  thousand  men,  and  put  the  garrison  under  mov 
ing  orders,  with  provision  for  three  days,  for  a  demonstration 
in  your  quarter,  in  case  the  design  of  the  enemy  should  be 
against  the  army  in  New  Jersey — and  take  such  other  steps 


480  CHAP.     XL. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

as,  without  making  a  noise,  may  give  the  enemy  some 
alarm. 

Governor  Trumbull  responded,  of  course,  to  the  applica 
tion  made  to  himself.  He  ordered  a  peremptory  detachment 
of  about  two  thousand  militia — and  "  caused  them  to  march 
with  the  utmost  expedition"  to  General  Howe.  They 
reached  the  exposed  quarter,  and  gave  strength  and  confi 
dence  to  the  garrison  there.  The  relief  they  afforded  was 
most  timely.  And  the  arrival,  speedily,  of  the  French  fleet 
with  Count  Eochambeau — which  gave  Clinton  occupation  in 
other  directions — rendered  this  relief  complete.  "  I  am  un 
der  no  apprehensions  now  of  danger  to  West  Point,"  wrote 
Washington  to  Livingston,  June  twenty -ninth — "on  the 
score  either  of  provisions,  the  strength  of  the  works,  or  of 
the  garrison.  I  have  dismissed  all  the  militia  that  were 
called  in  for  the  defence  of  the  posts  on  the  North  Kiver." 
"  I  beg  your  Excellency,"  he  wrote  Trumbull  at  about  the 
same  time,*  "to  accept  my  warmest  acknowledgments  for 
your  exertions  in  behalf  of  West  Point." 

The  second  occasion  to  which  we  have  alluded  as  specially 
commanding  his  Excellency's  attention  the  present  year,  was 
the  arrival,  at  Newport,  of  the  French  Armament  just  men 
tioned.  Six  thousand  soldiers  from  sunny  France — gallant, 
devoted,  ambitious — came  bearing  the  aegis  of  protection  for 
America  in  her  perilous  struggle  for  independence.  It  was 
a  boon  and  benison  soul-stirring!  The  chivalric  La  Fay- 
ette — chief  promoter  of  the  event — announced  their  coming, 
April  twenty-seventh,  from  on  board  a  frigate  in  the  Bay  of 
Boston  which  his  Majesty  of  France  had  furnished  him  for 
his  passage — that  he  might  be  the  bearer  of  the  tidings,  and 
find  himself  once  again  one  of  the  "loving  soldiers"  of 
Washington.  How  the  good  news  flew  the  country  over ! 
How  the  heart  of  each  American  patriot  kindled  with  exult 
ation!  The  foe,  in  his  belief,  could  certainly  now  be  ex 
pelled  from  New  York!  The  South  would  be  recovered! 
The  proud  navy  of  England  would  no  longer  ride  triumph 
ant  on  the  American  seas !  America  would  be  free  at  once ! 
Beautiful  dream — to  be  realized  at  last — surely — but  not  at 

*  July  twenty-seventh. 


1780.  CHAP.    XL. — TRTJMBULL.  481 

the  time  this  present  Joy  dated  its  fulfilment — not  in  the 
year  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty ! 

Still  preparations  were  made  as  if  its  immediate  fulfilment 
were  certain.  A  memorial  from  the  Minister  of  France* 
roused  Congress — and  this  Body  appealed  to  the  country  for 
ten  millions  of  dollars — to  be  paid  within  thirty -five  days  at 
least — and  to  be  used  solely  for  bringing  an  army  into  the 
field,  and  forwarding  its  supplies.  Connecticut,  for  her 
share,  was  asked  for  one  million  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  thousand  dollars.  Congress  called  on  the  country  also 
to  complete  a  force  of  twenty-five  thousand  men,  which,  in 
January,  had  been  promised  for  cooperation  with  France. 
Connecticut  had  yet  many  soldiers  to  enlist  in  order  to  make 
up  her  assigned  quota  of  this  force.  Congress  demanded 
explicit  information  from  all  the  States  as  to  their  men, 
money,  and  provisions,  and  charged  their  Supreme  Execu 
tives  with  the  duty  of  correspondence  with  a  Committee  of 
its  own  at  the  Head  Quarters  of  the  Army,  to  communicate 
the  measures  they  took  from  time  to  time  in  pursuance  of  the 
public  requisitions.  A  Circular  from  this  Committee  to  all 
the  States  detailed  measures — many  and  vital — and  entreated 
for  their  execution.f 

*  At  Philadelphia. 

t  The  following  is  General  Washington's  appeal  to  Trumbull,  June  27th,  on 
the  Plan  of  Cooperation : — 

"  Dear  Sir.  I  can  omit  no  occasion  of  repeating  my  earnest  entreaties  to  your 
Excellency  to  use  all  your  influence  to  forward  the  measures  recommended  by 
the  committee  of  cooperation.  I  assure  you  with  the  greatest  sincerity  and 
truth,  that  nothing  short  of  them  will  answer  our  purpose,  and  that  I  am  fully 
pursuaded,  from  a  general  view  of  European  and  American  aifairs,  that  the  fate 
of  our  cause  depends  on  the  exertions  of  this  campaign.  The  sparing  system 
has  been  tried,  till  it  has  brought  us  to  a  crisis  little  less  than  desperate  ;  and,  if 
the  opportunity  now  before  us  be  neglected,  I  believe  it  will  be  too  late  to 
retrieve  our  affairs.  These  are  ideas  which  I  may  safely  trust  to  your  judgment, 
though  I  know  they  would  be  slighted  by  those  indolent  and  narrow  politicians, 
who,  except  at  the  moment  of  some  signal  misfortune,  are  continually  crying  All 
is  well,  and  who,  to  save  a  little  present  expense  and  avoid  some  temporary  in 
convenience,  with  no  ill  designs  in  the  main,  would  protract  the  war,  and  risk 
the  perdition  of  our  liberties.  As  I  always  speak  to  your  Excellency  in  the  con 
fidence  of  friendship,  I  shall  not  scruple  to  confess,  that  the  prevailing  politics, 
for  a  considerable  time  past,  have  filled  me  with  inexpressible  anxiety  and  ap 
prehension,  and  have  uniformly  appeared  to  me  to  threaten  the  subversion  of 
our  independence.  I  hope  a  period  to  them  has  now  arrived,  and  that  a  change  of 
measures  will  save  us  from  ruin." 
41 


482  CHAP.    XL. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

To  the  new  duties  that  now  devolved  upon  him,  Trumbull 
devoted  himself  with  his  usual  assiduity — and,  notwithstand 
ing  the  great  embarrassments  of  the  country,  with  compara 
tively  good  success.  The  occasion  was  indeed  an  extraordi 
nary  one — calling  for  an  extraordinary  amount  of  concert 
and  correspondence,  and  for  the  greatest  wisdom  and  energy. 
The  General  Assembly,  it  is  true — in  view,  as  they  said,  of 
the  fact  that  "  affairs  of  great  weight  and  moment  to  the 
peace,  happiness,  and  safety  of  the  States  "  would  "  now  de 
volve  on  the  Executive  Department"  of  Connecticut,  and 
that  "  very  vigorous  and  important  exertions  "  must  be  put 
forth — added  ten  gentlemen,  for  the  conjuncture,  to  the  Gov 
ernor's  Council.  Their  advice  and  aid  were  received  by  him 
with  respect  and  attention,  but  did  not  very  materially  dimin 
ish  his  own  labors — for  his  were  hands  which  found  always 
something  to  do.  Nor,  to  any  great  extent,  did  they  relieve 
his  sense  of  responsibility — for  this,  Chief  Executive  of  the 
State  as  he  was — with  such  sensitiveness  to  duty  as  he  pos 
sessed — no  number  of  Councillors,  though  a  multitude, 
could  weaken. 

Soon  as  the  French  troops  appeared  at  Newport,  he  warmly 
congratulated  the  Public  on  their  arrival.  He  spoke  in  flat 
tering  terms  of  their  commanders — and  by  La  Fayette — who 
on  his  way,  in  July,  to  join  his  countrymen,  visited  him  at 
his  home  in  Lebanon — he  sent  on  to  Rochambeau  and  Ter- 
nay  words  of  courtesy,  and  zealous  assurances  of  his  own 
purpose  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  make  their  mission  grateful 
to  themselves,  and  fruitful  of  good  to  the  great  cause  which 
they  came  to  succor. 

It  was  but  a  few  days  only  after  their  arrival,  as  is  famil 
iar  history,  when  the  British  Admiral  Arbuthnot — suddenly 
reenforced  by  Graves  with  six  ships  of  the  line — reversed  the 
naval  superiority  of  the  French,  and  effectually  blockaded 
them  in  their  quarters  at  Newport. 

July  twenty -seventh,  Trumbull  heard  of  the  appearance  of 
Arbuthnot  off  this  place.  General  Heath  wrote  him.  So 
did  Governor  Greene.  The  news  was  alarming.  The  ene 
my,  it  was  said,  would  immediately  make  an  attack.  Quick 
ly  therefore  did  Trumbull  provide,  so  far  as  was  within  his 


1780.  CHAP.    XL. — TRUMBULL.  483 

own  power,  for  the  emergency.  He  ordered  half  the  men 
from  four  eastern  brigades  to  be  made  ready  to  march  to  the 
threatened  quarter.  A  part  of  the  forces  from  the  two  brig 
ades  of  Tyler  and  Douglass,  he  sent  immediately  on  to  Ehode 
Island.  To  the  same  quarter  also  he  sent  Captain  Timothy 
Backus  with  his  troop  of  Veterans  from  Canterbury — and 
Captain  Daniel  Tyler  with  his  company  of  Matrosses  from 
Pomfret — instructing  them  all  to  rendezvous  at  Greenwich — 
and  there,  placing  themselves  under  the  order  of  the  officer 
commanding  in  that  department,  to  be  momentarily  ready  to 
defend  Newport,  should,  the  enemy,  as  expected,  make  an 
attack. 

But  two  days  after  this,  came  a  second  installment  of  start 
ling  news.  It  was  at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  July  twenty-ninth, 
that  a  wearied  express — one  among  others  who,  by  order  of 
General  Silliman,  had  ridden  night  and  day  upon  his  er 
rand — drew  up  his  panting  steed  at  the  door  of  Governor 
Trumbull's  mansion  at  Lebanon,  and  announced  that  Sir 
Henry  Clinton — with  a  most  formidable  armament — was  on 
the  waters  of  Long  Island  Sound.  He  had  embarked  eight, 
probably  ten  thousand  land  forces — was  the  report  which  his 
Excellency  received.  The  armament  had  been  in  menacing 
position  off  Greenwich,  it  was  added.  It  had  now  put  into 
Huntington  Bay,  and  lay  there  at  anchor.  It  was  des 
tined,  concluded  the  message,  for  Newport — or  for  New 
London  ! 

The  Governor  instantly  sent  the  news,  by  express,  to  Gen 
eral  Heath.  An  attack  upon  you  at  Newport,  he  wrote, 
"may  be  momently  expected."  Another  express  he  sent 
with  the  news  to  General  Washington.  Other  expresses  he 
sent  to  New  London — and  in  various  other  directions — with 
numerous  and  urgent  commands  that  every  preparation 
should  be  made  to  receive  the  enemy — that  fresh  aids  of  mili 
tia  should  be  put  under  marching  orders — that  coast  guards 
should  be  multiplied,  supplies  augmented,  spy-boats  sent  out, 
and  the  most  sleepless  vigilance  be  everywhere  exercised. 

Fortunately  the  danger  was  escaped.  To  alarm  Clinton, 
General  Washington  moved  rapidly  with  a  force  of  ten 
thousand  men  towards  Kingsbridge,  threatening  New  York. 


484  CHAP.    XL. — TKUMBULL.  1780. 

Arbuthnot  found  that  the  French  had  so  strengthened  their 
defences,  as  in  his  judgment  to  defy  assault — nor  did  he  like 
Clinton's  plan  of  combining  a  land  and  naval  force  for  his 
project.  It  was,  therefore,  abandoned.  Newport  was  re 
lieved.  New  London  was  relieved — and  Clinton  went  back 
to  New  York.  His  bootless  expedition  was  at  an  end. 

Arbuthnot,  however,  still  continued  to  blockade  New 
port — and  cruised  from  his  station  off  Block  Island  to  inter 
cept,  if  possible,  that  second  division  of  French  troops  which 
was  daily  expected  from  Brest.  August  passed — and  this 
second  division  had  not  come.  Neither  did  Count  de 
Guichen,  so  anxiously  looked  for  with  a  fleet  from  the  West 
Indies,  appear.  Nor — from  the  over-abounding  confidence 
engendered  by  the  presence  of  Rochambeau,  and  from  other 
causes — was  the  American  Army  recruited  rapidly  and  fully 
as  it  should  have  been.  How  then  recapture  New  York — 
the  darling  project  of  General  Washington — or  how  other 
wise  direct,  separately,  or  in  union,  the  French  and  Ameri 
can  forces — were  now  the  great  questions  to  be  settled. 

In  order  to  settle  them — "  to  combine  some  plan  of  future 
operations  "  which  events  might  render  practicable — arrange 
ments  were  made  for  a  personal  interview  between  the  French 
and  American  Commanders-in-chief.  It  was  to  take  place  at 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  September  twentieth— and  Trumbull 
was  to  be  present.  On  a  Monday  morning,  therefore,  Wash 
ington — with  General  Knox  and  La  Fayette  for  companions, 
and  some  other  officers  of  his  suite — set  out  to  meet  Count 
Rochambeau  and  Admiral  Ternay  at  the  appointed  place. 

It  is  a  singular  and  interesting  fact,  related  by  Gordon — 
and  one  which  shows  strikingly  the  pecuniary  pressure  of 
the  times — that,  on  the  departure  of  Washington  and  his 
party  from  Camp — they  were  compelled  to  send  about  in 
every  direction  in  order  "  to  muster  up  "  money  with  which 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  their  contemplated  trip — and  that, 
after  strenuous  exertions,  all  they  could  obtain  was  eight 
thousand  paper  dollars — such  was  the  "scarcity,"  says  Gor 
don,  "even  of  that  depreciated  commodity  at  camp."  Be 
fore  quitting  New  York,  they  had  expended  "more  than 
half  their  stock  " — and  were  much  embarrassed  by  the  idea 


1780.  CHAP.    XL. — TRUMBULL.  485 

that  soon  they  would  become  quite  unable  "to  pay  their 
way."  Nevertheless,  they  "put  a  good  countenance  "  on  the 
matter,  when  in  Connecticut,  says  Gordon — "  called  for  what 
they  wanted,  and  were  well  supplied — but  the  thought  of 
reckoning  with  their  host  damped  their  pleasure.  To  their 
great  joy,  however,  when  the  bills  were  called  for,  they  were 
informed  that  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  had  given  orders 
that  they  should  pay  nothing  in  that  State,  but  should  be  at  free 
cost  I n 

Gordon  is  correct.  Trumbull's  thoughtfulness  upon  this 
occasion  did  anticipate  their  wants,  and  those  too  of  the 
French  commanders  and  their  suite — for,  September  nine 
teenth,  say  the  Records  of  the  Council  of  Safety — u  agreeable 
to  the  orders  of  his  Excellency"  three  hundred  and  forty -five 
pounds  are  to  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury  "  for  the  reception 
and  entertainment "  of  General  Washington,  and  the  French 
General  and  Admiral  at  Hartford. 

Upon  their  appearance  in  this  city,  they  were  received 
with  imposing  ceremonies.  The  Governor's  Guards,  and  a 
company  of  Artillery,  were  on  duty  upon  the  occasion. 
They  saluted  Washington,  as  he  entered  the  town,  with  thir 
teen  guns.  Trumbull,  and  Colonel  Jeremiah  Wadsworth, 
and  other  distinguished  personages  of  the  State,  met  him  as 
he  advanced.  They  gave  him  a  cordial  welcome — and, 
through  crowds  that  rent  the  air  with  cheers,  and  strained  to 
catch  a  sight  of  the  illustrious  Commander-in-chief,  the  latter 
made  his  way,  together  with  Knox  and  La  Fayette,  to  the 
residence  of  their  mutual  friend,  Colonel  Wadsworth — there 
upon  the  site  where  the  Historical  Society  of  Connecticut 
now  lifts  its  walls — and  where,  in  a  beautiful  mansion,  still 
standing,  though  upon  another  spot,  himself  and  his  princi 
pal  officers  were  nobly  entertained  during  their  stay. 

The  same  ceremony  was  repeated  soon  after  Washington 
came,  upon  the  arrival  of  the  French  commander  and  suite.* 

*  The  following  interesting  occurrence,  upon  their  journey  to  Hartford  at  this 
time,  is  related  by  Eochambeau  himself. 

"  I  will  here  venture  to  intrude  on  the  kind  attention  of  the  Eeader  with  an 
anecdote,  which  is  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  manners  of  the  good  republic 
ans  of  Connecticut.  The  conveyance  in  which  I  proceeded  to  the  conference, 
in  company  with  Admiral  de  Ternay,  who,  by  the  way,  was  very  infirm,  broke 
41* 


486  CHAP.    XL.— TEUMBULL.  1780. 

They  were  formally  received  at  the  City  Landing,  after  crossing 
the  ferry — and  marching  to  the  area  in  front  of  the  Capitol, 
were  there  met  by  General  Washington  and  his  military 
companions.  It  was  the  first  time  that  these  distinguished 
leaders  of  the  great  Allied  Armies,  saw  the  faces  of  each 
other — the  first  time  that,  through  their  chief  martial  repre 
sentatives,  France  and  America  shook  hands — and  the  spec 
tacle  is  described  as  having  been  one  of  the  most  august  and 
imposing  character. 

There  were  the  noble-looking  Frenchmen,  gayly  dressed, 
and  sparkling  with  jewelled  ensignia.  There  was  Washing 
ton — erect,  tall,  commanding — in  his  buff  vest,  buff  breeches 
buckled  at  the  knee,  long-spurred  boots,  white  neckcloth, 
and  blue,  buff-lined  coat,  that  shone  with  a  pair  of  rich, 
massive  epaulettes.  There  were  Knox,  and  other  American 
officers,  in  nearly  similar  attire.  There  were  Governor 
Trumbull,  Colonel  Wadsworth,  and  other  noted  patriots,  in 
the  close-fitting  short  clothes,  embroidered  vests,  and  drab  or 

down.  I  dispatched  my  first  aid  de  camp,  Fessen,  to  fetch  a  wheelwright,  who 
lived  about  a  mile  from  the  spot  where  the  accident  occurred.  He  soon  after  re 
turned  to  us,  however,  that  he  had  found  the  man  sick  with  the  ague,  and  that 
he  had  positively  declared  to  him  that  for  his  hat  full  of  guineas  he  would  do  no 
work  at  night.  I  prevailed  on  the  Admiral  to  accompany  me  to  the  man's  shop, 
and  we  repaired  thither ;  we  told  him  that  General  Washington  would  arrive  at 
Hartford  the  same  evening,  to  confer  with  us  the  following  day,  and  that  unless 
he  could  repair  our  carriage,  we  should  be  too  late  to  meet  him.  '  You  are  no 
liars  at  any  rate,'  he  replied,  'for  I  read  in  the  Connecticut  paper  that  Washing 
ton  was  to  be  there  to  confer  with  you ;  as  it  is  for  the  public  service,  I  will  take 
care  that  your  carriage  shall  be  ready  for  you  at  six  in  the  morning.'  He  kept 
his  word ;  and  we  proceeded  on  at  the  promised  time.  As  we  returned,  another 
wheel  broke,  and  we  were  once  more  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  our  old  friend. 
4  Well,'  said  he,  '  so  you  want  me  to  work  again  for  you  at  night  ? '  'Aye,  in 
deed  we  do,'  I  replied.  'Admiral  Rodney  has  arrived  to  reenforce  threefold  the 
naval  forces  against  which  we  are  contending,  and  it  is  of  the  highest  import 
ance  that  we  should  return  without  delay  to  Ehode  Island  to  oppose  him.' — '  But 
what  can  you  do,'  he  continued,  '  with  your  six  ships  against  the  twenty  Eng 
lish  ? ' — '  It  will  be  the  most  glorious  day  of  our  life  if  they  attempt  to  break  our 
line.' — '  Come,  come,'  said  he,  'you  are  good  honest  fellows  ;  your  carriage  shall 
be  put  in  repair  by  to-morrow  morning  at  five  o'clock.  But  tell  me,  before  I  set 
to  work,  although  I  do  not  wish  to  inquire  into  your  secrets,  how  did  you  like 
Washington,  and  how  did  he  like  you  ? '  We  assured  him  that  we  had  been  de 
lighted  with  him ;  his  patriotism  was  satisfied  and  he  kept  his  word.  I  do  not 
mean  to  compare  all  Americans  to  this  good  man ;  but  almost  all  the  inland  cul 
tivators,  and  all  the  land  owners  of  Connecticut,  are  animated  with  that  patriotic 
spirit  which  many  other  people  would  do  well  to  imitate." 


1780.  GHAP.    XL. — TEUMBULL.  487 

crimson  broad-flapped  coats,  which  then  distinguished  the 
dress  of  the  opulent  citizen. 

In  close  proximity  to  this  central  group,  were  the  Govern 
or's  Guards,  in  glittering  uniform,  and  Mattrosses  with  their 
shining  brass  artillery — and  around — crowding  the  street, 
and  filling  every  window,  stoop,  and  niche  in  the  vicinity, 
was  an  immense,  eager  multitude — composed  of  men,  women, 
and  children,  who  had  assembled  from  Hartford,  and  the 
neighboring  towns,  to  witness  the  novel  and  gorgeous  spec 
tacle  of  a  meeting  in  America  between  the  Representatives 
of  the  two  great  military  families  of  France  and  the  United 
States.  Everything  passed  off  most  happily.  "  The  great 
est  satisfaction,"  says  the  Hartford  Courant  of  that  day, 
"  was  expressed  by  the  parties  at  this  meeting,  and  the  high 
est  marks  of  polite  respect  and  attention  were  mutual." 

The  interview  between  the  commanders  was  continued  at 
the  house  of  Colonel  Wadsworth — whither  the  parties  re 
tired — and  where,  we  are  reliably  informed — Trumbull  in 
their  midst,  and  lending  his  own  highly  valued  aid  and  ad 
vice — they  proceeded  with  that  consultation  which  was  the 
special  object  of  their  meeting.  They  conferred  long  and 
earnestly — about  recapturing  New  York — about  a  combined 
expedition  to  the  South — and  about  eventual  operations  by 
the  French  squadron  against  the  British  West  India  isles,  in 
case  the  enemy  should  be  expelled  from  the  United  States — 
operations  in  which  these  States — to  be  "  disencumbered,"  it 
was  hoped,  "of  an  internal  war" — might  vigorously  unite 
their  own  inhabitants  and  resources,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
common  cause. 

But  this  deliberation  resulted  in  no  definite  plan  of  ac 
tion — because,  as  Washington  informs  us,  "neither  side 
knew  with  certainty  what  was  to  be  expected.  We  could 
only  combine  possible  plans,"  he  adds,  "  on  the  supposition 
of  possible  events,  and  engage  mutually  to  do  everything  in 
our  power  against  the  next  campaign."  Still,  though  the 
exceeding  complicity  of  public  affairs,  at  this  time,  rendered 
it  impossible  for  the  illustrious  military  Areopagus  at  Hart 
ford  to  concert  any  project  for  immediate  execution,  yet  the 
interview  was  fruitful  of  good  to  the  country  by  bringing  the 


488  CHAP.    XL. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

great  leaders  of  the  French  and  American  forces  personally 
in  contact — making  them  acquainted  with  each  other — and 
by  augmenting  mutual  respect,  attachment,  and  harmony. 

Thursday  night,  the  Conference  was  concluded.  Friday 
saw  the  French  officers  start  on  their  return  to  Newport — 
the  Governor's  Guards  again  in  martial  array — escorting  the 
distinguished  guests  to  the  River  bank,  while  thirteen  guns 
renewedly  rent  the  air.  The  same  parade  was  again  pro 
duced  on  the  following  morning — at  which  time  General 
Washington  and  suite  shook  hands  with  the  hospitable 
Wadsworth,  the  worthy  Governor  Trumbull,  and  numerous 
other  friends — and,  amid  volleys  of  huzzas,  started  for  the 
Head  Quarters  of  the  Army — their  way,  for  a  while,  pleas 
antly  beguiled,  doubtless,  with  thoughts  of  the  friends  and 
the  welcome  they  had  left — but  soon  awfully  saddened  by 
the  report,  which  met  them  on  their  journey,  of  the  fearful 
treason  of  one,  whom  in  confidence  and  friendship,  but  five 
days  before,  Washington  had  met  at  King's  Ferry — whither, 
from  West  Point,  to  pay  the  Commander-in-chief  his  respects, 
had  come  the  execrable  Arnold. 


C  HAPTER    XLI. 
1780. 

TRUMBULL  aids  to  rebuild  Fairfield  and  Norwalk.  British  marauding  ex 
peditions  upon  the  western  frontier  of  Connecticut.  Similar  expedi 
tions  from  Long  Island — particularly  from  a  "band  of  "Associated 
Loyalists"  at  Lloyd's  Neck.  Trumbull's  precautions.  Illicit  trade, 
and  forays  upon  Long  Island.  Trumbull  in  this  connection.  Capture 
of  Gen.  Silliman,  and  counter-capture  of  Judge  Jones.  Trumbull  re 
stores  Silliman  to  liberty.  The  Governor  and  naval  defence.  Mari 
time  prizes  this  year  comparatively  rare — losses  inconsiderable.  Gal 
lant  capture  of  the  Watt  by  the  frigate  Trumbull.  The  army  goes  into 
•winter  quarters.  Trumbull  and  Col.  Sheldon's  regiment  of  Horse. 
The  Duke  de  Lauzun,  and  his  famous  corps  of  Hussars,  take  up  their 
quarters  at  Lebanon.  Their  appearance  and  mode  of  life  at  this  time 
A  dinner  given  by  the  Duke  to  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux  and  Baron 
Montesquieu.  Trumbull  present.  Sketch  by  Chastellux  of  his  ap 
pearance,  and  of  his  "saying  grace  "  at  the  repast.  Another  sketch  of 
him  by  the  same  hand,  and  also  of  Col.  Jeremiah  Wadsworth. 

THE  foreign  fleet — whose  coming  originated  the  Confer 
ence  described  at  the  close  of  our  last  Chapter — we  have 
found  to  have  been  the  cause,  indirectly,  of  a  great  alarm  to 
Connecticut — that  occasioned  by  Clinton's  expedition.  No 
large  British  squadron,  however,  like  that  of  July,  seems  to 
have  again  threatened  the  coast  of  this  State  during  the  pe 
riod  on  which  we  now  dwell — and  Trumbull,  therefore,  had 
a  little  time  to  devote  to  the  good  work  of  lifting  Fairfield 
and  Norwalk  up  from  the  ashes  to  which  the  enemy  had  re 
duced  them  the  previous  year — a  work  which  he  promoted 
by  freely  granting  permits  for  the  exportation  of  produce 
from  Connecticut  to  Boston  and  elsewhere,  for  the  procure 
ment  of  boards,  glass,  and  other  materials  required  for  the 
rebuilding  of  these  towns — while  at  the  same  time,  at  other 
points  where  the  enemy  had  expended  their  fury — as  par 
ticularly  at  Fisher's  Island* — he  promoted  re-inhabitation 
and  industry. 

Still,  so  long  as  the  foe  occupied  New  York  and  Long  Is- 

*  In  February,  on  application  of  John  Winthrop,  he  gave  this  gentleman  per 
mission  to  rebuild  on  this  island,  and  cultivate. 


490  CHAP.    XLI. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

land,  Connecticut  was  never  otherwise  than  in  immediate 
danger.  Still  marauding  expeditions  against  the  western 
frontiers  were  frequently  set  afoot  by  them — as  once  in  July, 
when  a  band  of  their  horsemen  surprised  a  militia-guard  at 
Horseneck,  killed  four,  wounded  as  many  more,  took  twenty 
prisoners,  and  drove  off  a  large  number  of  horses,  and  thirty 
or  forty  head  of  cattle — and  as  once  again  in  December,  when 
another  British  party  of  one  hundred  horse  and  foot,  sur 
prised  another  militia-guard  at  the  same  place,  and  carried 
off  about  thirty  prisoners.  Such  forays  as  these,  of  course, 
drew  immediately  upon  the  Governor's  care — some  of  them 
for  extraordinary  care — as  upon  one  occasion  in  June,  when 
he  sent  to  General  Howe  at  West  Point  for  forty  Lighthorse 
to  relieve  Greenwich — and  upon  another  occasion  late  in  the 
fall,  when  for  the  defence  generally  of  the  western  frontiers, 
he  asked  Washington  and  Howe  for  the  return  of  two  Con 
necticut  regiments  from  the  Highlands  that  had  been  tempo 
rarily  loaned,  upon  a  fresh  alarm  in  that  quarter — and  upon 
still  another  occasion,  in  December,  when  one  thousand  addi 
tional  soldiers  were  ordered  for  the  defence  of  Horseneck  and 
vicinity. 

Marauding  expeditions  too  from  Long  Island  against  the 
Connecticut  Main,  were  frequently  concerted  and  attempted. 
Particularly  did  these  originate  from  a  nest  of  tory  priva- 
teersmen  at  Lloyd's  Neck — who,  this  year,  for  the  first  time — 
for  the  express  purpose  of  annoying  the  sea-coast  of  the  "  re 
volted  "  provinces,  and  distressing  their  trade — became  form 
ally  organized,  as  a  "Board  of  Associated  Loyalists,"  so 
styled,  under  a  commission  from  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  and  with 
Trumbull's  own  former  prisoner — Governor  Franklin  of  New 
Jersey — for  their  President.*  The  watchfulness,  however, 
of  Connecticut  against  them  was  abounding.  For  there, 
cruising  in  the  Sound — one  set  from  Stonington  to  Guilford — 
another  set  from  Guilford  to  the  Housatonick — and  still  an 
other  from  the  Housatonick  westward — were  ten  thoroughly 
armed  whaleboats — under  the  command  respectively  of 

*  "  The  important  post  of  Lloyd's  Neck,"  says  Onderdonk,  in  his  Revolutionary 
Incidents  of  Queen's  County,  L.  /.,  "  was  put  tinder  their  direction,  and  they  were 
furnished  with  suitable  armed  vessels,  provisions,  arms,  and  ammunition,  to  de- 


1780.  CHAP.    XLI.— TRUMBULL.  491 

Phinehas  Bradley,  William  Ledyard,  and  David  Hawley — 
captains  whom  Trumbull  commissioned  for  the  special  em 
ployment — and  manned  by  nine  men  each,  such  as,  in  the 
language  of  the  Kecord,  were  "  true  to  the  American  cause," 
and  might  "be  relied  on  for  their  fidelity."  And  they  were 
aided  occasionally  by  some  of  the  large  armed  vessels  of  the 
State — and  once,  in  October,  by  two  or  three  vessels  from  the 
French  fleet  at  Newport,  for  which  Trurnbull  specially 
applied.*  There  they  were,  day  and  night,  cutting  the 
waters  of  the  Sound,  turning  its  waves  in  sparkles  to  the  sun 
and  stars,  in  order  to  intercept  and  check  all  hostile  craft, 
guard  the  coast,  and  detect  and  prevent  illicit  trade. 

This  illicit  trade,  the  present  year,  was  more  than  ordina 
rily  active.  The  General  Assembly  had  to  pass  a  new  and 
special  act  for  its  suppression.  And  plundering  expeditions, 
by  some  unprincipled  men,  from  the  Connecticut  shore  over 
to  Long  Island,  were  to  some  extent  still  continued — spite  of 
the  fact  that  Governor  Trumbull — in  obedience  to  the  advice 
of  Congress  and  of  Washington,  and  in  consonance  with  his 
own  convictions  of  duty — had,  on  account  of  abuses,  refused 
any  longer  to  grant  commissions  for  armed  descents  upon  this 
quarter.  Still  they  were  made,  at  times — against  law — as 
one  Colonel  Hamilton  of  Flushing,  for  instance,  found  to  his 
cost — for  the  house  of  this  man,  filled  with  elegant  furniture, 
and  stocked  with  provisions  and  costly  wines  for  the  enter 
tainment  of  his  British  and  tory  friends — was  in  January,  by 
a  party  of  whaleboat  adventurers,  burned  to  the  ground. 
The  vigilance,  therefore,  of  Trumbull  in  regard  to  forays 
upon  Long  Island,  was  still  kept  active. 

fend  the  post,  and  carry  on  enterprises  against  the  rebels."  The  conditions  of 
their  "Association"  were  as  follows: — 

"1.  Each  Associator  was  to  receive  200  acres  of  land  in  North  America.  2.  All 
captures  made  by  them  to  be  their  own  property.  3.  Prisoners  taken  by  them  to 
be  exchanged  for  such  Loyalists  as  the  Board  may  name.  4.  The  sick  and 
wounded  to  have  the  benefit  of  the  King's  Hospital.  A  skilful  surgeon,  with  a 
complete  medical  chest,  to  reside  at  Lloyd's  Neck,  and  accompany  the  Associatora 
in  their  excursions.  5.  It  will  be  their  care  to  stop  those  distinguished  cruelties 
with  which  Colonial  loyalists  are  treated,  when  in  the  hands  of  rebels,  under  the 
distinction  of  prisoners  of  war  and  prisoners  of  State.  The  Directors  will  omit 
nothing  to  make  the  rebels  feel  the  just  vengeance  due  such  enormities." 

*  He  asked  for  them  to  be  stationed  "  at  or  near  New  London,  and  the  mouth, 
of  the  Connecticut  Kiver." 


492  CHAP.    XLI.— TKUMBULL.  1780. 

And  in  this  connection  it  should  be  noticed,  that  the  pris 
oners  made  from  this  island,  and  those  taken  upon  the 
Sound,  as  well  as  those  taken  elsewhere,  also  gave  him  at 
times,  this  year,  much  duty  to  perform — both  as  regards 
their  security,  and  their  exchange.  Prominent  among 
the  exchanges  which  it  devolved  upon  him  to  negotiate, 
was  that  of  his  endeared  friend,  the  patriotic  General  Silli- 
man — who  was  Superintendent  at  this  period  of  the  coast 
of  Fairfield,  and  whose  case,  as  it  illustrates  strikingly  the 
exposures  and  perils  of  the  day,  deserves  brief  mention 
here. 

It  was  the  dead  of  night  in  1779,  and  General  Silliman  and 
his  family  were  soundly  sleeping  at  his  house  in  Fairfield, 
when  a  violent  assault,  from  without,  upon  the  door,  suddenly 
awakened  them  all.  The  General  leaped  from  his  bed — 
seized  a  musket — sprang  to  a  window — and  there  saw  eight 
armed  men  striving  to  force  an  entrance.  Quick  as  thought 
he  attempted  to  fire  his  musket — but  it  only  flashed.  And 
the  assailants,  dashing  through  the  window,  seized  their  vic 
tim — pronounced  him  their  prisoner — plundered  him  of  his 
purse,  a  pair  of  pistols,  a  sword,  and  a  few  other  articles — 
and  just  giving  him  and  his  son*  time  to  dress  themselves, 
hurried  them  down  to  the  water-side,  which  they  reached 
at  two  o'clock,  and  thence  instantly  embarked  for  Long 
Island. 

"  Have  you  got  him  ?  " — was  the  excited  inquiry  of  Colo 
nel  Simcoe  to  the  party  as  they  approached  the  shore  of 
Lloyd's  Neck — where  Simcoe  commanded,  and  where  he 
stood  waiting  for  the  expected  prisoner. 

"Yes  " — was  the  reply. 

" Have  you  lost  any  men?  " — inquired  Simcoe  again. 

"  No  " — said  the  captors. 

"  That 's  well " — commented  at  once  the  licentious  British 
Colonel,  in  the  true  tory  style  of  detraction — "Your  Silli- 
mans  are  not  worth  a  man,  nor  your  Washingtons  I  " 

Father  an^  son  were  at  once  ordered  to  the  guard-house — 
an  indignity,  however,  from  which  the  General's  remon- 

*  Gold  Selleck  Silliman. 


1780.  CHAP.    XLI. — TRUMBULL.  493 

strance  saved  him  at  last* — and  soon,  under  an  escort  of 
dragoons,  they  were  both  sent  to  New  York — and  thence  to 
Flatbush — where,  carefully  guarded,  they  worried  out  many 
months  of  imprisonment.  Such  was  the  consummation 
mation  of  a  plot  which  Sir  Henry  Clinton  himself  had  devised. 

It  was  night  again — about  nine  o'clock,  November  the 
sixth — when  brave  Captain  Hawley,  from  Fairfield,  with  a 
party  of  about  twenty-five  gallant  volunteers — having  crossed 
the  Sound,  hidden  his  whalebpat  in  the  bushes,  and  made  his 
way,  stealthily,  through  the  woods,  fifty-two  miles — stood  at 
Fort  Neck,  Long  Island,  in  a  pleasant  solitude,  before  the 
door  of  the  Honorable  Thomas  Jones — one  of  the  Justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York.  There  was  a  ball  in  the 
house  that  evening.  "  Music  arose  with  its  voluptuous  swell," 
and  the  lamps  shone  brilliantly  "o'er  fair  women  and  brave 
men  "  assembled  for  the  dance.  The  approach  of  the  adven 
turers,  therefore,  had  been  unheard.  Captain  Hawley  knocked 
at  the  door.  The  knock  was  unanswered.  He  forced  the 
door  open.  There  stood  Judge  Jones,  immediately  confront 
ing  him  in  the  entry. 

"You  are  my  prisoner!" — said  the  Captain,  seizing  him, 
and  drawing  him  out  into  the  darkness,  while  others  of  his 
companions  at  the  same  time  seized  and  bore  away  a  young 
gentleman  by  the  name  of  Hewlett.  The  party  started  on 
its  return — rapidly — leaving  many  hearts  that  u  beat  happily  " 
but  a  moment  before,  astounded.  A  small  guard  of  British 
soldiers  happened  at  the  time  to  be  posted  at  a  little  distance 
from  their  road.  The  captive  Judge  hemmed,  sonorously,  as 
they  were  passing  it — that  he  might  attract  its  attention,  and 
be  rescued. 

"  Do  that  again,  and  you  shall  die ! " — was  the  quick  ex 
clamation  with  which  Captain  Hawley  sternly  forbade  him 
to  repeat  the  sound. 

*  "  The  prisoners  were  ordered  to  the  guard-house.  The  General  asked  the 
Adjutant  whether  this  was  the  manner  they  treated  prisoners  of  his  rank.  The 
Adjutant  replied,  '  "We  do  not  consider  you  in  the  same  light  as  we  should  a 
Continental  General.'  '  How,'  said  General  Silliman,  '  will  you  view  me  when  an 
exchange  shall  be  proposed? '  *  I  understand  you,'  said  the  Adjutant,  and  with 
drew.  These  questions  probably  preserved  General  Silliman  from  the  indignity 
of  being  confined  in  a  guard-house." — Dr.  Dwight. 
42 


494  CHAP.    XLI. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

This  menace  was  effective.  The  party  pushed  on,  thirty 
miles  that  same  evening.  The  following  day,  they  lodged  in 
a  forest — for  the  alarm  had  been  given,  and  the  British  Light- 
horse  were  on  their  track.  Six  of  their  number,  in  fact,  be 
came  victims  to  the  pursuit.  On  the  third  night,  however, 
spite  of  all  perils,  they  reached  Fairfield  in  safety — with  their 
prisoners.  General  Silliman  and  his  son  were  avenged! 

And  doubly  avenged — for  the  wife  of  the  captive  Gener 
al — with  a  noble  magnanimity — retaliated  the  sufferings  of 
herself,  her  husband,  and  her  son,  under  the  sweet  law  of 
hospitality — soon  as  she  heard  of  the  arrival  of  Judge  Jones, 
invited  him  to  breakfast  at  her  own  house — made  her  house, 
though  guarded,  his  home — and  soothed  his  imprisonment 
by  every  courtesy  in  her  power,  until  the  prisoner,  "distant, 
reserved,  sullen,"*  as  the  accounts  of  the  day  state  him  to 
have  been,  was,  with  his  companion  Hewlett,  removed  at  last 
for  safe  keeping  to  Middletown. 

Here  now  was  an  opportunity,  as  it  seemed,  for  the  recov 
ery  of  General  Silliman.  Himself  and  Judge  Jones — both 
gentlemen  of  high  distinction — equivalents,  to  all  appearance, 
in  consequence  and  influence — would  make  a  fair  exchange. 
Trumbull  gladly  seized  the  chance,  and  issuing  a  suitable 
commission  and  instructions,  not  only  for  the  exchange  of 
Silliman  and  his  son,  but  at  the  same  time  for  several  other 
prisoners — he  communicated  his  proceedings  to  General 
Washington. 

The  British  Authorities  in  the  case,  hesitated — down  till 
the  month  of  May.  Throw  in  Washburn,  they  then  said— 
a  tory  refugee,  who  happened  at  this  time  to  be  a  prisoner 
with  the  Americans — throw  him  in  along  with  Hewlett  and 
the  Judge,  and  we  will  send  you  the  rebel  General  and  his 
son.  The  proposition  was  accepted.  Washburn,  a  man  no 
torious  for  his  worthlessness,  was  included  in  the  exchange 
as  a  kind  of  make-weight,  and  Silliman,  with  his  son,  was 
sent  home.  On  his  passage  in  a  vessel  up  the  Sound,  he 
was  met  by  another  vessel  with  Judge  Jones  and  his  com 
panions  on  board,  going  down  the  Sound.  The  two  vessels 

*  He  had  been  made  a  prisoner  before— in  1776— and  was  then  confined  in  the 
jail  at  Norwich,  Connecticut. 


1780.  CHAP.    XLI. — TRUMBULL.  495 

paused.  The  General  and  the  Judge — who  seem  to  have 
been  well  acquainted,  and  aside  from  their  political  affinities 
on  good  terms — dined  together — and  then  proceeded  to  their 
respective  destinations — the  latter  to  New  York — and  the 
former  to  Fairfield — where  he  was  "welcomed  with  demon 
strations  of  joy  by  all  the  surrounding  country " — and  by 
no  heart  more  cordially  than  by  that  of  him,  who,  with  all 
the  zeal  of  private  friendship,  as  well  as  with  all  the  author 
ity  of  his  official  position,  had,  chiefly,  been  instrumental  in 
the  restoration  of  the  General  to  liberty. 

Thus,  as  now  described,  against  surprises  and  captures  like 
that  of  Silliman,  and  for  the  protection  generally  of  the  Con 
necticut  Main,  was  Trumbull  still  active — and  chiefly  this 
year  through  the  whaleboat  system  of  defence.  For  the 
larger  armed  vessels  of  the  State,  though  at  intervals  they 
cruised  under  the  Governor's  directions,  from  some  causes  or 
other — chiefly,  it  is  probable,  on  account  of  the  presence  of 
overpowering  British  squadrons  either  at  the  head  of  the 
Sound,  or  around  Block  Island — did  not  cruise  as  much,  or 
so  successfully,  as  in  some  former  years.  Prizes  were  com 
paratively  rare.  A  sloop  from  St.  Kitts,  laden  with  rurn, 
which  in  March  Captain  Smedley,  of  the  Kecovery,  took  and 
sent  into  New  London — a  large  brig,  which  in  March  again, 
Captain  Whittlesey,  of  the  Eetaliation,  captured  and  sent  into 
Newport — a  letter-of-marque  sloop,  of  ten  guns  and  twenty- 
one  men,  with  among  other  articles  one  hundred  puncheons 
of  rum,  and  the  Cornelia,  a  brig  from  Dublin  laden  with  a 
very  valuable  cargo,  which,  in  April  and  June,  were  brought 
into  New  London — these  were  the  chief  captures  of  the 
season. 

On  the  other  hand,  naval  losses  were  few  and  inconsider 
able — the  privateer  sloop  Revenue,  which  was  driven  on 
shore  by  the  enemy  near  Hog  Island,  and  bilged — and  the 
brig  Dispensier  from  New  London,  which  was  taken  by  a 
British  frigate,  and  carried  into  New  York — being  the  prin 
cipal  ones.  And  these  were  far  more  than  compensated  to 
the  Governor  and  State  by  the  account,  in  June,  that  the  frig 
ate  Trumbull — whose  construction,  for  Congress,  at  Chatham 
on  the  Connecticut  River,  his  Excellency  had  himself  super- 


496  CHAP.    XLI.— TRUMBULL.  1780. 

intended — nobly  distinguished  herself  in  an  action  "  which  is 
judged,  all  things  considered,  to  have  been  the  best  contest 
ed,  the  most  equally  matched,  equally  well-fought,  and 
equally  destructive  battle  during  the  war."* 

But  little  more  now  remains  to  be  said  of  Trumbull  in  his 
military  connections  for  seventeen  hundred  eighty.  The 
campaign,  towards  its  close,  at  the  North,  was  wasted  away 
in  almost  entire  inaction,  f  Save  an  apprehension,  early  in 
October,  that  Newport  would  be  freshly  attacked — upon 
which  occasion  General  Greene,  then  in  command  at  Ehode 
Island,  was  empowered  by  Washington,  in  case  of  an  emer 
gency,  to  call  on  Trumbull  for  the  two  regiments  of  Connec 
ticut  that  were  stationed  on  the  Sound — nothing  occurred  to 
create  general  alarm,  or  to  concentrate  troops  upon  any  mili- 

*  "  When  about  a  hundred  yards  distant,"  says  Cooper  in  his  Naval  History, 
describing  the  contest — "the  English  ship  fired  a  broadside,  and  the  action 
began  in  good  earnest.  For  two  hours  and  a  half  the  vessels  lay  nearly  abeam 
of  each  other,  giving  and  receiving  broadsides  without  intermission.  At  no 
time  were  they  a  hundred  yards  asunder,  and  more  than  once  the  yards  nearly 
interlocked.  Twice  was  the  Trumbull  set  on  fire  by  the  wads  of  her  enemy,  and 
once  the  enemy  suffered  in  the  same  way.  At  last  the  fire  of  the  Englishman 
slackened  sensibly,  until  it  nearly  ceased.  Capt.  Nicholson  now  felt  satisfied 
that  he  should  make  a  prize  of  his  antagonist,  and  was  encouraging  his  people 
with  that  hope,  when  a  report  was  brought  to  him,  that  the  mainmast  was  totter 
ing,  and  that  if  it  went  while  near  the  enemy,  his  ship  would  probably  be  the 
sacrifice.  Anxious  to  secure  the  spar,  sail  was  made,  and  the  Trambull  shot 
ahead  again,  her  superiority  of  sailing  being  very  decided.  She  was  soon  clear 
of  her  adversary,  who  made  no  effort  to  molest  her.  The  vessels,  however, 
were  scarcely  musket-shot  apart,  when  the  main  and  mizzen  topmasts  of  the 
Trumbull  went  over  the  side,  and,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  secure  them,  spar 
after  spar  came  down,  until  nothing  was  left  but  the  foremast.  Under  such  cir 
cumstances,  the  enemy,  who  had  manifested  no  desire  to  profit  by  her  advantage, 
went  off  on  her  proper  course.  Before  she  was  out  of  sight,  her  main  topmast 
was  also  seen  to  fall.  It  was  afterwards  ascertained  that  the  ship  engaged  by  the 
Trumbull  was  a  letter-of-marque  called  the  Watt,  Capt.  Coulthard,  a  vessel  of 
size,  that  had  been  expressly  fitted  to  fight  her  way.  *  *  In  the  way  of  a 
regular  cannonade  this  combat  is  generally  thought  to  have  been  the  severest 
that  was  fought  in  the  war  of  the  Ee volution." 

The  Trumbull  was  distinguished  in  other  respects  this  year.  With  the  Deane, 
the  Confederacy,  and  the  sloop-of-war  Saratoga,  she  was  selected  by  Congress  to 
be  put  under  the  control  of  Washington,  and  employed  for  cooperation  with  the 
French  fleet  in  any  naval  enterprises  on  the  coast  of  North  America — and  again 
was  selected  by  the  national  Board  of  Admiralty  for  a  special  cruise  of  six 
months,  "without  loss  of  time,  for  the  protection  of  trade,  and  annoyance  of  the 
enemy." 

t "  We  are  now,"  wrote  Washington,  October  fifth,  "  drawing  an  inactive  cam 
paign  to  a  close." 


1780.  CHAP.    XLI. — TRUMBULL.  497 

tary  enterprises.  In  October,  the  Army  began  to  think  of 
winter  quarters — and  early  in  December,  the  arrangements 
for  their  accommodation  were  completed — the  Pennsylvania 
and  New  Jersey  lines  being  cantoned  at  Morristown  and 
Pompton — the  New  York  brigade  in  the  vicinity  of  Alba 
ny — and  the  New  England  lines  at  West  Point  and  its  de 
pendencies — save  Sheldon's  regiment  of  Horse,  which — for 
a  short  time  quartered  at  Colchester,  Connecticut — was,  upon 
a  representation  from  Governor  Trumbull,  removed  subse 
quently  to  Northampton. 

The  occasion  of  the  Governor's  interposition  in  this  case 
grew  out  of  the  fact  that  a  large  force  of  French  cavalry  was 
to  be  quartered,  it  was  expected,  in  Colchester,  and  it  was 
feared  there  would  not  be  a  sufficient  quantity  of  forage  for 
both  troops.  Washington  was  somewhat  discontented  at  the 
plan  of  sending  Sheldon's  regiment  into  Massachusetts,  and 
so  expressed  himself  at  the  time — in  a  letter  to  Trumbull — 
because  he  deemed  such  State  interposition  with  his  own  ar 
rangements  as  improper.  "  It  was  striking,"  he  said,  "  at  the 
most  essential  privilege  of  the  Commander-in-chief  that  could 
be  exercised."  This  was  making  rather  prodigal  claim. 
However,  he  submitted  to  the  new  arrangement,  as  he  seemed 
bound  to  do,  having  already  previously  written  to  Rocham- 
beau,  and  "  very  much  "  approved  this  officer's  intent  of  quar 
tering  a  portion  of  his  troops,  the  second  division,  in  Con 
necticut. 

To  carry  out  this  intent,  Rochambeau  had  himself  care 
fully  conferred  with  Trumbull.  He  applied  to  the  latter  for 
the  cantonment  of  two  regiments  of  his  troops  at  New  Lon 
don,  three  at  Norwich,  and  one  at  Windham — and  October 
nineteenth,  wrote  him  in  regard  to  the  cantonment  of  the 
Duke  de  Lauzun's  celebrated  Legion  of  Horse — a  corps  six 
hundred  strong,  and  "as  fine  a  one,"  said  General  Heath,  "as 
I  have  ever  seen."  Ehode  Island,  he  informed  Trumbull,  had 
"  kindly  prepared  good  lodgings  "  for  Lauzun  and  his  corps 
at  Providence,  but  the  "cupidity"  of  some  people  there,  he 
said,  had  "raised  forage  to  an  extravagant  price  in  hard 
money" — and  therefore,  having  consulted  with  Colonel 

Wads  worth  on  the  subject,  he  had  determined  to  apply  to 
42* 


498  CHAP.     XLI. — TKUMBULL.  1780. 

Connecticut  for  their  winter  quarters.  "  Good  policy,"  he 
added,  "  would  render  it  necessary  that  the  corps  should  be 
in  the  same  place,  under  the  inspection  of  its  chief,"  upon 
whose  "honesty  every  way,"  he  assured  Trumbull  he  might 
depend.  "I  am  acquainted,"  he  concluded,  "with  all  the 
zeal  that  your  Excellency  has  for  our  common  cause,  and 
that  you  will  do  all  in  your  power  to  receive  that  part  of  the 
French  corps." 

This  "part,"  to  which  Rochambeau  refers,  consisted  of 
about  two  hundred  and  twenty  or  two  hundred  and  forty 
Hussars,  with  about  an  equal  number  of  horses.  And  these, 
under  arrangements  speedily  ordered  by  Trumbull,  were 
carefully  cantoned  in  Lebanon,  a  little  west  of  the  Church, 
on  the  road  that  leads  to  Colchester.  The  spot  is  known  as 
"  the  barracks  "  to  this  day — and  formed  a  portion  of  a  farm 
which  belonged  to  Governor  Trumbull  himself,  and  subse 
quently  passed  into  the  possession  of  his  son  David  Trum 
bull.  Other  portions  of  the  French  corps  of  Hussars  were 
quartered  at  Colchester,  and  at  Windham — at  the  latter  place, 
however,  only  temporarily* — by  far  the  largest  division  of 
the  whole  being  ultimately  all  gathered  at  Lebanon,  and  oc 
cupying,  many  of  them,  portions  of  the  broad  and  beautiful 
village  street — there  "by  their  watchful  fires" — traces  of 
whose  seat,  in  portions  of  brick  ovens,  still  exist — to  remain 
for  about  seven  months — their  festivities  and  gay  parades,  at 
times,  making  the  neighborhood  sparkle  with  life  and  activi 
ty,  and  their  morning  drum-beat  making  the  air  each  day 
vocal  with  the  uprousing  reveille. 

Trumbull's  son  David,  and  Colonel  Wadsworth,  were  spe 
cially  appointed  to  prepare  quarters  for  them,  by  taking  va- 

*Nov.  15.  "  Windham  is  fifteen  miles  from  Voluntown.  I  there  found  Lau- 
zun's  Hussars,  who  were  stationed  in  it  for  a  week,  until  their  quarters  were 
prepared  at  Lebanon.  I  dined  with  the  Duke  de  Lauzun,"  &c. — Travels  of 
Ckastellux. 

"De  Lauzun's  legion  was  obliged,  for  want  of  provisions,  to  divide  from  its 
cavalry,  which  was  sent,  with  the  artillery,  horses,  and  provisions,  to  the  State 
of  Connecticut,  to  occupy  the  barracks  which  had  been  built  at  the  Banora  for  its 
militia.  The  Duke  of  Lauzurn-Biron,  who  was  in  command  of  this  canton 
ment,  rendered  himself  very  agreeable  to  the  Americans  by  his  prepossessing 
manners,  and  succeeded  in  every  transaction  which  he  had  to  conclude  either 
with  the  veteran  Governor  Trumbull,  or  with  the  other  members  of  the  Legisla 
ture  of  the  State."—  Rochambeau1  s  Journal. 


1780.  CHAP.    XLI. — TRUMBULL.  499 

cant  houses,  by  repairing  some  decayed  buildings,  and  by 
building  a  series  of  barracks  "near  as  possible  to  each 
other."  The  Duke  de  Lauzun — himself  a  highly  accom 
plished  nobleman,  of  great  wealth,  celebrated  alike  for  the 
beauty  of  his  person,  his  wit,  his  liberality,  and  his  brav 
ery — had  his  own  special  quarters  in  the  house  of  the  Gov 
ernor's  son  David.  There  he  was  most  hospitably  enter 
tained  during  his  entire  stay  in  the  town — and  there,  in  re 
turn  for  civilities  often  extended  to  himself  and  his  officers 
by  Governor  Trumbull  and  other  citizens  of  Lebanon,  he 
often  gave  gay  and  brilliant  parties — the  banquet  and  the 
ball — at  which  the  wine  cup  was  not  infrequently  freely 
pledged,  and  talk 

"  Rolled  fast  from  theme  to  theme — from  horses,  hounds, 
To  church  or  mistress,  politics  or  ghost." 

Upon  one  of  these  occasions,  but  a  few  weeks  only  after  the 
arrival  of  the  Hussar  Corps — at  a  dinner  given  by  Lauzun 
in  honor  of  two  distinguished  visitors  from  the  French 
Army — the  Marquis  de  Chastellux,  and  Baron  de  Montes 
quieu,  the  latter  a  grandson  of  the  illustrious  author  of  the 
"  Spirit  of  Laws  " — Trumbull  was  present.  And  the  Mar 
quis — himself  a  highly  able  Major-General  in  the  French 
service,  of  accomplished  education,  of  a  gay  spirit,  and  of 
polite  and  agreeable  manners* — has  given  us,  in  the  Journal 
of  his  Travels  in  North  America,  a  graphic  picture  of  the 
appearance  of  the  Governor  at  this  time,  and  of  a  striking 
incident  that  marked  his  connection  with  the  entertainment. 

"  On  returning  from  the  chase,"  he  proceeds — he  had  been  out  hunt- 

*  He  was  a  relative  and  friend  of  La  Fayette,  and  quite  a  favorite  with  General 
Washington,  who  speaks  of  him  as  "  a  gentleman  of  merit,  knowledge,  and 
agreeable  manners,  and  of  literary  as  well  as  military  abilities."  Franklin,  in  a 
letter  introducing  him  to  Washington,  says — "  I  have  long  known  and  esteem 
him  highly  in  his  several  characters  as  a  soldier,  a  gentleman,  and  a  man  of  let 
ters.  His  excellent  book  on  "  Public  Happiness"  shows  him  a  friend  toman- 
kind,  and  as  such,  entitles  him  wherever  he  goes  to  their  respect  and  good  offices. 
He  is  particularly  a  friend  to  our  cause.  He  translated  into  French  Col.  Hum 
phrey's  poem  entitled  "  The  Campaign."  He  was  a  member  of  the  French 
Academy.  The  College  of  "William  and  Mary  in  Virginia  bestowed  upon  him 
the  title  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 


500  CHAP.    XLI. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

ing  squirrels* — "I  dined  at  the  Duke  de  Lauzun's,  with  Governor 
Trumbull  and  General  Huntington.  The  former  lives  at  Lebanon,  and 
the  other  had  come  from  Norwich.  I  have  already  painted  Governor 
Trumbull.  You  have  only  to  represent  to  yourself  this  small  old  man,t 
in  the  antique  dress  of  the  first  settlers  in  this  colony,  approaching  a  ta 
ble  surrounded  by  twenty  Hussar  officers,  and  without  either  discon 
certing  himself,  or  losing  anything  of  his  formal  stiffness,  pronouncing, 
in  a  loud  voice,  a  long  prayer  in  the  form  of  a  Benedicite.  Let  it  not  be 
imagined  that  he  excites  the  laughter  of  his  auditors ;  they  are  two  well 
trained  for  that ;  you  must,  on  the  contrary,  figure  to  yourself  twenty 
amens  issuing  at  once  from  the  midst  of  forty  moustaches^  and  you  will 
have  some  idea  of  the  little  scene.  But  M.  de  Lauzun  is  the  man  to  re 
late,  how  this  good,  methodical  Governor,  didactic  in  all  his  actions,  in 
variably  says,  that  he  will  consider ;  that  he  must  refer  to  his  Council ; 
how  of  little  affairs  he  makes  great  ones,  and  how  happy  a  mortal  he  is 
when  he  has  any  to  transact." 

What  a  picture  this  from  a  gay  Frenchman  of  the  worthy- 
old  Governor !  He  is  grave  in  carriage.  His  manners  seem 
ceremonious.  He  is  preceptive  in  conversation.  He  courts 
business.  He  is  the  happiest  of  mortals  when  he  has  any  to 
transact.  He  is  profoundly  considerate  in  its  execution — is 
heedful  of  comparing  opinions  with  his  Council — and,  from  a 
habit  of  thoughtful  attention,  magnifies  even  small  affairs 
into  "great  ones."  He  wears  the  peculiar,  imposing  dress 
of  his  ancestors — and  there  over  a  table  where  doubtless 
waited  "the  brimming  bowl" — in  the  midst  of  a  party  of 
volatile,  laughter-loving  French  officers — to  all  of  whom 
good-natured  derision  and  merriment  was  an  instinct — to  all  of 
whom,  doubtless,  the  utterance  of  prayer  before  a  meal  was  a 
solecism — the  Governor,  in  the  true  old  Puritan  style,  "says 
grace " — and  with  such  imposing  solemnity  of  manner,  and 
sincerity  of  tone,  as,  for  his  Benedicite,  to  extort  "at  once 
from  the  midst  of  forty  moustaches  " — 

"  Yociferous  at  once  from  twenty  tongues," 

*  "  The  Duke  de  Lauzun  entertained  me  with  this  diversion,  which  is  much 
in  fashion  in  this  country.  These  animals  are  large,  and  have  a  more  beautiful 
fur  than  those  in  Europe ;  like  ours  they  are  very  adroit  in  skipping  from  tree  to 
tree,  and  in  clinging  so  closely  to  the  branches  as  to  become  almost  invisi 
ble."—  C  hastellux. 

t  He  was  then  seventy  years  of  age. 

JThe  Hussars  of  Lauzun's  Legion,  and  the  Duke  himself,  all  wore  moustaches 
in  America. 


1780.  CHAP.    XLI. — TRUMBULL.  501 

twenty  profound,  complaisant  Amens !     Truly  it  was  a  scene 
for  a  painter.* 

But  we  have  another  picture  of  the  Governor  from  the 
same  hand — one  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  preceding 
extract — drawn  when  the  Marquis  met  him  on  another  occa 
sion — and  while  the  Marquis  was  for  a  day  or  two  the  guest 
of  Colonel  "Wads worth,  whose  house  he  found  "a  most 
agreeable  asylum" — and  whom  he  describes  as  then  "about 
two  and  thirty,  very  tall  and  well  made" — possessed  of  "a 
noble  as  well  as  agreeable  countenance" — and  of  a  name,  he 
adds,  which  "throughout  all  America,  is  never  pronounced 
without  the  homage  due  to  his  talents  and  his  probity."f 

"  Another  interesting  personage  was  then  at  Hartford,  and  I  went  to 
pay  him  a  visit.  This  was  Governor  Trumbull ;  Governor,  ~by  excellence, 
for  he  has  been  so  these  fifteen  years,  having  been  always  rechosen  at  the 
end  of  every  two  years,  and  equally  possessing  the  public  esteem  under  the 
English  Government,  and  under  that  of  the  Congress.  He  is  seventy 
years  old ;  his  whole  life  is  consecrated  to  business,  which  he  passion 
ately  loves,  whether  important  or  not,  or  rather,  with  respect  to  him, 
there  is  none  of  the  latter  description.  He  has  all  the  simplicity  in  his 
dress,  all  the  importance,  and  even  pedantry  becoming  the  great  magis 
trate  of  a  small  republic.  He  brought  to  my  mind  the  burgomasters  of 
Holland  in  the  time  of  the  Heinsiuses  and  the  Barnevelts." 

*  Upon  another  occasion,  the  French  officers  were  invited  by  Gen.  Jedediah 
Huntington  to  an  entertainment  at  his  house  in  Norwich.  "  They  made  a  superb 
appearance,"  says  Miss  Caulkins  in  her  History  of  this  place,  "  as  they  drove  into 
town,  being  young,  tall,  vivacious  men,  with  handsome  faces  and  a  noble  air, 
mounted  on  horses  bravely  caparisoned."  After  dinner  the  whole  party,  going 
out  into  the  yard,  huzzaed  for  Liberty,  and,  in  good  English,  bade  the  people  "  10 
live  free,  or  die  for  Liberty ! " 

t"The  particular  confidence  of  General  "Washington,"  he  subjoins,  "puts  the 
seal  upon  his  merit." 


C  HAPTER    XLII. 
1780. 

THE  arrest  and  imprisonment  in  London  of  the  Governor's  son — Col. 
John  Trumbu.ll — against  all  reason  and  justice — upon  a  charge  of  trea 
son  committed  in  America.  The  son's  description  of  the  event.  Ben 
jamin  West  interposes  in  his  behalf  with  the  King.  Burke,  Fox,  and 
other  distinguished  men  lend  him  their  aid.  He  is  finally  liberated— 
goes  to  Holland,  in  accordance  -with  particular  instructions  from  his 
father,  to  labor  for  a  loan  of  money — and  then  returns  to  America. 
The  father's  anxiety  and  feelings  on  the  subject.  The  cruel  teatment 
never  forgotten.  Death  of  the  Governor's  wife.  Trumbull's  grief. 
Her  character.  Extract  from  a  sermon  preached  at  her  funeral.  A  co- 
temporaneous  Obituary  Notice.  Her  patiotric  sacrifices  and  conduct. 
A  scene  of  contribution  for  Revolutionary  soldiers  in  the  Church  at 
Lebanon,  in  which  Madam  Trumbull  figures  conspicuously. 

THE  War,  through  whose  connections  with  which,  for 
1780,  we  have  now  followed  Governor  Trumbull,  occasioned 
this  year  one  event  of  startling  consequence,  which  deeply 
affected  his  own  immediate  family  circle,  and  gave  to  him 
self  great  inquietude.  We  refer  to  the  arrest  and  imprison 
ment  in  London  of  his  son,  the  painter.  Let  us  look  at  the 
case. 

About  the  middle  of  May,  in  1780,  Colonel  John  Trum 
bull — partly  for  the  purpose  of  managing  a  commercial  specu 
lation,  in  which  himself  and  a  few  friends  were  interested, 
but  chiefly  with  the  view  of  pursuing  the  study  of  painting 
under  Sir  Benjamin  West,  in  the  metropolis  of  the  British 
empire — embarked  at  New  London  on  board  the  La  Ne- 
gresse,  a  French  armed  ship  of  twenty-eight  guns,  bound  for 
Nantes.  Previous  to  his  departure  he  had  taken  the  pre 
caution — through  his  friend  Sir  John  Temple — the  Consul 
General  of  Great  Britain  in  New  York — to  secure  from  Lord 
George  Germaine,  the  British  Secretary  of  State  for  Ameri 
can  affairs,  an  assurance  that  if  he  chose  to  visit  London  for 
the  purpose  of  studying  the  fine  arts,  no  notice  would  be 
taken  by  the  Government  of  his  past  life — and  that  though 


1780.  CHAP.     XLII. — TRUMBULL.  503 

"the  eye  of  precaution"  would  be  constantly  upon  him — 
compelling  him,  therefore,  to  shun  the  "smallest  indiscre 
tion" — yet  that  so  long  as  he  avoided  "political  intervention, 
and  pursued  the  study  of  the  arts  with  assiduity,"  he  might 
"rely  upon  being  unmolested." 

Confiding  in  this  assurance,  and  also  in  the  Proclamation 
made  by  his  Majesty's  Commissioners  in  America  in  1778, 
that  all  treasons  committed  in  America  prior  to  the  second 
of  October  of  that  year  should  be  pardoned — twenty  months 
before  which  time  he  had  resigned  his  commission  in  the  serv 
ice  of  the  United  States — he  took  up  his  abode  in  London. 

"  I  had  remained  some  time  "  here,  proceeds  the  Colonel  himself  in  his 
own  deeply  interesting  narrative  of  the  transaction — "with  more  pros 
pect  of  success  than  in  any  place  on  the  continent,  and  perfectly  secure 
under  the  name  of  an  artist,  till  the  news  of  the  death  of  the  unfortu 
nate  Andre  arrived,  and  gave  a  new  edge  to  the  revengeful  wishes  of  the 
American  refugees.*  The  arts  they  had  for  a  long  time  used  to  no  effect, 
now  succeeded  ;  and  they  had  interest  enough  to  persuade  the  ministry 
that  I  was  a  dangerous  person,  in  the  service  of  Dr.  Franklin,  &c.,  &c. 
The  occasion  united  with  their  wishes,  and  the  resentment  of  Govern 
ment  marked  me  as  an  expiatory  sacrifice. 

U0n  the  15th  of  November,  1780,  news  arrived  in  London  of  the 
treason  of  Gen.  Arnold,  and  the  death  of  Major  Andre.  The  loyalists, 
who  had  carefully  watched  my  conduct  from  the  day  of  my  arrival,  now 
thought  themselves  certain  of  putting  an  end  to  my  unintelligible  secu 
rity  and  protection.  Mr.  Andre  had  been  the  deputy  adjutant-general 
of  the  British  army,  and  I  a  deputy  adjutant- general  in  the  American, 
and  it  seemed  to  them  that  I  should  make  a  perfect  pendant.  They 
however  took  their  measures  with  great  adroitness  and  prudence,  and 
without  mentioning  my  name,  information  was  by  them  lodged  at  the 
office  of  the  secretary  of  State,  that  there  was  actually  in  London  (doubt 
less  in  the  character  of  a  spy,)  an  officer  of  rank  in  the  rebel  arm}^,  a 
very  plausible  and  dangerous  man,  Major  Tyler,  f  In  the  very  natural 
irritation  of  the  moment,  a  warrant  was  instantly  issued  for  his  arrest. 
The  warrant  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Bond  of  the  police,  and  the 

*  American  refugees  in  London,  for  the  most  part,  were  "  in  the  incessant  pur 
suit  of  personal  and  interested  vengeance."  They  did  very  much  to  embitter 
the  separation  between  England  and  America,  and  to  precipitate  the  Revolution. 
English  policy  "  decorated  them  with  the  name  of  loyalists." 

t  Major  Tyler  was  from  Boston,  and  was  a  fellow-passenger  with  Trum- 
bull  oil  his  voyage  out,  from  New  London.  He  had  gone  abroad  to  settle  some 
mercantile  concerns  of  his  father — having  previously  served  in  the  American 
Army. 


504  CHAP.    XLII. — TBUMBULL.  1780. 

additional  information  was  given  to  him  by  the  under  secretary,  Sir  Ben 
jamin  Thompson,  afterwards  Count  Rumford  (himself  an  American  loy 
alist,)  that  "  in  the  same  house  with  the  person  who  is  named  in  this 
warrant,  lodges  another  American,  who  there  are  strong  reasons  for  be 
lieving  to  be  the  most  dangerous  man  of  the  two — although  his  name  is 
not  inserted  in  the  warrant,  you  will  not  however  fail,  Mr.  Bond,  to  se 
cure  Mr.  Trumbull's  person  and  papers  for  examination,  as  well  as  Major 
Tyler's." 

Mr.  Bond  did  not  fail.  "  My  orders  are  to  secure  your 
person  and  papers,  Mr.  Trurnbull,  for  examination,"  he  said 
to  the  Colonel,  as  on  a  Sunday  night,  at  midnight,  at  his 
lodgings  near  the  Adelphi  in  London,  he  proceeded  to  arrest 
him. 

"A  thunderbolt  falling  at  my  feet,"  continues  the  Colonel — "would 
not  have  been  more  astounding ;  for  conscious  of  having  done  nothing  po 
litically  wrong,  I  had  become  as  confident  of  safety  in  London,  as  I 
should  have  been  in  Lebanon.  For  a  few  moments  I  was  perfectly  dis 
concerted,  and  must  have  looked  very  like  a  guilty  man.  I  saw,  in  all  its 
force,  the  folly  and  the  audacity  of  having  placed  myself  at  ease  in  the 
lion's  den  ;  but  by  degrees,  I  recovered  my  self-possession,  and  conversed 
with  Mr.  Bond,  who  waited  for  the  return  of  Mr.  Tyler  until  past  one 
o'clock.  He  then  asked  for  my  papers,  put  them  carefully  under  cover, 
which  he  sealed,  and  desired  me  also  to  seal ;  having  done  this,  he  con 
ducted  me  to  a  lock-up  house,  the  Brown  Bear  in  Drury  Lane,  opposite  to 
the  (then)  police  office.  Here  I  was  locked  into  a  room,  in  which  was  a 
bed,  and  a  strong,  well-armed  officer,  for  the  companion  of  my  night's 
meditations  or  rest.  The  windows,  as  well  as  door,  were  strongly  se 
cured  by  iron  bars  and  bolts,  and  seeing  no  possible  means  of  making 
my  retreat,  I  yielded  to  my  fate,  threw  myself  upon  the  bed,  and  en 
deavored  to  rest. 

"  At  eleven  o'clock  next  morning,  I  was  guarded  across  the  street, 
through  a  crowd  of  curious  idlers,  to  the  office,  and  placed  in  the  pres 
ence  of  the  three  police  magistrates,  Sir  Sampson  Wright,  Mr.  Addington, 
and  another.  The  examination  began,  and  was  at  first  conducted  in  a 
style  so  offensive  to  my  feelings  that  it  soon  roused  me  from  my  mo 
mentary  weakness,  and  I  suddenly  exclaimed,  "You  appear  to  have 
been  much  more  habituated  to  the  society  of  highwaymen  and  pickpock 
ets,  than  to  that  of  gentlemen.  I  will  put  an  end  to  all  this  insolent 
folly,  by  telling  you  frankly  who  and  what  I  am.  I  am  an  American — 
my  name  is  Trumbull ;  I  am  a  son  of  him  whom  you  call  the  rebel  Gov 
ernor  of  Connecticut ;  I  have  served  in  the  rebel  American  army ;  I  have 
had  the  honor  of  being  an  aid  de  camp  to  him  whom  you  call  the  rebel 
General  Washington.  These  two  have  always  in  their  power  a  greater 


1780.  CHAP.    XLII. — TKUMBULL.  505 

number  of  your  friends,  prisoners,  than  you  have  of  theirs.  Lord 
George  Germaine  knows  under  what  circumstances  I  came  to  London, 
and  what  has  been  my  conduct  here.  I  am  entirely  in  your  power ; 
and,  after  the  hint  which  I  have  given  you,  treat  me  as  you  please,  al 
ways  remembering  that  as  I  may  be  treated,  so  will  your  friends  in 
America  be  treated  by  mine."  The  moment  of  enthusiasm  passed,  and 
I  half  feared  that  I  had  said  too  much ;  but  I  soon  found  that  the  im 
pulse  of  the  moment  was  right,  for  I  was  immediately,  and  ever  after, 
treated  with  marked  civility,  and  even  respect. 

"  Other  business  of  the  office  pressed,  so  after  a  few  words  more,  I 
was  ordered  in  custody  of  an  officer  to  Tothill-fields,  Bridewell,  for  safe 
keeping  during  the  night,  to  be  ready  for  a  further  examination  the  next 
day.  I  had  not  entirely  recovered  from  the  shock  of  this  most  unex 
pected  event;  so  I  drifted  with  the  stream,  without  further  struggle 
with  my  fate,  and  /  slept  that  night  in  the  same  led  with  a  high 
wayman  !  " 

The  next  day  Colonel  Trumbull  was  brought  up  before  the 
magistrates  for  a  second  examination.  He  had  avowed  the 
crime  of  which  he  stood  accused — that  of  bearing  arms 
against  the  King — and  little  else  remained  to  be  done  but  to 
remand  him  to  prison — where,  in  an  old,  irregular  building — 
behind  Buckingham  House,  towards  Pimlico — in  a  parlor  on 
the  ground  floor,  about  twenty  feet  square,  which  he  hired 
from  Mr.  Smith,  the  jailor,  at  a  guinea  a  week,  and  from 
which  two  windows,  secured  by  strong  iron  bars,  looked 
upon  a  " pretty  little  garden"  within  the  prison  yard — he 
spent  seven  months  in  durance — "  ignominiously  imprisoned," 
he  says,  "as  a  felon."* 

The  moment  that  Sir  Benjamin  West  heard  of  Trumbull's 
arrest,  he  hurried  to  Buckingham  House  for  an  audience  with 
the  King — and  giving  every  assurance  to  the  monarch  that 
the  prisoner's  conduct  in  London  had  been  "so  entirely  de 
voted  to  the  study  of  his  profession"  as  to  have  left  him  "no 

*"The  room,"  he  narrates,  "was  neatly  furnished,  and  had  a  handsome  bu 
reau-bed.  I  received  my  breakfast  and  dinner — whatever  I  chose  to  order  and 
pay  for — from  the  little  public  house,  called  the  tap.  The  prison  allowance  of  the 
government  was  a  penny-worth  of  bread,  and  a  penny  a  day ;  this  I  gave  to  the 
turnkey  for  brushing  my  hat,  clothes,  and  shoes.  Besides  these  comforts,  I  had 
the  privilege  of  walking  in  the  garden.  Every  evening  when  Mr.  Smith  went  to 
his  bed,  he  knocked  at  my  door,  looked  in,  saw  that  I  was  safe,  wished  me  a  good 
night,  locked  the  door,  drew  the  bolts,  put  the  key  in  his  pocket,  and  withdrew. 
In  the  morning,  when  he  quitted  his  own  apartment,  he  unlocked  my  door, 
looked  in  to  see  that  all  was  safe,  wished  me  a  good  morning,  and  went  his  way." 
43 


506  CHAP.    XLII. — TKUMBULL. 


1780. 


time  for  political  intrigue,"  warmly  pleaded  for  the  liberty  of 
his  friend. 

"I  am  sorry  for  the  young  man,"  said  his  Majesty  George 
the  Third — "but  he  is  in  the  hands  of  the  law,  and  must 
abide  the  result — I  cannot  interpose.  Do  you  know  whether 
his  parents  are  living?  " 

"I  think  I  have  heard  him  say,"  replied  Mr.  West — "that 
he  has  very  lately  received  news  of  the  death  of  his  mother ; 
I  believe  his  father  is  living." 

"  I  pity  him  from  my  soul ! " — exclaimed  the  King.  "  But, 
West."  said  he,  after  musing  for  a  few  moments — "go  to  Mr. 
Trumbull  immediately,  and  pledge  to  him  my  royal  promise, 
that,  in  the  worst  possible  event  of  the  law,  his  life  shall  be  safe!" 

A  tedious  confinement  then,  was  all  now  that  Trumbull 
had  to  apprehend — and  this  he  softened,  well  as  he  could, 
with  books,  and  with  his  pencil — copying  and  finishing, 
among  other  pictures,  a  "beautiful  little  Corregio"  loaned 
him  by  Mr.  West,  which  is  now,  product  and  memorial  of  his 
imprisonment,  in  the  Gallery  at'  Newhaven.  Meanwhile,  him 
self  and  his  friends  labored  for  his  liberation — West  most  stren 
uously — and  John  Lee,  a  Member  of  Parliament,  Charles  James 
Fox,  Edmund  Burke,  Lord  Kockingham,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
Copley,  and  many  other  distinguished  men,  who  paid  him 
kind  visits,  and  interested  themselves  deeply  in  his  case. 

"  My  commitment  and  detainer,"  wrote  Trumbull  himself  to  Lord 
George  Germaine — "express  no  other  charge  than  of  treason  committed 
in  America,  from  which  I  conceive  myself  fully  protected  by  the  procla 
mation  of  his  Majesty's  commissioners,  dated  October  3d,  1778,  which 
grants  pardons  for  all  treasons  committed  before  that  day  in  America, 
long  before  which  I  had  quitted  the  American  service,  and  ceased  to  act 
hostilely  against  this  country.  My  conduct  since  my  residence  in  Eng 
land,  I  trust  does  now  appear  to  your  lordship  to  have  been  fair  and 
upright.  Mr.  West,  under  whom  I  have  regularly  studied,  and  who  has 
spoken  and  written  to  your  lordship  on  the  subject,  can  give  the  strong 
est  assurance  of  this,  as  well  as  explain  the  loss  I  suffer  from  the  impos 
sibility  of  pursuing  my  studies  in  this  place." 

"  Although  personally  unknown  to  you,"  he  wrote,  May  tenth,  1781, 
to  Sir  Edmund  Burke,  giving  him  all  the  particulars  of  his  case — "  I 
have  been  encouraged  by  the  generous  manner  in  which  some  gentlemen, 
your  friends,  have  interested  themselves  in  my  favor,  and  by  that  benevo 
lence  and  liberality  of  character  which  I  have  long  since  learned  to  re- 


1780.  CHAP.    XLII. — TRUMBULL.  507 

spect  in  you,  to  solicit  your  attention  to  my  unfortunate  case.  I  have  suf 
fered  six  months'  imprisonment,  and  after  every  reasonable  effort,  I  find 
no  disposition  in  his  Majesty's  servants  to  grant  me  my  relief.  The  man 
ner  in  which  I  have  become  a  prisoner,  and  the  treatment  which  I  have 
received,  appear  to  me  equally  singular  and  unworthy.  Betrayed,  (if  I 
may  be  allowed  the  expression,)  under  the  specious  appearance  of  liber 
ality  and  honor — not  taken  in  arms — I  have  experienced  a  degree  of  se 
verity  which  has  been  shown  to  very  few  of  my  countrymen.  It  merits 
some  consideration  that  my  father,  (who  has  been  for  many  years  Gov 
ernor  of  one  of  the  now  United  States,)  and  family,  have  been  distin 
guished  hitherto  for  their  humanity  to  British  prisoners,  and  for  making 
it  their  study  to  alleviate,  as  much  as  possible,  the  distresses  of  war. 
What  change  the  treatment  T  receive  may  make  in  their  sentiments,  I  am 
unwilling  to  think.  Even  the  law,  to  which  I  would  gladly  have  com 
mitted  my  cause,  being  shut  from  me  by  the  suspension  of  the  habeas 
corpus  act,  I  am  left  without  a  hope  of  recovering  my  liberty  earlier  than  at 
the  far  distant  date  of  peace,  except  from  the  generous  interest  of  yourself 
and  your  noble  and  honorable  friends  of  the  opposition ;  but  from  your 
friendship,  should  I  be  honored  with  it,  I  have  everything  to  hope." 

"  Mr.  Burke,"  adds  Colonel  Trumbull  in  a  letter  to  his  father—"  called 
on  me  immediately  after  he  had  received  this  letter" — that  from  which 
we  have  just  quoted — "and  assured  me  of  his  hearty  efforts  in  my  favor; 
that  he  had  already  seen  Lord  George  Germaine,  and,  from  what  passed 
in  their  conversation,  he  had  hopes  of  effecting  my  discharge.  Mr.  Fox 
called  on  me  the  next  day,  and  assured  me  of  his  entire  concurrence  with 
Mr.  Burke ;  and,  after  a  few  days'  delay  with  forms  of  law  and  want  of 
precedent,  a  discharge  was  sent  me  from  the  Privy  Council."* 

*  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  discharge : — 

[L.  S.]  "  Whereas  John  Trumbull  stands  committed  to  your  custody,  charged 
with  having  been  guilty  of  the  crime  of  high  treason,  committed  in  his  majesty's 
colonies  and  plantations  in  America,  contrary  to  the  statute  in  that  case  made  and 
provided;  and  application  having  been  made  unto  his  majesty's  most  honorable 
privy  Council  in  his  behalf,  to  be  discharged  from  his  confinement ;  the  said 
Council  have  thought  fit  to  order,  and  you  are  hereby  authorized  and  required 
forthwith  to  cause  the  above  said  person  to  be  discharged  from  his  confinement,  he 
first  giving  good  and  sufficient  security  to  appear  before  the  commissioners  who 
shall  be  appointed  by  his  majesty,  by  the  first  commission  under  his  great  seal  to 
try  treasons  committed  out  of  the  realm,  at  the  time  and  place  which  such  com 
missioners  shall  appoint  for  the  trial  thereof.  And  for  so  doing,  this  shall  be 
your  warrant. 

"  From  the  council  chamber,  Whitehall,  this  12th  day  of  June,  1781. 

BATHURST,  L. 


"  To  the  Governor  of  Tothill-Fields, 
Bridewell,  or  his  deputy. 


SANDWICH. 

STORMONT. 

CLARENDON. 

AMHEEST. 

LOTJGHBOROUGH.' 


508  CHAP.    XLII. — TRUMBULL.  1780. 

A  bond  now  for  two  hundred  pounds — with  Mr.  West  and 
Mr.  Copley  as  sureties — conditioned  that  within  thirty  days 
he  should  depart  the  kingdom,  and  not  return  till  after  peace 
should  be  restored — left  Trumbull  at  liberty  to  fly  from  the 
scene  of  his  unwarrantable  persecution  and  thraldom — a  lib 
erty  of  which  he  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself.  Passing 
over  immediately  to  Amsterdam,  he  there  found  important 
letters  from  his  father — one  of  which  empowered  and  in 
structed  him  to  negotiate  a  loan  in  Holland,  of  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  for  the  State  of  Connecticut.  This  he  la 
bored  earnestly  to  effect.  But  the  times  were  exceedingly 
unpropitious  for  such  a  purpose.  Neither  himself,  nor  John 
Adams,  who  was  in  Holland  at  the  same  time  striving  to  se 
cure  a  loan  for  the  United  States,  could  succeed.  And  so, 
"  baffled  at  every  point " — "  this  favorable  gleam  of  hope,"  the 
loan,  he  says — his  "  original  mercantile  speculation  " — and 
his  "flattering  pursuit  of  the  arts" — all  seeming  " to  fade 
and  elude  his  grasp  " — nothing  remained  for  him  to  do  "  but 
to  find  his  way  back  to  America,  and  the  quiet  of  home,  soon 
as  possible  " — a  point  which  he  reached  in  January,  1782 — 
not  however  without  having  first,  in  a  mad  gale  on  a  lee 
shore,  which  strewed  the  coast  of  Texel  Island  with  wrecks, 
encountered  an  imminent  risk  of  being  lost  at  sea. 

All  the  facts  of  his  arrest  and  imprisonment,  with  all  the 
appertaining  documents,  he  communicated,  upon  the  first 
opportunity,  to  his  father  at  Lebanon — and  particularly  in  a 
long  and  careful  epistle  from  Bilboa  in  Spain,  to  which  place, 
on  his  return  voyage,  adverse  circumstances  had  driven  him. 
The  history  is  "so  complicated,"  he  wrote,  "and  at  the  same 
time  so  interesting  to  the  reputation  and  public  credit  of  our 
country,  as  to  merit  a  separate  letter." 

The  event  filled  the  Governor  with  grief  and  surprise.  It 
distressed  him  that  his  son's  career  of  study  and  improve 
ment,  under  one  of  the  master-painters  of  the  world,  should 
have  been  so  abruptly  terminated.  It  was  a  disappointment 
to  his  youthful  ambition  which  the  father  keenly  felt — for 
though  still  of  opinion,  in  a  prudential  view — as  in  the  boy 
hood  of  his  son — that  the  art  to  which  he  devoted  himself 
would  not  in  his  own  country  prove  sufficiently  remunera- 


1780.  CHAP.    XLII. — TRUMBULL.  509 

tive — he  yet  had  learned  to  respect  the  passion  with  which 
the  latter  pursued  his  favorite  art,  and  freely,  though,  under 
the  circumstances  of  the  war,  with  a  solicitude  that  was  some 
what  trembling,  consented  to  his  foreign  trip.  Now,  that 
trip  had  taken  him — not — save  but  for  a  brief  time — to  the 
studio  of  Sir  Benjamin  West — but  for  many  desolate  months, 
to  a  barred  and  grated  apartment  in  a  London  prison.  Its 
expense  was  almost  entirely  thrown  away.  Its  fruit  was  mis 
carriage  and  woe. 

But  more  than  all,  the  Governor  felt  the  treatment  of  his 
son  as  an  indignity  on  national  honor — as  an  outrage  on  na 
tional  faith,  and  a  gross  breach  of  hospitality.  Going  to 
London  as  Colonel  Trumbull  had  gone,  under  pledges  that 
were  most  sacred  and  inviolable,  and  which  were  freely 
proffered — demeaning  himself  in  all  respects  there  peace 
ably  as  any  subject  of  the  realm — fulfilling  in  fact  scru 
pulously  every  obligation  under  which  he  was  placed — 
he  had  yet  been  selected  as  the  special  object  of  national 
vengeance,  and  his  life  placed  in  imminent  peril,  just  at 
the  moment  when  the  death  of  a  favorite  British  officer* 
had  most  roused  and  maddened  the  spirit  of  retaliation. 
Upon  a  charge  on  which  his  own  perjured  accusers  had  them 
selves  entered  a  solemn  public  nolle — a  "  few  frivolous  pa 
pers"  which  were  found  in  his  possession,  and  his  own  "too 
generous  and  unguarded  weakness  "  on  his  first  examination, 
being  made  the  pretext  for  his  commitment — denied  the  privi 
lege  of  a  trial — with  no  other  answer  from  Government,  for 
a  long  time,  to  his  repeated  prayers  for  relief,  but  "  a  contempt 
uous  silence" — he  had  been  doomed — "a  dungeon's  spoil" — 
to  "rust  in  vile  repose"  side  by  side  with  the  most  atrocious 
convicts  and  villains !  Truly  the  treatment  was  cruel  with 
out  warrant,  and  faithless!  Both  father  and  son  felt  it  as 
such  to  their  dying  day. 

But  another  calamity,  far  more  afflictive  than  that  which 
we  have  now  described,  overtook  Governor  Trumbull  the 
present  year — that  to  which  Mr.  West  alluded  in  presence  of 
the  King.  Death  again  entered  his  household,  and  on  Mon 
day,  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  May,  snatched  from  him  his 

#    *  Major  Andre. 


510  CHAP.    XLII. — TRUMBULL. 


1780. 


wife — a  lady  with  whom,  united  in  the  bloom  of  her  youth, 
he  had  passed  now  nearly  forty -five  years  of  uninterrupted 
conjugal  happiness.  She  died  at  the  age  of  sixty -two  years, 
with  a  dropsical  affection,  which  for  some  time  previously 
had  impaired  her  health,  and  which,  upon  a  last  sudden  and 
severe  attack,  terminated  her  existence  fatally  in  five  days.* 

Trumbull  drank  this  bitter  cup  with  Christian  fortitude, 
but  still  with  tears,  "  copious  tears,"  they  are  reported  to  have 
been,  of  human  lamentation.  She  was  deeply  endeared  to 
him — as  a  devoted  wife — devoted  mother — as  the  most  agree 
able  of  companions — as  the  most  valued  of  friends — and  he 
was  leaning  upon  her  then  in  his  old  age,  more  droopingly 
than  ever  before,  as  a  staff  and  comfort — as  the  tenderest  of 
human  props.  Of  her  birth,  education,  mind,  and  temper — 
of  her  moral  and  religious  principles — of  her  appearance, 
manners,  habits,  and  conduct — of  her  reputation,  and  particu 
larly  of  the  affection  which  her  condescension  and  diffusive 
benevolence  won  from  all — we  are  able  to  present  the  Header 
with  quite  a  full  conception,  from  two  interesting  memorials 
of  the  deceased  which  remain — the  one  a  Funeral  Sermon, 
and  the  other  a  cotemporaneous  Obituary  Notice. 

The  Sermon  was  preached  at  Lebanon  upon  the  day  of 
her  funeral — Wednesday,  May  the  thirty-first — by  Timothy 
Stone,  A.  M.,  Pastor  of  the  Third  Church  in  the  parish  of 
Goshen,  in  that  town — and  in  that  portion  of  it  which  relates 
specially  to  the  deceased,  proceeds  as  follows : — 

"Madame  Trumbull  was  honorable  in  her  birth,  in  her  education,  and 
in  her  near  connections  in  life.  She  was  the  fifth  and  youngest  daughter 
of  the  Reverend  Mr.  John  Robinson,  of  Duxbury — possessed  of  a  good 
natural  understanding,  of  a  generous  and  noble  spirit,  which  being  orna 
mented  and  informed  by  an  education  answerable  to  her  family  and 
birth,  she  was  hereby  fitted  for  that  peculiar  and  exalted  position  in  life, 
to  which  Providence  raised  her,  and  for  which  she  was  designed.  She 
filled  every  station,  and  sustained  every  character  of  life,  with  dignity 
and  propriety — the  elevation  of  her  character  never  raised  her  mind 
above  her  acquaintance,  nor  diverted  her  from  the  openness  and  familiar 
ity  that  were  peculiar  to  herself,  nor  to  neglect  the  duties  and  necessary 

*  The  following  is  Gov.  Trumbull's  entry,  in  his  own  family  Bible,  of  his  wife's 
death  :— 

"  My  wife  died— Monday  29th  May,  half  an  hour  after  noon— 1780."  She  was 
born  Dec.  llth,  1718,  0.  S. 


1780.  CHAP    XLII. — TEUMBULL.  511 

concerns  of  her  family,  to  which  she  was  ever  peculiarly  attentive.  She 
was  a  kind,  respectful  wife,  an  affectionate,  tender  parent.  The  heart  of 
her  husband  did  safely  trust  to  her.  She  looked  well  to  the  ways  of  her 
household,  and  ate  not  the  T)read  of  idleness — her  children  rise  up  and 
call  her  blessed — her  husband  also,  he  praiseth  her — she  stretched  out  her 
hand  to  the  poor,  yea,  she  reached  forth  her  hands  to  the  needy. 

"  She  was  many  years  a  serious  professor  of  the  religion  of  Jesus,  a 
very  constant  attendant  upon  the  worship  of  God's  house,  and  the  ordi 
nances  of  the  gospel ;  which  she  attended  with  apparent  pleasure  and 
devotion.  I  have  never  had  that  intimate  and  personal  acquaintance 
with  the  deceased,  which  should  enable  me  to  speak  with  knowledge  con 
cerning  her  internal  views,  and  religious  exercises  of  soul.  This  however 
I  am  able  to  say,  without  any  air  of  funeral  panegyrics,  as  praising  the 
dead ;  all  her  acquaintance  will  bear  witness  to  her  uncommon  benevo 
lence  and  charity  to  the  poor ;  this  noble  and  exalted  Christian  grace, 
which  may  be  called  an  expensive  grace,  and  too  rare  in  our  days,  was  a 
grace  which,  so  far  as  may  be  known  from  outward  expressions,  shined 
with  a  peculiar  lustre  in  Madame  Trumbull.  She  had  an  uncommon 
commisseration  for  the  distressed,  and  was  ever  ready  for,  and  never 
weary  of  affording  relief  to  the  afflicted  and  the  poor.  Her  charities 
have  been  very  numerous  and  very  large." 

The  Obituary  Notice  to  which  reference  has  been  made — 
bearing  date  June  ninth,  1780 — was  published  in  the  Con 
necticut  Courant  of  that  time,  and  is  as  follows : — 

"  On  Monday  of  the  last  week,  departed  this  life  at,  her  seat  in  Leba 
non,  MADAM  TRUMBULL,  consort  of  his  Excellency  the  Governor  of  this 
State,  aged  sixty  one  years  and  five  months.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
that  wise  and  venerable  minister  of  the  gospel,  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  John 
Robinson,  of  Duxbury ;  her  pious  mother  was  suddenly  taken  away 
while  she  was  a  child,  and  left  her  the  beloved  of  her  father ;  and  under 
his  wise  and  tender  care,  she  received  a  virtuous  and  polite  education, 
becoming  the  beauty  of  her  person,  the  elevation  of  her  mind,  and  the 
honorable  station  she  was  destined  to  fill.  She  was  early  married  to  the 
great  and  good  man  now  mourning  her  loss,  with  whom  she  lived  in  per 
fect  friendship  and  harmony  near  45  years,  an  amiable  and  exemplary 
pattern  of  conjugal,  maternal,  and  every  social  affection. 

"Joined  to  most  comely  features,  she  had  a  certain  natural,  peculiar 
dignity  in  her  mien  and  whole  deportment  through  every  scene  in  life — 
the  same  accompanied  with  a  graceful  modesty,  condescension,  and  kind 
ness,  as  bespoke  at  once  the  greatness  of  her  soul,  and  the  benevolence 
of  her  heart — and  equally  commanded  and  attracted  the  esteem  and  re 
spectful  love  of  all  her  acquaintance.  But  her  benevolence  was  more 
than  seen  ;  she  never  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  cry  of  the  poor,  nor  was 


512  CHAP.    XLII. — TEUMBULL.  1780. 

any  kind  of  distress  in  her  power  to  relieve  ever  neglected.  Yea,  she 
sought  out  and  delighted  in  opportunities  of  doing  good,  and  promoting 
within  her  sphere  every  good  and  charitable  purpose.  Her  circumstan 
ces  enabled  her  to  begin  early  and  persevere  through  life,  in  acting  out 
the  benevolent  desires  of  her  heart.  The  sum  of  her  charities  has  been 
great,  and  the  objects  very  many ;  but  still  she  had  an  excellent  spirit  of 
prudence  and  economy,  and  never  ate  the  bread  of  idleness.  Her  house 
and  all  about  her  was  a  striking  exhibition  of  regularity  and  order.  She 
was  eminently  qualified  for,  and  adorned  the  honorable  station  in  which 
Providence  had  placed  her. 

"  She  had  many  friends,  and  not  one  enemy.  The  heart  of  her  hus 
band  safely  trusted  in  her,  and  her  children  arise,  and  call  her  blessed. 
More  than  all  these,  she  had  hopefully  the  saving  impressions  of  divine 
grace  made  on  her  heart  many  years  since,  under  the  ministry  of  that 
eminent  servant  of  God,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Williams,  and  she  became  a 
serious  professor  of  religion,  and  devout  attendant  on  all  the  worship  and 
ordinances  of  the  gospel,  and  ever  maintained  a  fixed  hope  of  eternal 
salvation  through  the  merits  of  Christ  alone.  Without  ostentation  she 
wore  the  ornaments  of  a  truly  Christian  spirit. 

"  Her  health  had  been  for  several  years  greatly  impaired,  tho'  by  inter 
vals  she  enjoyed  a  very  comfortable  state.  The  last  return  of  her  (drop 
sical,)  illness  was  severe,  and  in  the  short  period  of  five  days  unexpect 
edly  released  her  from  a  world  of  pain  and  sorrow,  to  a  state  (we  doubt 
not,)  of  everlasting  rest. 

uThe  honorable  bereaved  consort  has  received  and  drank  this  bitter 
cup  at  the  hand  of  his  heavenly  father,  without  a  complaining  word,  re 
membering  all  the  loving  kindness  of  the  Lord,  and  especially  his  giving 
and  so  long  continuing  to  him  this  so  rich  and  great  a  blessing.  But 
even  Jesus  wept  for  a  friend ;  no  wonder  then  if  copious  tears  have 
bathed  his  face.  But  an  unshaken  trust  in  the  unchanging  faithfulness 
of  God's  everlasting  Covenant,  is  his  firm  and  solid  support."* 

The  picture  given  of  Madam  Trumbull  in  the  extracts  now 
presented,  we  have  no  reason  to  think  in  any  respect  over 
drawn — flattering  though  we  know  to  be,  customarily,  the 
praise  of  the  dead.  Its  genuineness  is  proved  from  other 
sources,  and  especially  from  the  evidence  of  many  who  have 
heard  her  described  by  her  cotemporaries.  But  it  is  deficient 
in  two  important  features — which  the  pen  of  the  authors 

*  Madam  Trumbull  was  buried  in  the  family  vault  at  Lebanon,  and  the  follow 
ing  is  her  epitaph. : — 

"  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Madam  Faith  Trumbull,  the  amiable  lady  of  Gov. 
Trumbull,  Born  at  Duxbury,  Mass.,  A.  D.  1718.  Happy  and  beloved  in  her  con 
nubial  state,  she  lived  a  virtuous,  charitable,  and  Christian  life  at  Lebanon,  in 
Connecticut,  and  died  lamented  by  numerous  friends,  A.  D.  1780,  aged  62  years." 


1780.  CHAP.    XLII. — TKUMBULL.  513 

failed  even  to  delineate  at  all.  Madam  Faith  Trumbull,  in 
addition  to  her  other  virtues,  was  a  lady  eminent  for  her  de 
cision  of  character,  and  for  her  patriotism.  Her  opinions 
once  formed,  she  was  not  only  frank,  but  bold  to  avow  them. 
Her  purposes  modelled,  she  was  not  only  ready,  but  resolute 
to  execute  them.  Firmness  of  will  gave  energy  to  her  con 
duct,  and  certainty  to  her  plans — alike  whether  these  plans 
were  to  operate  in  the  sphere  of  domestic  life — through  the 
rounds  of  neighborhood  benevolence — or  upon  the  stage  of 
the  Kevolutionary  Struggle. 

To  this  Struggle — in  harmony  with  her  husband — in  exact 
fulfillment  of  all  the  duties  which  his  high  position  imposed 
peculiarly  on  herself — she  devoted  herself,  in  every  form  in 
which  a  lady  could,  with  unwearied  assiduity.  It  was  a 
cause  she  earnestly  loved — for  which  she  ceased  not  a  mo 
ment  to  labor — for  whose  success  she  failed  not  ever  devoutly 
to  pray.  Like  Dr.  Franklin's  daughter — Mrs.  Bache — like 
Mrs.  Eead,  wife  of  the  President  of  Pennsylvania — she  was 
ever  busy  rousing  charities,  and  superintending  contributions, 
for  the  suffering  soldiers  of  the  Revolution — stimulating  asso 
ciations  among  her  own  sex  to  provide  them  with  clothing — 
and  sending  them  the  encouragement  of  kind  words  and 
grateful  compliments. 

"  The  army,"  said  Washington  to  Mrs.  Bache  and  other 
ladies  of  Philadelphia,  upon  occasion  of  one  of  their  contri 
butions — "  ought  not  to  regret  their  sacrifices  or  sufferings, 
when  they  meet  with  so  flattering  a  reward  as  the  sympathy 
of  your  sex ;  nor  can  they  fear  that  their  interests  will  be 
neglected  when  espoused  by  advocates  as  powerful  as  they 
are  amiable."  Madam  Trumbull  was  one  upon  whom  a  com 
pliment  like  this,  from  the  Father  of  his  Country,  would 
have  been  as  fittingly  bestowed  as  in  this  instance  upon  the 
ladies  of  Philadelphia.  Like  them,  alike  by  her  spirit  and 
her  efforts,  she  was  entitled  to  an  exalted  place  among  those 
of  her  sex  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  cause  of  lib 
erty.  Let  the  following  striking  example  of  her  conduct  in  aid 
of  the  soldiers  of  the  Eevolution,  vouch  for  her  patriotism ! 

During  the  War — after  divine  service  on  a  Sunday,  or  on 
a  Thanksgiving  Day — contributions  were  often  taken  in 


514:  CHAP.    XLII. — TEUMBULL. 


1780. 


church  for  the  benefit  of  the  Continental  Army.  Cash,  fin 
ger-rings,  ear-rings,  and  other  jewelry — coats,  jackets,  breech 
es,  shirts,  stockings,  hats,  shoes,  every  article  in  fact  of  male 
attire — besides  groceries  in  great  variety — were  frequently  thus 
collected — in  New  England  particularly,  in  large  quantities.* 
Upon  one  such  occasion  in  Lebanon  Meeting  House,  Connec 
ticut,  after  notice  given  that  a  collection  would  be  taken  for 
the  soldiers — Madam  Faith  Trumbull  rose  from  her  seat  near 
her  husband — threw  off  from  her  shoulders  a  magnificent 
scarlet  cloak — a  present  to  her,  we  hear  on  good  authority, 
from  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  French  Allied  Army, 
Count  Eochambeau  himself — and,  advancing  near  the  pulpit, 
laid  it  on  the  altar  as  her  offering  to  those  who,  in  the  midst 
of  every  want  and  suffering,  were  fighting  gallantly  the  great 
Battle  for  Freedom.  It  was  afterwards  taken,  cut  into  narrow 
strips,  and  employed,  as  red  trimming,  to  stripe  the  dress  of 
American  soldiers. 

The  act  was  one  of  peculiar  generosity.  It  shed  an  instant 
lustre  on  her  patriotism — and  the  example  was  contagious. 
From  all  parts  of  the  congregation,  donations  were  at  once 
showered — and  many  overloaded  baskets  upon  this  occasion — 
as  upon  many  other  similar  ones  in  the  same  place — were 
borne  from  the  church,  to  have  their  contents  carefully 
packed  up,  and  sent  away  to  the  Army.f 

*  "  On  the  last  Sabbath  of  December,  1777,  a  contribution  was  taken  up  in  the 
several  parishes  of  Norwich,  [Conn.,]  for  the  benefit  of  the  officers  and  soldiers 
who  belonged  to  said  town ;  when  they  collected  380  pair  of  stockings,  227  pair 
of  boots,  118  shirts,  78  jackets,  48  pair  of  overalls,  208  pair  of  mittens,  11  buff 
caps,  15  pair  of  breeches,  9  coats,  22  rifle-frocks,  19  handkerchiefs,  and  £258  17*. 
8d.  in  money,  which  was  forwarded  to  the  army.  Also  collected  a  quantity  of 
pork,  wheat,  cheese,  rye,  Indian  corn,  sugar,  rice,  flax,  wood,  &c.,  &c.,  to  be  dis 
tributed  to  the  many  families  of  the  officers  and  soldiers.  The  whole  of  which 
amounted  to  the  sum  of  £1400." — Connecticut  Gazette,  published  at  New  London. 

"New  London,  Dec.  26,  1777.  On  Thanksgiving  Day  (last  Thursday,)  a  col 
lection  in  the  North  Parish  of  New  London  was  taken  for  the  benefit  of  our  sol 
diers  in  the  continental  army ;  viz.,  in  cash  £26  12«.,  17  shirts,  14  pair  of  stock 
ings,  4  coats,  7  jackets,  3  pair  of  breeches,  2  pair  of  drawers,  20  pair  of  mittens, 
1  pair  of  trowsers,  7  pair  of  shoes,  1  pair  of  gloves,  2  felt  hats,  and  2  linen  hand 
kerchiefs." — Green's  Gazette,  New  London,  Conn. 

t  The  act  too  was  one  of  picturesque  beauty — a  primitive  parish  scene  of  paci 
fic,  pains-taking  Eevolutionary  service.  We  have  caused  it,  therefore,  to  be  illus 
trated,  that  the  Eeader  may  gaze  upon  it.  Let  him  look  then  on  the  picture 
opposite ! 

There,  near  her  husband— in  the  act  of  laying  her  cloak  upon  the  altar,  stands 


J.H.Bul'fbrds  Lttk 

MADAM  FAITH  THUMB  ULL,  CONTKIBUTJNG  HER  SCARLET  CLOAK  TO 
THE  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 


"Page  514 


1780.  CHAP.    XLII. — TKUMBULL.  515 

Madam  Trumbull — her  dress  a  rich  one  of  the  day,  and  her  mien  imposing  and 
noble.  On  the  left,  and  adjacent,  is  a  young  woman  holding  in  her  hands  a 
bundle  of  supplies,  which  she  is  about  to  present.  A  basket,  heaped  full,  is  just 
before  her,  on  the  floor,  near  the  altar.  To  the  right  is  a  young  lad,  bearing  a 
pair  of  boots.  Behind  him  is  a  little  girl,  with  a  small  shawl  on  her  arm,  which 
she  intends  to  give — and  near  her  is  a  little  lad,  with  a  cheese  in  his  hand,  which, 
his  mother  tells  him,  Tie  may  give  "  to  the  poor  soldiers."  Just  behind  GoVernor 
Trumbull  is  a  young  lady,  with  her  head  leaning,  in  the  act  of  taking  a  ring  from 
her  ear  for  contribution.  Others  of  the  congregation,  in  the  gallery  and  else 
where,  are  busy  producing  the  various  donations  which  they  design  to  make,  or 
are  gazing  with  a  pleased  and  anxious  interest  on  the  scene — which  is  also  over 
looked,  from  his  pulpit,  with  great  satisfaction,  by  the  clergyman  of  the  parish. 
They  are  all  ready  to  contribute,  each  something,  after  the  wife  of  the  Governor 
shall  have  placed  her  gift  on  the  altar,  and  retired.  The  donations  are  received 
by  a  Committee,  of  which  a  Deacon  of  the  Church  is  supposed  to  be  one,  and  the 
Chairman  of  the  Town  Committee  of  Inspection  and  Correspondence  is  the  other. 
The  whole  forms  a  scene,  which  carries  the  beholder  vividly  back,  in  thought  and 
feeling,  in  fear,  hope,  and  joy,  to  the  great  events  and  struggles  of  our  American 
Battle  for  Independence. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 
1781. 

GENERAL  view  of  the  Campaign  of  1781.  Theatre  of  war  chiefly  at  the 
South.  Again  a  starving  army.  "Washington  -writes  Trumbull  of  its 
distresses,  and  sends  on  Gen.  Knox,  and  after-wards  Gen.  Heath,  to  ex 
plain  them  personally.  A  letter  from  Knox  to  Washington  describing 
his  interview-  -with  Trumbull.  Trumbull's  measures  for  supply.  A 
letter  from  Gen.  Heath  describing  his  intervie-w  -with  the  Governor. 
New  supplies  forwarded  Some  officers  in  the  Connecticut  Line  dis 
contented  because  of  not  receiving  their  full  pay.  They  complain  to 
Washington,  who  writes  Trumbull  on  the  subject.  Trumbull  re 
sponds,  explaining  the  circumstances,  and  vindicating  his  State.  The 
officers  continue  their  complaints.  Another  letter  from  Trumbull,  re 
buking  the  malcontents,  and  again  vindicating  Connecticut.  Great 
dearth  of  money.  Trumbull,  in  conformity  -with  instructions  from 
the  General  Assembly,  strives,  but  in  vain,  to  negotiate  a  loan  in  Hol 
land.  Great  demand  upon  Connecticut  for  money.  Notwithstanding 
its  exceeding  scarcity,  Trumbull  continues  hopeful — and  at  last  pro 
cures  funds  enough  to  pay  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Connecticut 
Line. 

THE  year  seventeen  hundred  eighty  one — save  that  radi 
ance  from  Morgan's  deadly  fire  at  the  triumphant  battle  of 
the  Cowpens — opened  upon  the  American  cause  with  gloom. 
The  French  Army  were  still  blocked  up  at  Newport.  The 
Main  American  Army,  on  and  around  the  Hudson,  were,  as 
usual,  wretchedly  weak  in  numbers,  ill-fed,  ill-clothed,  almost 
wholly  destitute  of  pay,  and  alas  too,  most  fearfully  riven  by 
mutiny  in  its  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  lines.  Lord 
Cornwallis  was  in  possession  of  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia, 
and  overrunning  North  Carolina.  Arnold  and  Phillips  were 
overrunning  and  ravaging  Virginia.  A  union  between  these 
three  commanders,  for  a  seemingly  irresistible  march  of  con 
quest  northward,  was  in  near  prospect.  British  hopes  ran 
extravagantly  high — those  of  America  low.  Congress  was 
disposed  to  relax  American  claims,  and — against  the  voice  of 
Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  North  Carolina  alone  out  of 


1781.  CHAP.    XLIII. — TRUMBULL.  517 

all  the  Thirteen  States — was  even  consenting,  for  the  sake  of 
securing  active  cooperation  from  Spain,  to  relinquish  a  most 
important  part  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  Such  is 
the  dark  picture  which  American  affairs  at  this  time  present, 
almost  until  the  year  upon  which  we  now  enter,  reached  its 
meridian. 

Then  broke  a  light,  almost  from  every  quarter,  auspicious 
to  the  United  States — save  from  those  flames,  which,  in 
September,  left  New  London,  much  of  it,  a  charred  and 
smoking  ruin.  The  intrepid  Greene  had  returned  into  South 
Carolina,  and  to  his  victorious  arms — to  himself,  and  to  his 
country's  Sumpter — to  their  Marion,  their  Lee,  their  Colo 
nel  Washington,  their  Watts,  their  Williams,  their  Gaines — 
post  after  post  of  the  enemy,  from  the  High  Hills  of  Santee, 
through  the  battle  ground  of  Eutaw,  down  to  the  sea-coast, 
had  yielded — until  the  whole  country  between  Cooper  Kiver 
and  the  Edisto  was  covered  by  the  champion  troops  of  free 
dom — until  at  last  the  little  Neck  of  Charleston,  and  a  few 
adjacent  islands,  held  all  that  was  left  at  the  South,  of  Lord 
Kawdon  and  British  domination,  from  the  Eoanoke  to  the 
waters  of  the  Savannah.  Meanwhile  La  Fayette  with  his 
phalanx  of  twelve  hundred  chosen  men,  joining  the  defence 
in  Virginia,  had  pressed  Cornwallis,  like  Eawdon  in  Carolina, 
down  upon  the  sea-coast.  And  Washington  and  Eocham- 
beau,  having  united  their  arms  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson, 
had  marched  for  the  Chesapeake.  Yorktown  was  invested. 
Earth,  sea,  and  air  reverberated  its  doom.  The  last  decisive 
blow  for  American  Independence  was  struck,  and  was 
crowned  with  brilliant  success.  Cornwallis  fell. 

The  theatre  of  bloody  strife  thus  at  this  time,  as  in  the 
year  1780,  lying  chiefly  at  the  South,  Governor  Trumbull 
was,  of  course,  again  relieved  somewhat  from  those  superior 
anxieties  and  cares  which  had  pressed  upon  him  in  previous 
years,  when  War  stood,  as  it  were,  by  his  own  door.  Troops, 
however,  were  yet  to  be  raised,  supplies  furnished,  and  the 
frontiers  and  coasts  of  Connecticut  to  be  defended — as 
usual — for  still  a  frowning  British  soldiery  occupied  New 
York — still  menacing  British  armaments  rode  upon  the  Sound. 

The  first  matter  which  occupied  Trumbull's  attention,  at 


518  •        CHAP.    XLIII. — TKUMBULL. 


1781. 


the  outset  of  the  year,  was — as  the  Keader  will  readily  antici 
pate — a  starving  army.  Its  "  aggravated  calamities  and  dis 
tresses,"  wrote  Washington,  January  fifth,  to  him — as  at  this 
time  also  to  the  Governors  of  the  other  New  England 
States — "  that  have  resulted  from  the  total  want  of  pay  for 
nearly  twelve  months,  the  want  of  clothing  at  a  very  severe 
season,  and  not  unfrequently  the  want  of  provisions,  are  be 
yond  description."  And  the  Commander-in-chief  sent  Briga 
dier-General  Knox  to  the  Governor,  personally  to  explain 
the  condition  of  the  army,  and  enforce  his  application  for  relief. 

"  I  have  already,"  he  wrote  again,  May  tenth,  to  Trum- 
bull — as  also  again  to  each  of  the  Governors  of  New  Eng 
land — "  made  representations  to  the  States,  of  the  want  of 
provisions,  the  distress  of  the  army,  and  the  innumerable 
embarrassments  we  have  suffered  in  consequence ;  not  merely 
once  or  twice,  but  have  reiterated  them  over  and  over  again. 
I  have  struggled  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability  to  keep  the 
army  together,  but  all  will  be  in  vain  without  the  effective  as 
sistance  of  the  States.  I  have  now  only  to  repeat  the  alterna 
tive  which  has  been  so  often  urged,  that  supplies,  particu 
larly  of  beef  cattle,  must  be  speedily  and  regularly  provided, 
or  our  posts  cannot  be  maintained,  nor  the  army  kept  in  the 
field  much  longer."  And  this  time  the  Commander-in-chief 
sent  on  General  Heath  to  explain  and  enforce  his  dispatch. 

Here  is  the  old  picture  of  suffering  in  the  army  repro 
duced — in  colors  almost  as  dark  as  ever — and  reproduced 
too,  as  it  happened,  just  upon  the  heel  of  the  alarming  revolt 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Line,  and  at  a  time  when  in  the  coun 
try  generally  there  was  an  extraordinary  dearth  of  money, 
and  great  and  almost  universal  discontent  among  the  people 
at  the  new  system  of  public  contributions — impressments, 
alas,  having  been  but  too  frequently  rendered  necessary. 
How  now  in  this  new,  yet  too  painfully  familiar  exigency, 
did  Trumbull  conduct?  A  letter,  February  seventh,  from 
General  Knox  to  General  Washington,  describing  his  inter 
view  with  the  Governor  at  Hartford,*  upon  the  mission  to 
which  we  have  referred,  will  explain  it  in  part. 

*  1781.    "  Jan.  31st.    Set  from  home— Gen.  Knox  overtook  me  at  Whites  [Bol- 
ton]— came  together  into  Hartford. 


1181.  CHAP.     XLIII. — TRUMBULL.  519 

"  The  Legislatures  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,"  proceeds  Knox, 
after  stating  that  he  had  visited  all  the  New  England  States  with  his  dis 
patches — "  unfortunately,  were  not  sitting.  The  Governor  of  the  former 
State,  by  having  the  powers  of  the  Assembly  in  the  recess,  respecting 
the  exigencies  of  the  war,  delegated  to  him,  jointly  with  a  certain  Coun 
cil,  supposed  that  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  call  the  Legislature  on  the 
matter  of  my  mission,  and  that  his  Council  would  be  competent  to  do 
everything  necessary  on  the  occasion ;  for  which  purpose  he  proposed  to 
call  them  together  the  next  day  after  I  had  the  honor  of  conversing  with 
him,  which  was  on  the  llth  ultimo.  Governor  Trumbull  fully  coincided 
in  sentiment  with  me,  in  respect  to  the  gratuity  of  three  half  Johannes, 
in  preference  to  any  pay  in  paper  money,  as  a  matter  that  would  be  more 
efficacious  to  quiet  the  minds  of  the  troops,  and  render  them  happy ; 
and  also  as  a  measure  which  the  New  England  States  could  execute  with 
as  much  ease,  under  present  circumstances,  as  the  three  months'  real  pay 
in  paper.  He  was  clearly  of  opinion,  that  to  attempt  to  obtain  both  the 
gratuity  and  the  three  months'  pay,  would  be  to  attempt  more  than  could 
be  performed  consistently  with  their  present  exertions  in  order  to  put 
their  finances  on  a  tolerable  footing.  The  Governor  pledged  himself  to 
exert  his  utmost  interest  to  have  the  gratuity  and  deficiency  of  clothing 
given  to  the  troops  immediately ;  and  requested  me  to  impress  on  the 
Governors  and  official  gentlemen  in  the  other  States,  the  necessity  and 
propriety  of  New  England  adopting  similar  measures.  I  believe  the 
Governor  religiously  performed  Ms  part,  and  I  am  happy  to  believe  I 
did  not  fail  in  mine.  *  *  The  Council  of  Connecticut  determined 
upon  nothing  final,  but  appeared  to  intend  to  follow  the  example  of  Massa 
chusetts.  They  were  to  meet  at  Hartford  the  5th  instant,  on  this  busi 
ness.  The  Governor  informed  me  he  had  but  little  doubt  that  they 
would  adopt  similar  measures  to  Massachusetts.  But,  if  they  should  de 
cline,  he  would  immediately  call  the  Legislature,  when  he  presumed  the 
matter  would  be  made  certain. 

"  I  have  the  pleasure  to  assure  your  Excellency,  that  all  ranks  of  peo 
ple,  as  well  unofficial  as  official,  from  the  private  farmer  up  to  the  Gov 
ernor,  in  the  four  States  through  which  I  passed,  appear  perfectly 
well-principled  in  the  contest,  and  fully  determined  to  make  every  sacri 
fice  of  property  and  personal  ease  to  insure  the  happy  termination  of  the 
war.  The  universal  sentiment  was,  that  the  army  ought  to  be  supported, 
and  should  be  supported,  at  every  reasonable  expense." 

Thus  far  Knox.  Trumbull — redeeming  the  pledge  of  ef 
fort  which  Knox  represents  him  as  having  made — convened 

"Feb.  1st.  Entered  on  business  with  the  Treasurer  and  Pay  Table.  Gen. 
Knox  left." — TrumbulVs  Diary'. 

This  Diary — exceedingly  succinct — extends  over  a  few  months  only.  We  shall 
have  occasion  to  recur  to  it  again — for  some  important  facts.  It  is  in  the  posses 
sion  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society. 


520  CHAP.    XLIII. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

his  Council  the  very  next  day  after  his  interview  with  the 
American  General — and  Knox  was  present,  and  fully  ex 
plained  the  object  of  his  visit.  An  order  was  given  there 
upon,  the  succeeding  day,  for  the  sale  of  a  large  number  of 
the  confiscated  estates  of  tories,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring 
specie  for  the  Connecticut  Line  of  the  army.  These  estates 
were  actually  sold  for  this  purpose.  Twenty-one  thousand 
pounds,  in  State  bills,  were  assigned  to  Colonel  Champion  for 
the  purchase  of  cattle.  Ealph  Pomeroy  was  appointed  a 
Deputy  Quarter  Master  General  for  Connecticut,  under  Colo 
nel  Pickering,  and  there  was  renewed  activity  in  forwarding 
supplies  of  every  kind  to  the  North  River.  The  General 
Assembly  was  specially  convoked  by  the  Governor  to  meet 
in  January — speedily — :and  it  met  and  passed  an  Act  for  col 
lecting  a  tax  of  two  pence  half-penny  on  the  Grand  List  in 
gold  and  silver.  These  facts- — and  an  advance  by  the  Gov 
ernor,  in  April,  on  his  own  responsibility,  of  seven  hundred 
and  seventy-three  pounds,  twelve  shillings,  in  hard  money, 
to  those  of  the  Connecticut  officers  who  were  then  going 
southward — prove  that  Trumbull — as  General  Knox  says  he 
believed  he  would  do  in  the  crisis  upon  which  he  visited 
him — "religiously  performed  his  part"  towards  effectually 
conciliating  the  minds  of  the  soldiers,  and  making  them  quiet 
and  happy. 

But  look  at  him  again  in  May,  on  the  same  matter  when 
visited  as  we  have  stated  by  General  Heath. 

"I  arrived  here  yesterday  afternoon,"*  writes  the  General  at  this  time, 
in  a  letter  from  Hartford  to  General  Washington,  May  fifteenth,  and  also 
in  his  Memoirs — "found  the  General  Assembly  sitting,  and  presented 
your  letter  to  Governor  Trumbull,  together  with  a  representation  con 
taining  the  spirit  of  my  instructions.  *  *  This  venerable  patriot  gave 
assurance  of  his  immediate  attention  and  exertions,  and  accordingly  laid 
the  dispatches  from  General  Washington  before  the  Legislature,  who  also 
discovered  the  same  noble  patriotism.  They  inquired  into  the  state  of 
the  Treasury,  and  finding  it  was  destitute  of  money,  except  a  sum  ap 
propriated  to  another  purpose,  they  ordered  this  money  to  be  taken,  and 
directed  to  Colonel  Champion,  one  of  their  number,  immediately  to  pur 
chase  and  forward  on  to  the  army  160  head  of  cattle,  and  1000  barrels 

*  May  14.  M.  Gen.  Heath — brings  Gen.  Wash's  letters  de  distress  for  provis 
ions."—  TrumluWs  Diary. 


1781.  CHAP.    XLIII. — TRUHBULL.  521 

of  salted  provisions  from  their  stores,  and  resolved  to  make  every  other 
exertion  in  their  power  to  comply  with  the  requisitions  of  the  Command 
er-in-chief,  as  they  respected  both  fresh  and  salted  provisions,  by  ap 
pointing  a  Committee  for  a  general  arrangement  of  supplies." 

The  exertions  made  by  Trumbull  and  the  Legislature  for 
meeting  the  wants  of  the  army,  it  is  thus  plain  from  the  testi 
mony  of  General  Heath,  were  zealous  and  unremitted.  Yet 
about  this  time  there  were  officers  in  the  Connecticut  Line, 
who — discontented,  and  even  embittered  by  the  fact  that 
full  provision  was  not  at  once  made  for  their  own  arrearages 
of  pay — gave  the  Governor  on  this  point  much  anxiety,  and 
subjected  him  to  the  necessity  of  replying  to  their  claims  and 
remonstrances  in  a  manner  which  deserves  particular  men 
tion  here. 

They  had  sent  on  a  Committee  of  their  number  to  settle 
with  the  Legislature  its  accounts  with  the  Connecticut  Line. 
Before,  however,  this  settlement  could  be  completed  as  re 
gards  the  detained  rations  of  the  officers — but  yet  not  until 
their  accounts  for  pay  and  wages,  and  for  those  also  of  the 
soldiers,  were  adjusted — the  Committee  returned  to  their  duty 
in  the  army — whither  they  went — themselves  somewhat 
soured  by  disappointment — to  sour  also,  by  their  news  of  a 
mission  not  all  quite  fulfilled,  the  minds  of  others.  Many 
officers  now  complained  in  bitter  terms  of  the  negligence  and 
wrong,  as  they  charged,  of  the  Connecticut  Assembly.  We 
have  no  justice  to  hope  for  from  the  State,  they  said,  unless 
our  accounts  are  at  once  closed,  and  our  wages  and  subsist 
ence  secured  before  the  period  arrives  when  the  country  shall 
have  no  farther  occasion  for  the  services  of  the  army.  Some 
of  them  appealed  to  General  Washington  on  the  subject,  and 
so  aroused  his  sympathies  in  their  own  behalf,  as  that — to 
wards  the  close  of  June — the  Commander-in-chief  himself 
wrote  Governor  Trumbull  on  the  grievance — urged  him  to 
remedy  it — and,  if  necessary,  to  call  the  Legislature  together 
to  effect  it.  To  this  letter,  Trumbull,  July  ninth,  made  re 
ply — one  full  of  heartfelt  sympathy  for  the  sufferers — and 
yet  vindicatory  of  Connecticut. 

"  Your  feelings  of  distress,"  he  said  to  Washington—"  excite  a  sympa- 

44 


522  CHAP.    XLIII.— TRUMBULL.  1781. 

thy  in  my  breast,  and  a  readiness  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  remove^  the 
occasion.  That  the  Committee  from  the  Connecticut  line  of  the  army 
did  not  accomplish  a  full  settlement,  was  to  me  a  matter  of  sorrow,  and 
fear  for  its  consequences.  The  veteran  troops  who  faithfully  served,  and 
bravely  endured  so  many  distresses  in  defence  of  their  own  and  their 
country's  righteous  cause,  in  the  unhappy  contest  with  the  British  King 
and  Ministry,  and  continue  therein  to  the  end,  will  be  rewarded,  ac 
knowledged,  and  remembered  with  love  and  gratitude  by  this  and  future 
generations.  Surely,  none  will  forsake  it,  or  cause  disturbances  at  this 
time,  when  in  near  view  of  a  happy  home.  Those  who  do,  will  meet 
with  reproach  and  regret. 

u  The  country,  universally,"  Trumbull  goes  on  to  say — extenuating 
any  apparent  tardiness  or  negligence  in  satisfying  any  arrearages  of  pay 
to  the  complainants — "  has  had  many,  very  many  embarrassments,  and 
great  difficulties  to  encounter  and  struggle  through ;  enemies  secret  as 
well  as  open  ;  no  permanent  army  raised ;  soldiers  to  be  hired  into  the 
service  for  short  periods,  at  extravagantly  high  prices ;  no  magazines  of 
provisions ;  an  army  to  be  fed  from  hand  to  mouth ;  finances  deranged ; 
public  credit  abused  and  ruined ;  a  rapid  depreciation  of  the  currency ; 
the  army  not  paid  or  clothed ;  the  force  and  pernicious  policy  of  a  cruel 
and  inveterate  enemy  to  be  met  and  avoided ;  heavy  taxes ;  unreason 
able  jealousies ;  with  a  train  of  other  grievances  more  easily  conceived 
than  expressed. 

"  I  do  sincerely  wish,"  he  concludes — referring  to  that  happy  time 
when  America  would  have  no  farther  need  of  an  army — I  do  sincerely 
wish  for  that  period,  and  will  then,  and  ever,  exert  myself  to  obtain  jus 
tice  for  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  our  line,  as  freely  as  I  have  done  so  to 
bring  the  war  to  a  happy  close.  A  full  settlement  was  agreed  on  for  the 
pay  and  wages  of  our  line.  The  subsistence  of  the  officers  was  the  only 
matter  unsettled.  It  was  proposed  to  give  them  eight  pence  half-penny 
per  ration,  not  from  the  first  of  April  last,  as  mentioned  in  the  letter,  but 
from  the  first  of  April  1780,  the  residue  to  lie  open  for  the  determination 
of  Congress. 

"  The  Legislature  of  this  State  is  not  setting.  To  call  it  to  meet  at 
this  season,  when  every  other  business,  public  and  domestic,  calls  for  the 
attention  of  the  members,  will  cause  discontent  and  uneasiness.  You  • 
may  depend  on  my  giving  the  subject  as  early  a  consideration  as  may  be 
found  convenient,  and  consistent  with  other  circumstances.  A  sum  of 
money  for  our  line  of  the  army,  as  much  as  can  be  collected,  will  be 
forwarded  soon." 

This  soothing  letter  of  explanation  must,  we  think,  have 
fully  satisfied  the  mind  of  Washington  on  the  subject  to 
which  it  refers.  Everything  in  fact  had  been  done  by  Con 
necticut,  and  was  still  doing,  towards  paying  its  own  Line  in 


1781.  CHAP.    XLIII. — TRUMBULL.  523 

the  army,  which  under  the  circumstances  was  possible.  Not 
only  had  its  Assembly  onade  the  settlement  to  which  Trum- 
bull  refers — not  only  assigned  the  eight  pence  halfpenny  per 
ration  to  the  officers — but  to  meet  the  emergency,  and  for 
procuring  supplies  generally,  had  laid  a  farther  tax  of  two 
pence  on  the  Grand  List  of  the  State — had  ordered  the  sale 
of  confiscated  estates  to  the  amount  of  no  less  than  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds — had  kept  Committees  everywhere 
incessantly  active,  Trumbull  at  their  head,  to  gather  up  all 
the  gold  and  silver  that  could  be  found — had  even  once  form 
ally  entertained  the  project  of  recommending  Congress  to 
require  the  coinage  of  family  plate,  through  the  country  at 
large,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  arrearages  of  army  pay — and, 
through  its  Chief  Magistrate,  to  whom  specially  it  confided 
the  important  task,  had  laboriously  striven  to  procure  from 
Holland  a  loan  of  no  less  than  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  some  of  the  Connecticut  officers 
remained  still  discontented,  and  both  to  Washington  and  to 
Trumbull  renewed  their  complaints.  To  the  latter,  once  in 
July,  they  renewed  them  in  a  letter  "filled,"  he  says,  "with 
severe  remarks  and  reflections."  To  their  complaints,  there 
fore,  Trumbull  again  gave  heed,  in  a  letter  to  Washington, 
July  seventeenth.  And  in  this  letter  he  again  explains  the 
action  of  Connecticut,  and  to  the  discontented  officers  admin 
isters  such  reproof  as  shows  that  he  knew  how — well  and 
pointedly — to  vindicate  his  own  and  the  honor  of  the  State 
over  which  he  presided. 

"  I  wish,"  he  proceeds — "  to  do  the  things  that  make  for  peace  with 
•both  officers  and  men  of  the  Connecticut  line  of  the  army,  consisting  of 
our  own  people,  raised  for  defending  and  securing  the  rights  and  liber 
ties  of  the  whole,  embarked  in  the  same  common  cause,  and  to  return  to 
citizens  again  when  the  contest  with  the  British  King  and  Ministry  is 
ended ;  to  prevent,  if  possible,  discord  and  division,  so  very  dangerous  in 
our  situation,  and  hazardous  to  our  present  operations.  Surely  the  offi 
cers  do  not  desire  to  inflame  the  soldiery  with  apprehensions  that  the 
Assembly  deny  them  that  justice  which  was  done  them  the  last  year, 
with  which  they  were  satisfied,  when  the  Committee  from  the  line  know 
the  whole  accounts  of  pay  and  wages  were  gone  through,  and  ready  to 
be  closed  on  the  same  principles,  and  that  nothing  remained  in  question 


624  CHAP.    XLIII. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

but  only  the  detained  rations  of  the  officers.  This  was  not  agitated,  till 
it  became  time  for  the  Committee  to  return  to  their  duty  ;  when  there 
was  scarcely  time  for  the  members  of  so  numerous  a  body  to  deliberate 
on  the  subject.  Eight  pence  half-penny  per  ration  was  offered  from  the 
first  of  April,  1780.  Many  were  of  opinion,  that  by  the  time  of  pay 
ment  that  rate  would  be  more  than  sufficient  for  the  same.  Others  pro 
posed  to  secure  a  specific  payment.  As  to  what  was  done  before  that 
1st  of  April,  1780,  it  naturally  lay  open  for  the  direction  of  the  Honor 
able  Congress. 

"  In  the  midst  of  these  deliberations,  the  Committee  left  us  unexpect 
edly.  I  observed  no  design  to  deny  justice  to  the  officers;  to  the  sol 
diery  there  could  be  none.  The  accounts  were  fully  agreed,  prepared, 
and  ready  to  be  closed.  I  choose  to  forbear  any  recrimination.  Yet 
suffer  me  to  inquire,  why  the  Committee  from  the  line  did  not  bring  on 
the  settlement  for  detained  rations  earlier.  They  knew  it  must  require 
time  for  deliberation,  when  they  well  knew  the  principles  for  settlement 
of  pay  and  wages  were  agreed  on  the  last  year.  Do  they  mean  to  press 
for  more  than  justice,  from  the  necessity  of  their  present  services,  and 
the  fears  of  fatal  consequences  if  denied  ?  The  whole  line  know  and 
ought  to  consider  their  pay  and  wages  are  secured  in  full  value,  while 
the  depreciation  operates  as  a  heavy  tax  upon  the  rest  of  the  people. 
The  officers  may  likewise  consider,  that  their  pay  was  raised  by  Con 
gress,  fifty  per  cent,  above  what  the  State  agreed  with  them  for.  The 
maxim  adopted  by  the  enemy  is  that  old  one  of  divide  et  impera.  Shall 
we  suffer  avarice  to  divide  and  ruin  us  and  our  cause,  and  give  them  op 
portunity  to  exalt  and  triumph  over  us? 

"  Providence  hath  and  doth  smile  propitiously  upon  us  and  our  cause, 
and  calls  aloud  for  union,  vigorous  exertions,  patience,  and  perseverance, 
and  to  endure  hardship  as  good  soldiers,  that  the  end  may  be  peace. 
Justice  and  peace  ride  together  in  the  same  chariot.  It  will  be  my  con 
stant  endeavour  that  peace  may  be  obtained  on  just  and  honorable  terms, 
and  that  justice  be  done  to  them  that  jeopard  their  lives  in  the  high  pla 
ces  of  the  field,  in  defence  of,  and  to  secure  the  blessings  of  freedom  for 
ourselves  and  posterity. 

"  I  wrote  yesterday  to  the  Treasurer,  to  inform  me  this  week,  what 
sum  of  hard  money  is  and  can  be  immediately  collected  for  the  army, 
which  shall  be  sent  forward  without  delay.  The  measures  directed,  and 
orders  given  for  raising  and  marching  our  troops  to  the  army,  are  now 
diligently  carrying  into  execution." 

Thus  at  a  critical  period — -just  after  revolt  had  actually  and 
most  dangerously  disorganized  two  Lines  of  the  American. 
Army — and  when  its  spirit,  subjugated  but  yet  not  extirpa 
ted,  was  still  silently  and  almost  imperceptibly  working,  to 
some  extent,  in  the  heart  of  other  Lines — did  Trumbull  labor 


1781.  CHAP.     XLIII. — TRUMBULL.  525 

to  soothe,  subdue,  and  sever  this  spirit  from  the  bosoms  of 
that  soldiery  with  which  he  was  himself  most  closely  con 
nected — the  soldiery  from  Connecticut.  What  a  hardship 
that  he  had  to  contend  at  such  a  time  against  such  a  dearth 
of  money  1  What  a  pity  that  loan  from  Holland,  to  which 
we  have  referred,  was  not  then  in  his  hands !  It  had  been 
ordered  by  the  General  Assembly  at  the  close  of  the  pre 
ceding  year — to  be  negotiated  by  himself  in  Holland,  or  else 
where — and  he  had  at  once  sent  on  proper  instructions  to 
effect  it  to  his  son  Colonel  John  Trumbull.  He  had  enclosed 
these  instructions  under  cover  to  his  correspondents  De  Neuf- 
ville  and  son  at  Amsterdam — gentlemen  who,  "from  their 
knowledge,  connections,  and  real  attachment"  to  America, 
were  "unquestionably"  and  peculiarly  "worthy  the  confi 
dence  of  the  State" — whose  "assistance  and  counsel"  in  the 
matter,  as  well  as  the  aid  also  of  Dr.  Franklin  in  Paris,  he 
had  earnestly  solicited — and  solicited  too  in  a  noble  tone  of 
confidence  both  in  the  ability  of  Connecticut  to  redeem  her 
pecuniary  obligations,  and  in  the  success  of  that  great  cause 
for  which  the  succor  was  sought. 

"As  our  prospects  [for  a  loan,]"  he  wrote  his  son  upon  the  occasion — 
"  principally  centre  in  Holland,  I  can  wish  this  letter  may  find  you  there, 
and  that  you  will  pay  your  first  and  most  assiduous  attention  to  that 
quarter.  Give  me  the  earliest  information  of  the  way  and  probable  ex 
pense  of  getting  the  money  in  specie  here,  and  of  whatever  else  you 
may  judge  needful  for  me  to  be  advised.  This  loan  is  not  sought  on  the 
principles  of  despair,  but  to  put  our  finances  on  a  better  footing.  The 
spirit  of  the  country  remains  firm  and  steady ;  men  for  three  years  or 
during  the  war,  will  fill  and  complete  the  army.  I  hope  to  get  the  finan 
ces  of  the  State  upon  a  sure  and  good  footing." 

But  Trumbull's  hopes  of  a  loan  abroad  were  destined  to 
disappointment.  The  public  credit  of  the  United  States  had 
been  injured  in  every  part  of  Europe.  It  was  indeed  sadly 
low.  St.  Eustatia  had  been  lately  captured,  and  the  loss  to 
America  was  supposed  to  be  very  great.  Capitalists,  there 
fore,  were  "slow  and  fearful  of  advancing"  funds  to  her  aid.* 

*  "The  public  credit  of  the  United  States,"  wrote  Col.  John  Trumbull  to  his 
father,  July  20th,  1781,  "has  been  injured  in  every  part  of  Europe  by  the  misman 
agement  of  her  aft'airs  in  that  department ;  in  so  much  that  it  is  at  this  day  very 


526  CHAP.    XLIII. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

The  loan  consequently  failed.  And  it  failed  too — be  it 
marked — at  a  period,  for  Trumbull,  truly  most  inauspicious. 
For  just  then — in  addition  to  taxes  for  ordinary  State  pur 
poses — he  had  the  weight  upon  his  shoulders  of  one  quota 
for  the  army  of  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  fifty -one 
thousand  and  twenty-two  dollars,  which  Congress  had  de 
manded  from  Connecticut  within  the  first  three  months  of  the 
present  year — and  of  still  another  quota  of  nine  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fifty-five  dollars,  which  the  State  was  to 
furnish,  either  in  specie  or  in  bills  of  exchange  on  New  York, 
for  the  use  of  American  prisoners  in  that  city,  and  upon 
Long  Island.  Yet  with  all  this  depressing  weight  upon  his 
shoulders — and  spite  of  the  failure  of  the  loan — still  Trum 
bull — more  hopeful  even  than  Washington  himself  at  this 
time,  who  deemed  the  United  States  incapable  of  extricating 
themselves  "by  any  interior  exertions"  from  their  then  exist 
ing  difficulties* — persevered  in  his  task  of  collecting  funds, 
until,  as  regards  specie  for  the  troops,  success  at  last,  beyond 
expectation,  crowned  his  efforts.  "  A  sum  of  money  for  our 
line  in  the  army  will  be  forwarded  soon" — we  have  just 
found  him  writing  to  Washington,  July  ninth.  Hard  money, 

low  even  in  France ;  and  consequently  the  people  of  this  country,  judging  from 
what  they  see  there,  are  slow  and  fearful  of  advancing  to  our  aid.  The  loan  on 
account  of  the  United  States,  opened  by  Mr.  Adams,  at  first  promised  great  suc 
cess,  and  nearly  the  whole  sum  was  subscribed  for,  when  the  news  of  the  cap 
ture  of  St.  Eustatia,  partly  by  the  alarm  which  it  occasioned  here,  partly  by  the 
prevailing  idea  that  the  loss  to  America  was  very  great,  but  more  by  the  increased 
demand  for  money  to  repair  the  losses  sustained  there,  produced  quite  a  stagna 
tion,  and  put  an  entire  stop  to  its  success.  It  still  rests  in  that  state,  and  until 
some  change  in  the  political  system  of  this  country,  or  the  arrival  of  news  of 
great  success  on  the  part  of  America,  it  will  remain  impossible  to  succeed.  So 
long  as  the  United  States  find  so  great  difficulty  in  procuring  credit,  there  is  no 
probability  that  any  individual  State  can  have  better  success.  To  make  the  at 
tempt  might  prove  injurious  to  the  general  interest,  and  by  its  failure,  for  it  would 
almost  inevitably  fail,  would  add  to  the  difficulties  in  future." 

*  "The  efforts,"  said  Washington,  in  January,  1781,  in  his  letter  to  Col.  Lau- 
rens,  when  the  latter  was  about  starting  on  his  mission  to  Europe  to  procure  a 
foreign  loan  for  the  United  States — "the  efforts  unavoidably  made  in  the  prose 
cution  of  the  war  had  greatly  exceeded  the  natural  ability  of  the  country,  and  it 
had  now  become  impossible  for  the  United  States,  by  any  interior  exertions,  to 
extricate  themselves  from  their  present  difficulties,  by  restoring  public  credit,  and 
furnishing  the  funds  required  for  the  support  of  the  war.  According  to  the  best 
estimates,  any  revenue  which  the  States  were  capable  of  raising,  would  be  found 
inadequate  to  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  would  leave  a  large  surplus  to  be 
supplied  by  credit." 


1781. 


CHAP.     XLIII. — TRUMBULL.  527 


we  find  him  again  writing,  July  seventeenth,  "shall  be  for 
warded  without  delay." — "Three  thousand  five  hundred 
pounds  collected" — he  enters  in  his  Diary,  August  sixth. 
"Norton  and  Brown  prepared  to  carry  the  deficiency  of  the 
month's  pay  to  the  army " — he  enters  August  twenty-ninth. 
So  that  light  now  broke  from  the  clouds.  That  justice  to 
which,  as  regards  military  compensation  at  the  period  now  un 
der  consideration,  Trumbull  had  pledged  himself — "freely," 
he  said,  as  to  everything  which  tended  "to  bring  the  war  to 
a  happy  close" — was  at  last  obtained  for  the  officers  and  sol 
diers  of  the  Connecticut  Line. 


CHAPTER     X  L  I  V . 
1781. 

GEN.  WASHINGTON,  on  bis  -way  to  Newport,  to  meet  Count  Rochambeau, 
stops  at  Hantford,  and  consults  with  Gov.  Trumbull.  In  Hartford  he  or 
ders  a  Court  Martial  for  the  trial  of  Alexander  Me  Do-well,  a  deserter — 
who  is  hanged.  A  report  that  Washington,  on  his  way  to  Newport,  would 
be  intercepted  and  seized  by  the  enemy.  Trumbull's  precautions  in 
consequence.  Another  meeting  between  Washington  and  Rocham 
beau,  Trumbull,  and  others,  in  regard  to  a  plan  for  combined  military 
operations — held  at  the  house  of  Joseph  Webb,  in  Wethersfield.  Ex 
tracts  from  Trumbull's  Diary  illustrative  of  the  event.  A  dinner  given 
the  Generals  at  the  public  expense.  The  plan  of  that  campaign  which 
terminated  in  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Torktown,  and  the  final 
triumph  of  the  American  arms,  was  concerted  at  this  interview  in  Con 
necticut.  This  plan.  Washington,  to  execute  it,  calls  for  more  troops. 
Trumbull  responds  to  the  call.  He  sends  a  pressing  Message  on  the 
subject  to  the  General  Assembly.  Its  favorable  results.  The  French 
army  marches  through  Connecticut  to  join  Washington  on  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson;  The  attention  and  entertainment  it  received  on  ita 
way.  Lauzun's  Legion  of  Hussars  leaves  Lebanon,  highly  delighted 
with  the  hospitality  they  had  received.  Trumbull's  humane  feelings 
illustrated  by  the  case  of  a  deserter,  who,  at  Lebanon,  was  condemned 
to  be  shot.  A  French  officer's  reminiscence  of  Trumbull. 

WE  turn  now  to  Trumbull's  other  connections  with,  the 
War  during  the  present  year. 

It  was  the  middle  of  summer  ere  at  the  North  any  active 
military  operations  commenced.  But  early  in  March,  Wash 
ington  began  to  plan  them — chiefly  against  New  York — and 
for  this  purpose,  in  company  with  his  aids  and  Major  Gen 
eral  Howe,  left  his  Head  Quarters  at  Windsor  to  visit  Count 
Kochambeau  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island.  On  his  way  he  met 
and  consulted  closely  with  Governor  Trumbull,  at  Hartford, 
where  the  latter  was  sitting  with  his  Council,  and  contriving 
for  the  public  exigencies. 

41  March  third — Saturday,"  says  the  Governor  in  his  Diary — "  Warm. 
Maj.  Gen.  Howe  dined  with  me,  Col.  Wyllys,  Col.  Dyer,  Col.  Trumbull 
[Jonathan  Jr.]  &c. 

"  March  fourth.  D.  Dom.  General  Washington  came  with  his  aids 
Col. ,  Col.  Tilgham.  The  Gen1  left  an  order  for  a  General  Court 


1781.  CHAP.    XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  529 

Martial  for  the  trial  of  Alexander  Me  Dowell  for  desertion — set  out  for 
Newport — M.  Gen.  Howe  with  him.  Col.  Trumbull  accompanied  them 
to  Lebanon. 

"  March  seventeenth.  Saturday — [at  Hartford.]  Dined  at  Mr.  Platt's 
with  Gen.  Washington,  and  spent  the  afternoon — he  came  to  my  lodg 
ings — communicated  Mr.  Southwick  and  Com.  General's  letters — con 
versed  on  various  subjects. 

"  Lord's  Day — March  eighteenth.  General  Washington  came  on  Fri 
day  night  [from  Newport] — went  out  this  morning. 

"March  twenty-first — Wednesday.  Alexander  Me  Dowell  hanged. 
Mr.  Eels  pr.  a  sermon  in  pres.  of  condemned  and  a  large  assembly. 
Rom.  2:  2.  But  we  are  sure  that  the  judgment  of  God  is  according  to 
truth  against  them  who  commit  such  things." 

An  execution  at  Hartford — under  the  eye  of  Governor 
Trumbull  and  of  an  immense  crowd — on  the  top  of  Rocky 
Hill,  probably,  just  where  the  Farming-ton  road  winds  over 
its  brow — made  the  visit  of  Washington  to  which  Trumbull 
refers,  long  memorable  in  Connecticut.  But  it  was  even 
more  memorable  for  a  peril  which,  it  was  feared,  would  beset 
the  Commander-in-chief  on  his  journey  at  this  time,  and 
which  gave  to  Trumbull  himself  no  little  anxiety. 

"Intelligence  had  come  from  New  York,"  says  Sparks, 
"that  three  hundred  horsemen  had  crossed  over  to  Long  Is 
land  and  proceeded  eastward,  and  that  boats  at  the  same 
time  had  been  sent  up  the  Sound.  It  was  inferred,  that  the 
party  would  pass  from  Long  Island  to  Connecticut,  and  at 
tempt  to  intercept  General  Washington  on  his  way  to  New 
port,  as  it  was  supposed  his  intended  journey  was  known  to 
the  enemy.  La  Fayette  suggested  that  the  Duke  de  Lau- 
zun  should  be  informed  of  this  movement  as  soon  as  possi 
ble,  that  he  might  be  prepared  with  his  cavalry,  then  sta 
tioned  at  Lebanon,  to  repel  the  invaders."  The  information, 
as  suggested  by  La  Fayette,  was  transmitted,  not  only  to  the 
Duke  de  Lauzun,  but  to  Trumbull  also,  and  every  suitable 
preparation  was  made  by  each  to  ward  off  the  catastrophe 
supposed  to  be  impending.  Fortunately  it  did  not  occur. 
And  Washington — instead  of  finding  himself  in  any  melee 
of  danger,  surrounded  and  protected  by  brave  French  Hus 
sars  and  Connecticut  militia — passed  through  the  country  in 
perfect  security — stopping  on  his  way,  March  fifth,  time 
45 


530  CHAP.    XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

enough — on  the  village  green  at  Lebanon — with  great  satis 
faction  alike  to  himself,  the  French,  and  crowds  of  specta 
tors — to  bestow  on  Lauzun's  imposing  legion  the  compliment 
of  a  stately  review.* 

At  Newport,  the  Commander-in-chief  made  such  arrange 
ments  with  Eochambeau  for  the  operations  of  the  campaign 
as  the  existing  state  of  affairs  would  warrant.  They  resulted 
in  the  departure  of  the  French  fleet,  under  Chevalier  Des- 
touches,  with  eleven  hundred  French  troops,  grenadiers,  and 
chasseurs,  for  the  Chesapeake — there  to  cooperate  with  the 
Marquis  La  Fayette  for  the  dislodgment  of  the  enemy  from 
Virginia.  But  this  expedition — though  it  was  marked  by  a 
formidable  naval  combat,  which  was  highly  creditable  to  the 
French  Commander  for  "the  gallantry  and  good  conduct  dis 
played  through  the  whole  course  of  the  engagement" — yet 
failed  in  its  principal  object.  Other  operations,  therefore,  had 
to  be  concerted.  Another  meeting  between  Washington  and 
Eochambeau  became  necessary.  And  this  took  place  on  the 
twenty -first  and  twenty-second  days  of  May,  at  the  house  of 
Joseph  Webb,  Esquire,  at  Wethersfield,  Connecticut — Wash 
ington  upon  this  occasion  being  attended  by  General  Knox 
and  General  Duportail,  and  Eochambeau  by  the  Marquis  de 
Chastellux — De  Barras,  the  French  Admiral,  on  account  of 
the  appearance  of  the  British  fleet,  under  Arbuthnot,  off 
Block  Island,  not  being  able  to  be  present. 

For  this  conference,  as  for  that  held  the  preceding  year  at 
Hartford,  Trumbull  made  every  suitable  provision.  The 
Commanders,  with  their  respective  suites,  became  as  before 
the  guests  of  the  State.  Five  hundred  pounds  were  appro 
priated  by  the  General  Assembly  for  their  entertainment. 
The  Quarter  Master  General  of  Connecticut — Ealph  Pome- 
roy — was  appointed  to  superintend  the  disbursement  of  this 
hospitable  reception-fund.  Governor  Trumbull  welcomed 
the  illustrious  guests  with  every  mark  of  distinction — and 

*  Washington  seems  to  have  felt  no  alarm  for  himself  upon  the  occasion  to 
which  reference  is  made  in  the  text.  "  I  do  not  think  it  very  probable,"  he  wrote 
to  La  Fayette  at  this  time — "  that  three  hundred  dragoons  will  trust  themselves 
in  the  heart  of  Connecticut,  with  a  superior  regular  corps  and  the  force  of  the 
country  to  oppose  them,  but  I  have  nevertheless  given  the  intelligence  to  the 
Duke  de  Lauzun." 


1781.  CHAP.     XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  531 

as  on  a  former  occasion,  so  now,  was  at  once  admitted,  as  of 
course,  into  their  confidence,  and  leaned  upon  for  advice — 
as  the  following  interesting  extracts  from  his  own  and  the 
Diary  of  General  Washington  at  the  time,  show : — 

"Had  a  good  deal  of  private  conversation  with  Governor  Trumbull," 
writes  Washington,  May  twentieth — u  who  gave  it  to  me  as  his  opinion, 
that,  if  any  important  offensive  operation  should  be  undertaken,  he  had 
little  doubt  of  obtaining  men  and  provision  adequate  to  our  wants.  In 
this  opinion  Colonel  Wads  worth  and  others  concurred." 

"Lord's  Day,  May  twentieth,"  writes  Trumbull — "Went  with  Capt. 
Fred.  Bull  in  a  carriage  to  Wethersfield — attended  divine  service  with 
General  Washington  per  tot  diem.  Mr.  Marsh  preached.  Mat.  7 :  3 — 
blessed  are  the  poor  of  spirit,  for  their's  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

"  Monday,  twenty-first.     Fair — invited  to  Col.  Chester's. 

"Tuesday,  twenty-second.  Fair — dined  with  General  Washington, 
Rochambeau  &c,  at  Stillmans. 

"  Wednesday,  twenty-third.  Fair — dined  at  Colyer's  with  the  Gener 
als — supra  public  expense.  Guards.  Artillery." 

Accurate  observance,  in  each  other's  company,  on  a  New 
England  Sabbath  Day- — "per  tot  diem" — of  religious  service, 
on  the  part  of  two  of  the  noblest  of  Revolutionary  patriots — 
abundant  and  gracious  hospitality  from  a  sweet  village  on 
the  Connecticut  River — State  entertainment  at  the  Capital 
City  of  the  State — amid  the  parade  of  Governor  Trumbull's 
own  Guards,  and  with  the  voice  of  artillery  to  speak  the 
toasts  that  at  the  entertainment  may  have  been  consecrated, 
in  the  sentiments  of  those  who  uttered  them,  to  Freedom — 
such  are  the  circumstances  which — socially  and  ceremoni 
ally — mark,  in  the  extracts  now  given,  Washington's  visit  in 
May  1781  to  Connecticut,  and  the  handsome  reception,  by 
Trumbull  and  the  State,  of  the  Father  of  his  Country. 

In  a  military  view,  however,  this  reception  is  marked  by 
other  and  grander  results.  It  is  marked  by  that  plan  of  the 
Southern  Campaign,  which,  before  the  bastions  of  Yorktown, 
crowned  America  with  immortal  honor,  and  with  liberty. 
This  plan,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe,  was  first  concerted 
in  that  mansion — the  Webb  House  in  Wethersfield — a  pic 
ture  of  which  the  Reader  here  can  see — Trumbull  present 
and  rendering  zealous  aid — Trumbull,  as  Washington  testi- 


532  CHAP.      XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

fies,  firm  in  confidence  that  all  "adequate  provision"  could 
be  made  for  "any  important  offensive  operation"  which  su 
perior  generalship  could  devise.  The  web,  in  fact,  which  at 
last  caught  and  held  inextricably  that  proudest  and  most  dar 
ing  of  British  Generals  in  the  field — Lord  Cornwallis — and 
which  put  an  end  to  the  American  Eevolutionary  "War — was 
here  projected. 


The  Webb  House  in  Wethersfield. 

The  French  Army  was  to  march  soon  as  possible,  and  join 
the  American  forces  on  the  North  Kiver.  In  order  to  divert 
the  enemy  from  the  South — to  force  them  to  recall  large  de 
tachments  from  that  quarter — and  thus  afford  immediate  and 
important  aid  to  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas — the  City  of 
New  York,  in  the  first  place,  was  to  be  seriously  menaced, 
and  if  circumstances  should  justify  it,  attacked.  Should  it 
not  be  recovered — soon  as  the  hot  season,  then  coming  on, 
should  have  passed  away,  and  the  existing  difficulty  in  trans 
porting  troops,  artillery,  and  stores,  for  a  southern  operation 
have  ceased — the  combined  armies  were  to  march  upon 
Cornwallis,  and  make  a  grand  effort  for  his  entire  overthrow. 

In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  Washington,  at  Wethersfield, 
at  once  prepared  and  forwarded  dispatches  to  the  Govern 
ors  of  the  four  New  England  States — calling  on  them  to 


1781.  CHAP.    XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  533 

complete  their  battalions,  and  provide  means  of  transportation, 
and  full  and  prompt  supplies — and  on  Connecticut  and  Mas 
sachusetts  particularly,  he  called  for  a  fresh  loan  of  powder.* 
In  Connecticut  three  regiments  for  the  Continental  Army 
had  already  been  ordered  in  March.  Now  fifteen  hundred 
men,  for  three  months'  service  with  Washington,  were  spe 
cially  demanded — while  Sheldon's  Eegiment  of  Dragoons,  by 
particular  request  of  Congress,  was  to  be  remounted,  and  a 
portion  of  the  militia  of  the  State  was  to  be  kept  in  constant 
readiness  to  aid,  if  necessary,  in  the  defence  of  Khode  Island 
upon  the  departure  of  Eochambeau. 

To  these  calls  Trumbull,  as  usual,  gave  immediate  atten 
tion — as  the  following  Special  Message  to  the  Legislature  of 
Connecticut,  June  eleventh — a  good  specimen  alike  of  his 
promptness,  anxiety,  ardor,  and  hope  in  the  great  cause  in 
which  he  was  engaged — abundantly  shows. 

"The  Governor,"  he  proceeds,  "presents  his  most  respectful  compli 
ments,  and  takes  leave  to  ask,  that,  considering  this  session  is  drawn 
already  to  a  great  length,  and  the  business  of  the  public  as  well  as  the 
particular  concerns  of  gentlemen  who  constitute  this  Assembly  require  a 
speedy  close,  and  a  return  to  our  respective  homes,  that  therefore  your 
attention  be  given  to  the  great  and  important  matters  which  respect  our 
preparations  for  the  campaign  now  opening.  It  is  necessary  that  our 
troops  to  fill  the  army  should  be  immediately  forwarded — that  clothing, 
tents,  &c.,  be  provided  and  sent  on — that  money  should  be  sent,  so  far  as 
is  possible,  to  pay  our  soldiers,  and  prevent  difficulties  and  murmuring 
among  them — as  I  perceive  the  Army  Committee  are  generally  without  a 
settlement  of  their  accounts  with  the  State,  which  may  occasion  uneasi 
ness  in  our  line.  Every  exertion  in  our  great  important  cause  is  now  of 
the  utmost  necessity,  and  what  remains  for  this  Assembly  to  do  lies  be 
fore  you.  I  wish  those  things  which  promote  such  exertions  as  are  pro 
portionate  to  the  truly  critical  situation  of  the  affairs  of  the  United  States, 
may  be  thoroughly  pursued  by  this  State. 

"  The  plan  of  operations  for  the  present  campaign  was  concerted  on 
the  principle  of  obliging  the  enemy  to  abandon  their  possessions  in  every 
part  of  these  States.  The  demand  of  Congress  for  provisions,  men,  and 
money,  is  what  at  present  we  have  to  attend  to.  Every  State's  punctual 
compliance  gives  a  pleasing  prospect  of  putting  a  speedy  and  happy  issue 

*  Washington  set  out  from  Wethersfield  on  the  24th  of  May  for  his  Head 
Quarters  at  New  Windsor— which  he  reached  on  the  25th,  "  about  sunset."  Eo 
chambeau  started  for  Newport  on  the  23d  of  this  month. 


534  CHAP.    XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

to  the  War,  by  driving  the  enemy  from  their  present  possessions  in  every 
part  of  these  States — but  at  all  events  to  confine  them  to  the  sea-coasts. 
Let  us  not  be  negligent  or  behind  our  sister  States  in  making  the  most 
vigorous  exertions  on  our  part,  that  so  we  may  not  hereafter  blame  our 
selves,  or  be  chargeable  by  them  for  any  neglect.  Let  us,  therefore,  lay 
ing  aside  all  other  business  of  lesser  concern,  apply  ourselves  to  make 
the  most  strenuous  exertions  to  accomplish  the  great  object  before  us — 
the  independence  of  these  United  States  in  all  its  parts — that  in  case  a 
negotiation  for  peace  should  be  offered,  we  shall  be  found,  by  great  and 
timely  exertion,  to  have  sufficiently  reduced  the  power  of  the  enemy  now 
operating  in  our  country.  Should  languor  and  inactivity,  on  the  other 
hand,  subject  us  to  the  contempt  of  the  Negotiators,  all  the  consequences 
will  be  chargeable  on  ourselves." 

This  appeal  was  not  without  its  immediate  fruit  in  in 
creased  vigor  of  preparation  for  the  Campaign,  throughout 
Connecticut.  "  The  measures  directed,  and  orders  given  for 
raising  and  marching  our  troops  to  the  army,  are  now  dili 
gently  carrying  into  execution,"  wrote  Trumbull  to  Wash 
ington,  July  seventeenth. 

Meanwhile,  in  June,  Kochambeau  marched  to  join  "Wash 
ington  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  His  troops  came,  in 
four  divisions,  from  Providence  to  Connecticut — magnificent 
in  appearance — superb  in  discipline— 

"  A  brave  choice  of  fiery  voluntaries, 

Bearing  their  birthrights  proudly  on  their  backs, 

To  make  a  hazard  of  new  fortunes  here." 

Kochambeau  himself,  with  the  sparkling  regiment  of  Bour- 
bonnois,  into  which  he  had  recently  incorporated  four  hun 
dred  fresh  recruits  from  France,  brought  up  their  rear.  On 
they  came,  through  Plainfield,  Windham,  and  Bolton,  to 
Hartford — from  whence — after  having  stopped  awhile  to  re 
pair  broken  wagons,  and  refresh  artillery  horses  and  oxen — 
they  started  again  in  four  divisions — a  part  by  the  way  of 
Newtown  and  Woodbury,  and  a  part  by  the  way  of  Middle- 
town,  Wallingford,  and  North  Stratford — to  unite,  July  sixth, 
with  the  American  Army,  to  the  left  of  Dobb's  Ferry,  on 
the  hills  reaching  to  the  Brunx  Kiver — there  to  receive  for 
the  "  unremitting  zeal  "  with  which  they  had  prosecuted  their 
march,  the  public  thanks  of  the  Commander-in-chief,  and 


1781.  CHAP.    XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  535 

his  own  grateful  acknowledgment  of  "the  long- wished  for 
junction,"  as  an  event  which  afforded  "  the  highest  degree 
of  pleasure  to  every  friend  of  his  country,"  and  from  which 
"  the  happiest  consequences  "  were  to  be  expected. 

During  the  whole  of  their  march  through  Connecticut, 
these  troops,  through  the  provident  care  of  Trumbull,  re 
ceived  every  attention  which  their  wants  required,  and  more 
over  were  warmly  welcomed  by  the  inhabitants  generally. 
Barrack-masters,  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  Council, 
waited  upon  them  at  every  important  station.  Some  of  these 
masters,  by  especial  direction  of  Trumbull,  accompanied 
them  on  their  march — as  did,  particularly,  Dr.  Joshua  Elder- 
kin  of  Windham,  with  great  satisfaction  to  Eochambeau,  all 
the  way  from  the  point  where  the  troops  first  touched  Con 
necticut  on  the  east  to  their  encampment  on  the  green  mead 
ows  at  Hartford.  Eefreshments  both  for  man  and  beast  were 
added,  at  frequent  intervals,  to  the  stores  which  they  brought 
along  with  them  from  Ehode  Island.  Eipe  fruit  from  many 
orchards  and  gardens  often  regaled  their  taste.  The  apple- 
presses  of  the  farmers  yielded  them  hearty  quaffs  of  cider — 
the  brown  jugs  and  oaken  casks  of  the  farmers'  wives,  fre 
quent  libations  of  excellent  home-brewed  beer. 

Were  their  slow  ox-teams,  as  once  or  twice  happened,  late 
in  bringing  to  their  encamping  ground  their  tents  and  bag 
gage — or  at  times,  when  wearied  with  a  long  day's  march  be 
neath  the  broiling  sun,  or  with  severe  labor  in  cutting  away 
trees,  or  removing  stones  for  the  passage  through  some  defile 
of  their  heavy  trains,  did  the  troops  court  repose?  Fresh 
horses  and  oxen  from  neighboring  farms,  freely  loaned,  hur 
ried  up  their  missing  equipage — while  many  a  comfortable 
bed  in  private  dwellings  was  hospitably  offered  to  those  offi 
cers — of  whom  there  were  many — who,  thoughtful  of  the 
spirits  of  their  companies,  encouragingly  marched  with 
them  on  foot,  sharing  with  them  in  all  hardships  by  the 
way — hardships,  we  are  well  assured,  such  as  by  the  whole 
army,  alike  men  and  officers,  were  "borne  patiently,  and 
with  perfect  good  humor." 

Or,  unwearied  by  the  exertions  of  the  day's  march,  and 
witched  with  the  beauty  of  damsels  whom  on  the  road  they 


536  CHAP.    XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

saw  either  pressing  around  their  tents  on  some  village  green, 
or  clustered  near  some  mansion  where  they  had  their  tempo 
rary  quarters — did  some  officers  of  the  strange  army — follow 
ing  the  impulse  of  natures  proverbially  and  irresistibly  gay — 
seek  to  wake  each  active  power  to  the  brisk  measures  of  the 
dance?  "Fair,  charming  Connecticut  girls,"  as  de  Warville 
describes  them  about  this  time — girls  "adorned  with  com 
plexions  "  whose  brilliancy  mocked  those  of  the  sunny 
South — who  were  "dressed  in  elegant  simplicity" — who 
were  safe  under  the  protection  of  their  own  conscious  inno 
cence,  and  of  high-toned  public  morals — who  were  "  so  com 
plaisant  and  so  good,"  as  the  French  traveller  expresses  him 
self* — tripped  with  them  "  the  light  fantastic  toe." 

"  The  Frenchman,  easy,  debonair,  and  brisk, 
Found  quick  his  lass,  his  fiddle,  and  his  frisk  " — 

while  many  a  hearty  Connecticut  lad,  of  strength  sinewy 
enough  to  handle  a  firelock — "  fired  with  martial  courage  " 
by  the  imposing  Gallic  display — volunteered  at  once  for  the 

*  De  Warville  travelled  through  the  United  States  in  1788,  and  the  following 
passages  taken  from  a  manuscript  translation  of  his  work,  by  Joel  Barlow,  which 
is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  fully  justify  the 
text  above,  and  will  be  found  interesting  to  our  Headers — the  fair  ones  particu 
larly. 

"  Newhaven  yields  not  to  Wethersfield  for  the  beauty  of  the  fair  sex.  At  their 
balls  during  the  winter  it  is  not  rare  to  see  a  hundred  charming  girls,  adorned 
with  those  brilliant  complexions  seldom  met  with  in  journeying  to  the  South, 
and  dressed  in  elegant  simplicity.  The  beauty  of  complexion  is  as  striking  in 
Connecticut  as  its  numerous  population.  You  will  not  go  into  a  tavern  without 
meeting  with  neatness,  decency,  and  dignity.  The  tables  are  served  by  a  young 
girl,  decent  and  pretty ;  by  an  amiable  mother,  whose  age  has  not  effaced  the 
agreeableness  of  her  features ;  by  men  who  have  that  air  of  dignity  which  the 
idea  of  equality  inspires,  and  who  are  not  ignoble  and  base,  like  the  greatest  part 
of  our  tavern  keepers. 

"  On  the  road  you  often  meet  those  fair  Connecticut  girls,  either  driving  a  car 
riage,  or  alone  on  horseback,  galloping  boldly,  with  an  elegant  hat  on  the  head,  a 
white  apron,  and  a  calico  gown — usages  which  prove  at  once  the  early  cultiva 
tion  of  their  reason,  since  they  are  trusted  so  young  by  themselves,  the  safety 
of  the  roads,  and  the  general  innocence  of  manners.  You  will  see  them  hazard 
ing  themselves  alone,  without  protectors,  in  the  public  stages — I  am  wrong  to  say 
hazarding  ;  who  can  offend  them  ?  They  are  here  under  the  protection  of  public 
morals,  and  of  their  own  innocence ;  it  is  the  consciousness  of  this  innocence 
which  makes  them  so  complaisant  and  so  good,  for  a  stranger  takes  them  by  the 
hand,  and  laughs  with  them,  and  they  are  not  offended  at  it." — Letter  V.,  %ih 
Aug.,  1788. 


1781.  CHAP.    XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  537 

wars — and,  his  steps  right  onward — erect  his  form  and  move 
ment — thinking  to  wear  the  plumed  helmet  with  a  grace — 
accompanied  the  regiments  of  Rochambeau  on  their  march 
to  the  grand  American  camp.* 

Conspicuous  in  the  French  Army,  as  we  have  already  had 
occasion  to  state,  was  the  Duke  de  Lauzun's  Legion  of  Hus 
sars,  which  now  for  seven  months  had  been  quartered  in 
Trumbull's  native  town — directly  beneath  his  own  provident 
eye,  and  in  the  enjoyment,  therefore,  of  comforts  such  as 
rarely  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  soldiers  of  the  day.  Their  con 
duct,  during  their  stay  in  Lebanon,  had  in  the  main  been 
very  exemplary.  Save  in  the  loss,  now  and  then,  of  a  few 
trees,  and  a  little  fallen  wood,  and  occasionally  of  a  sheep,  or 
a  goose,  which  some  of  their  number — more  careful  than  the 
rest  for  their  own  warmth  of  body,  and  more  disposed  to  the 
luxury  of  an  extra  ration — took  by  stealth  from  Dr.  Williams, 
and  from  a  few  other  inhabitants! — the  town  was  remark 
ably  free  from  those  depredations  in  which  troops  at  winter 
quarters  are  apt  to  indulge — for  Lauzun  himself  was  ever 
active  to  preserve  the  strictest  discipline  and  good  order  in 
his  corps. 

He  had  occasion,  however,  once  during  his  stay  in  Leb- 

*  Cothren,  in  his  History  of  Woodbury,  page  213,  speaking  of  the  French 
Army  in  that  town  on  their  journey  to  join  General  Washington,  says  their  en 
campment  there  "  extended  all  the  way  from  Middle  Quarter  to  White  Oak,  a  dis 
tance  of  nearly  three  miles."  That  part,  he  adds,  which  encamped  "  near  the 
house  then  occupied  by  David  Sherman,  and  since  by  the  late  Gideon  Sherman, 
eat  for  him,  with  his  consent,  twelve  bushels  of  apples,  as  is  related,  and  drank 
seven  or  eight  barrels  of  new  cider  at  his  mill.  During  the  evening  they  had  a 
dance,  in  which  some  of  the  Woodbury  damsels  joined  with  the  polite  French 
officers,  in  their  gay  uniforms,  while  others  looked  on.  Multitudes  of  the  inhab 
itants  pressed  about  the  tents  of  those  patriotic  foreigners,  who  had  come  so  far 
to  fight  the  battle  of  freedom  for  a  suffering  people,  and  destined  to  act  so  dis 
tinguished  a  part  in  bringing  the  long  and  bloody  contest  to  a  close.  *  *  Fired 
anew  with  martial  courage  by  the  fine  display  of  the  French  troops,  a  considera 
ble  number  of  soldiers  volunteered  on  the  spot,  and  marched  with  them  on  the 
following  morning."  An  illustration — these  facts — of  the  statements  in  the  text. 

t  A  letter,  March  13th,  1781,  from  Wm.  Williams  to  the  Duke  de  Lauzun,  com 
plains  that  some  of  his  Hussars  stole  "thirty  or  more  trees,"  besides  "fallen 
wood,"  from  Dr.  T.  Williams,  and  from  some  other  inhabitants  "  fences,  sheep, 
and  geese."  "One  sheep,"  says  the  letter,  "they  killed  yesterday,"  in  the  lot 
of  Dr.  Williams,  "  and  skinned  in  his  lot,  and  carried  away  the  meat."  Against 
such  maraudings  the  active  interposition  of  the  Duke  was  invoked— and  it  was 
readily  granted. 


538  CHAP.    XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

anon,  to  punish  one  of  his  soldiers  for  desertion.  This  pun 
ishment  was  that  sternest  one  known  to  military  law — death 
by  the  murderous  bullet.  It  is  a  striking  illustration  both  of 
Trumbull's  well-known  humanity,  and  of  his  influence,  that 
the  facts  in  this  case  were  sedulously  concealed  from  his 
knowledge,  until  all  was  over.  The  Court  Martial  which 
tried  the  deserter,  was  held  in  the  guard  room  after  nine 
o'clock  at  night,  and  the  poor  victim  was  executed  before  the 
morning  light — such  was  the  apprehension  that  the  Governor, 
if  aware  of  his  condemnation,  would  interfere  to  save  his  life. 

Lauzun  left  him,  with  his  Legion,  on  the  twenty-third  of 
June* — highly  gratified  with  the  never-failing  hospitality  he 
had  received  at  his  hands — and  looking  forward  with  hope 
to  some  propitious  moment  in  the  campaign  now  about  to 
open,  when  the  Hussars  who  at  Lebanon  had  so  long  been 
happy  guests,  might  win  laurels  that  would  allure  the  bless 
ing  of  the  venerable  patriot  of  the  "  Charter  Oak  State  " — 
a  moment  which  in  due  time  arrived,  when,  with  Sheldon's 
Regiment,  of  Connecticut  Dragoons — at  the  siege  and  sur 
render  of  Yorktown — Lauzun  triumphantly  restrained  the 
enemy,  and  guarded  the  important  passes  around  Gloucester 
Pointf 

The  provident  courtesy  with  which  Trumbull  treated — not 
only  Lauzun  and  his  Legion  at  Lebanon — but  the  officers  of 
the  French  Army  generally,  wherever  he  was  thrown  into 
their  society,  or  called  upon  to  supply  their  wants — and  his 
intelligence,  and  patriotism — left  an  indelible  impression  on 
their  minds.  They  carried  his  name  and  his  fame  back  with 
them  when  they  returned  to  Europe,  and  did  not  forget  long 
to  sound  his  praises.  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  is  re 
lated  by  his  son  Colonel  John  Trumbull — who,  late  as  1794, 
during  the  French  Revolution,  when  at  Mulhausen  on  the 

*  "  June  23d.  Duke  de  Lauzun  marched  early — went  to  Pine  Swamp — near 
Col.  Champion's." — TrumbuWs  Diary. 

t  The  career  of  this  distinguished  nobleman,  after  he  returned  to  Europe,  was 
stormy.  He  quarreled  with  the  French  Court — became  a  partisan  of  the  Duke 
of  Orleans — was  accused  of  favoring  the  Vendeans,  and  for  this  reason  was  con 
demned  and  executed  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1793.  Two  brothers  in  his 
corps  of  Hussars  at  Lebanon,  the  Dillons,  one  a  major,  the  other  a  captain,  and 
both  distinguished  for  their  fine  personal  appearance,  suffered  death  afterwards, 
it  is  said,  by  the  guillotine. 


1781.  CHAP.    XLIV. — TRUMBULL.  539 

Rhine,  found  this  village,  near  sunset,  full  of  French  troops, 
and  the  yard  and  entrance  of  its  inn  crowded  with  French 
officers.  Fearing  that  he  should  be  obliged  to  pass  the  night 
in  his  carriage,  outside  the  walls,  he  appealed  to  the  inn 
keeper  for  a  bed,  and  thus  describes  the  result : — 

"  '  I  am  afraid  that  will  be  impossible,'  replied  the  innkeeper.  *  Hos 
tilities  are  about  to  be  renewed ;  the  head  quarters  of  the  commanding 
general  are  established  at  my  house,  and  it  is  entirely  occupied  by  him 
and  his  suite;  but  come  with  me,  and  I  will  do  as  well  as  I  can.'  I  fol 
lowed  through  a  crowd  of  young  officers,  and  at  the  door  met  the  old 
general  coming  out.  The  veteran  looked  at  me  keenly,  and  asked  blunt 
ly — '  who  are  you — an  Englishman  ?  ' — '  No,  general,  I  am  an  American 
of  the  United  States.' — 'Ah!  do  you  know  Connecticut? ' — 'Yes,  Sir', 
it  is  my  native  State.' — 'You  know  then  the  good  governor  Trum- 
~bull  f ' — '  Yes,  general,  he  is  my  father.' — l  Oh,  Mon  Dieu,  Qite  je  suis 
charmee ;  I  am  delighted  to  see  a  son  of  Governor  Trumbull ;  entrez,  en- 
trez ;  you  shall  have  supper,  bed,  everything  in  the  house.'  I  soon 
learned  that  the  old  man  had  been  in  America,  an  officer  in  the  legion 
of  the  Duke  de  Lauzun,  who  had  been  quartered  in  my  native  village, 
during  the  winter  which  I  passed  in  the  prison  in  London,  and  had  heard 
me  much  spoken  of  there.  Of  course,  I  found  myself  in  excellent 
quarters.  The  old  general  kept  me  up  almost  all  night,  inquiring  of 
everybody,  and  everything  in  America,  especially  of  the  people  in  Leba 
non,  and  above  all  the  family  of  Huntington,  with  whom  he  had  been 
quartered." 


CHAPTER    XL  V. 
1781. 

TRUMBULL  spends  several  days,  with  his  Council,  at  Danbury.  Hints 
from  his  Diary  of  his  journey  and  occupation  there.  At  Hartford  he 
hears  of  Arnold's  memorable  attack  on  New  London.  This  attack.  He 
sends  for  careful  statements  of  all  its  material  circumstances.  His  let 
ter  communicating  the  event  to  Gen.  Washington.  He  at  once  restores 
the  defences  of  New  London — sends  thither  an  additional  force — writes 
for  a  part  of  the  French  fleet  to  be  stationed  there  for  the  winter — and 
communicates  with  G-ov.  Greene  of  Rhode  Island,  and  with  Washing 
ton  again,  for  the  purpose  of  putting  Connecticut,  and  the  Northern 
States  generally,  in  a  reliable  posture  of  defence. 

THE  main  American  and  French  armies — now  in  July  of 
the  year  on  which  we  dwell — have  effected  their  combination, 
and  lie  stretched  along  the  North  Kiver.  For  the  purpose  at 
this  time  of  being  near  the  Grand  Encampment,  at  the  event 
ful  opening  of  a  campaign  which  was  destined  to  be  the 
most  decisive  of  the  American  War — and  for  the  purpose 
also,  particularly,  of  consulting  more  conveniently  with  the 
officers  of  the  American  Line  in  regard  to  their  own  and  the 
comforts  of  their  troops — Trumbull  in  August  determined  to 
spend  several  days  with  his  Council  at  Danbury.  Previous 
to  his  departure,  however,  for  this  quarter,  he  collected  at 
Hartford  quite  a  sum  of  hard  money  for  the  soldiers.  He 
took  fresh  measures  to  expedite  its  farther  collection,  and  the 
collection  generally  of  State  taxes.  He  wrote  also  to  Dr. 
Franklin  at  Paris,  to  his  own  son,  and  other  correspondents 
at  Amsterdam,  urging  again  the  supply  of  means  from 
abroad.  Having  done  this,  he  started,  attended  by  his  body 
guard,  and  by  several  members  of  his  family,  for  the  western 
frontier. 

Of  his  journey,  of  a  dangerous  exposure  by  the  way,  and 
of  his  occupations  at  Danbury,  he  gives  us  some  hints  in  the 
following  passages  in  his  Diary : — 

"Thursday,  9th.     Set  out  for  Danbury — Mrs.  Trumbull  and  Faith 


1781.  CHAP.     XLV.— TKUMBULL.  541 

with  me.     Stepn  Brown  to  wait  on  us — Capt.  Norton,  with  Wild,  two 
Olm steads,  and  Goodwin,  Guards.    Lodged  at  Esqr  Hopkins  at  Waterbury. 

"Friday  10th.  Way  bad.  Dined  at  Col1  Mosely's,  Southbury.  Thence 
P.  M.  to  Col1  Chandlers — tarried  there.  The  Guards  at  Baldwins. 

"Saturday,  llth.  Came  to  Danbury.  Lodgings  provided  for  me 
at  Rev.  Dr.  Rodgers'.  Daughr  and  Grand  Daughr  lodge  at  Deac" 
Knaps — Mrs.  Ann  Dibble  there.  Went  to  Col1  Cooks.  Observed  the  ru 
ins  occasioned  by  Tryon's  incursion  there.  At  Newtown  one  said  he 
would  kill  me  as  quick  as  he  would  a  Battle  Snake. 

"DiesDom.,  12th.  Rev.  Dr.  Rodgers,  Gal.  4:  4  &  5.  Near  Even* 
Col1  Sheldon,  Col1  Trumbull,  Capt.  Watson,  came  from  Head  Quarters. 
Began  to  rain  at  evenff ,  and  continued  a  heavy  rain  in  the  night. 

"Monday,  13th.  Above  Gentle"  visit  at  the  Doctors.  Dined  at 
Deacn  Knaps.  Col1  Davenport  came  in. 

"Tuesday,  14th.     Fair — cool — Guards  set  at  night. 

"Wednesday,  Aug.  15th.  Fair  pleasant  weather.  Col1  Chandler,  Mr. 
Strong  came  in — no  council. 

"Thursday,  16th.     No  Council.     Col'  dined  at  Dr.  Rodgers'. 

"  Friday,  17th.  Capt.  Hillhouse  came — P.  M.  Council — orders  given, 
for  Gov"  Guards  &c.  Capt.  Cook  came  in. 

"Saturday,  18th.  A.  M.  Council.  Col1  Trumbull  returned.  Mr. 
Cook  went  with  Orders,  to  officers  of  Gov8  Guards,  Hartford. 

"Dies  Dom,  19th.  Dr.  Rodgers.  Ephe.  5  :  1,  2,  3.  On  duties  of 
Parents  to  Children,  and  of  Children  to  Parents.  P.  M.,  eodem  textu — 
subject  continued — reproof  to  Sunday  whispering.  In  the  evening  much 
rain — Countersign,  Hartford. 

"  Monday,  20th.  Mrs.  Trumbull  and  daughter  set  out  for  Fairfield — 
Brown  accompanied  them — to  go  to  Hartford.  No  quorum.  Col1  Cook, 
Col1  Chandler,  and  Capt.  Hillhouse,  present.  Judges  of  the  Superior 
Court  did  not  come  in  till  the  Evening.  Countersign,  Cambridge. 

"Tuesday,  21st.  Fair,  pleasant.  Judges  of  the  Superior  Court  came 
into  Danbury — held  a  Council. 

"  Wednesday,  22nd.  Held  Council.  Mr.  Hopkins  came  to  us — Col1 
St.  John,  Col1  Fitch,  Capt.  Job  Bartram. 

"Thursday,  23rd.  Morning  concluded  to  return.  P.  M.  3  o'clock, 
left  Dr.  Rodgers' — came  to  Col1  Mosely's  at  Southbury.  Gave  Mrs.  Rod 
gers  a  dollar  to  give  the  servant 

"  Friday,  24th.  Dined  at  Esqr  Hopkins — came  to  Farmington — lodged 
at  Capt  Cowles.  Called  on  Mr.  Robinson  on  my  Return. 

"  Saturday,  25th.  Set  out  at  8  o'clo. — came  into  Hartford  at  10  o'clock 
from  Farmington.  Ll  Bull  of  Gov»  Guards  and  Brown  came  with  me. 
Capt.  Jon1  h  Bull  met  us  on  the  way. — Capt  Norton  escorted  me  out  and 
back. 

*  *  *        %  *  *  * 

"  Thursday,  6th.      Council   intent   on   defence   of  N.    Lonn  &  Sea 

Coasts — orders  given  &c. 

46 


542  CHAP.    XLV. — TKUMBTJLL.  1781. 

"Friday,  7th.  At  sunrise  Mr.  Gay  came  express  from  Col1  Williams — 
That  N.  London  attacked  by  2000  men,  3  ships,  and  in  the  whole  30  sail. 
Mr.  Mumford  left  us.  M.  Gen.  Spencer  sent.  Orders  given  for  one 
Troop— Capt.  Selah  Norton  &c.,  &  Col1  Chapman  &  Terry  to  send  2  Co's 
each  &c.  Lodged  at  Wethersfield.  No  farther  intelligence. 

"Saturday,  8th.  Came  from  Wethersfield.  Col1  Rodgers'  letter  re 
ceived — the  enemy  withdrawn.  At  attack  of  Fort  Griswold,  Y3  killed — 
Col1  Ledyard  murdered,  and  other  Officers — 20  or  30  wounded — The  in 
famous  Arnold  commanded.  N.  Londn  burnt,  and  on  Groton  the  build 
ings  by  the  water.  Letters  from  Gen.  Spencer.  A  letter  wrote  to  Mr. 
Mumford — and  Gen.  Spencer.  A  letter  from  B.  Gen.  Ward — in  the 
Evens  from  M.  Gen.  Heath— point  from  N.  York.  The  French  Fleet  at 


Here  then — in  the  passages  last  given  from  his  Diary — we 
strike  the  first  intelligence  which  Trumbull  received  of  the 
memorable  attack  on  New  London  in  1781,  and  the  first 
movements  which,  in  consequence,  he  made.  He  was  in 
Hartford  at  the  time — only  a  few  days  returned  from  his  trip 
to  Danbury.  But  to  make  sure  that  the  news  should  reach 
him,  the  Commander  at  New  London,  early  in  the  morning 
of  the  fatal  sixth  of  September,  sent  expresses  also  to  Leb 
anon* — and  again  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day  the  Gov 
ernor  received  the  news  from  Colchester.  "  This  minute"- 
wrote  Levi  Wells  to  him,  from  this  last-mentioned  town — at 
just  "  six  o'clock,  P.  M." — "  I  am  informed  that  the  Enemy, 
with  five  hundred  Lighthorse,  are  two  and  a  half  miles  this 
side  of  New  London,  and  that  the  Town  is  in  flames — which 
is  plain  to  be  seen  here  ~by  Large  Quantities  of  Smoke.  The  cause 
of  our  Country  calls  aloud  for  all  Possible  Exertions  to  op 
pose  the  Enemy ! " 

Startling  news  indeed — and  from  a  quarter  which  proved 
to  be,  alas,  an  aceldama — one  of  the  most  horrible  of  the 
American  Eevolution !  New  London — in  whose  harbor  the 
navies  of  the  world  might  securely  ride — that  from  the  out 
break  of  the  war,  more  than  any  other  port  in  the  Union, 
had  been  menaced  with  destruction — and  which  more  con- 

*  The  Governor's  son-in-law,  upon  the  receipt  of  the  intelligence — Wm.  Wil 
liams — "rode  from  Lebanon  to  New  London  in  three  hours,  (twenty-three  miles,) 
on  horseback,"  says  Miss  Caulkins.  "  The  enemy  were  just  preparing  to  em 
bark  when  he  arrived." 


1781.  CHAP.    XLV. — TRUMBULL.  543 

stantly  than  any  other  had  strained  the  anxiety,  and  tasked 
the  care  of  the  Governor  of  Connecticut — now  met  the  fate 
so  long  dreaded  by  its  inhabitants,  and  by  the  country  at 
large. 

It  was  in  the  very  gray  of  the  morning  that  the  apostate 
Arnold,  from  his  lurking-place  on  the  Long  Island  shore — 
with  an  armament  of  thirty -two  sail  and  seventeen  hundred 
troops — appeared  off  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  prepared  for 
his  work  of  blood  and  fire.  His  debarkation  in  two  divis 
ions,  one  upon  the  New  London,  and  one  on  the  Groton 
side — the  advance  of  each  upon  a  people  wholly  unprepared 
for  so  formidable  an  invasion,  yet  in  little  groups,  half-armed, 
from  behind  fences  and  small  redoubts,  resisting  as  best  they 
could — the  flight  of  inhabitants,  of  women  and  children 
roused  suddenly  from  their  beds,  and  rushing,  with  such  val 
uables  as  they  could  snatch  up,  affrighted  to  the  woods — the 
imperilled  escape  of  shipping  up  the  Thames — the  torch  first 
lighted  at  the  printing  office  and  mill  of  the  town — applied 
next  to  the  Plumb  House,  and  to  every  species  of  combusti 
ble  property  on  "Winthrop's  Neck — and  then,  on  Main  Street, 
Water  Street,  Bank  Street,  and  the  Parade,  to  shops,  stores, 
warehouses,  and  dwellings,  to  the  Court  House  and  jail,  to 
the  Episcopal  Church,  to  the  Custom  House,  and  to  piles  of 
lumber,  wharves,  vessels,  boats,  and  rigging — these  transac 
tions  are  but  too  painfully  familiar  to  the  reader  of  History. 
They  made  the  noblest  harbor  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  the 
whole  surrounding  country,  lurid  with  conflagration.  One 
hundred  and  forty -three  buildings  were  consumed.  Haifa 
million  of  dollars'  worth  of  property  was  destroyed.  New 
London,  in  large  part,  was  left  a  desolation. 

And  so  too  at  the  same  time,  on  the  opposite  shore,  Gro 
ton  was  left — but  in  desolation  of  far  more  fearful  aspect  than 
that  which  its  neighbor  wore — for  human  life  here  was  the 
chief  sacrifice.  Who,  in  this  connection,  does  not  at  once 
recall  the  furious  advance  of  Major  Montgomery  upon  that 
immortal  band  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  farmers  and  artisans, 
who,  sending  to  the  British  summons  the  reply  that  they 
would  not  surrender,  let  the  consequences  be  what  they 
might,  defended  Fort  Griswold  ?  Who  does  not  recall  that 


544  CHAP.    XLV. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

final  overpowering  of  the  garrison,  when  the  enemy,  swing 
ing  their  caps,  and  yelling  like  madmen,  rushed  within  the 
fort — that  ceaseless  bayoneting  of  the  defenceless  bodies  of 
the  brave  American  yeomen,  as  they  retreated  for  shelter  to 
the  magazine  and  barrack-rooms,  or  crept  beneath  the  para 
pets,  or  attempted  to  leap  the  walls — that  ferocious,  dastard 
plunging  of  the  surrendered  sword  through  the  body  of  the 
heroic,  fallen  Ledyard — that  murderous  rolling  of  the  wound 
ed  in  an  ammunition  wagon  which  was  sent  headlong  to  dash 
upon  a  tree  at  the  brink  of  the  river — and  that  plundering 
and  burning  of  Groton  which  then  ensued,  while  a  ship  on 
fire,  floating  over  from  the  New  London  side,  bridged  the  two 
towns  with  a  mass  of  flame !  Who  does  not  recall  that  rush 
of  citizens  now  from  the  surrounding  country  to  the  scene 
of  danger,  armed  with  whatever  they  could  seize,  "  from  a 
club  and  pitchfork  to  a  musket  and  spontoon  " — that  hurried 
embarkation  then,  at  sunset,  of  the  foe,  while  blood,  the 
blood  of  those  they  had  foully  slain,  aided  to  quench  that 
train,  which,  for  the  purpose  of  signalizing  their  departure 
by  a  grand  explosion,  they  had  lighted  to  the  magazine  of 
the  fort — and  then  at  last,  that  wailing,  torch-light  march,  by 
widows  and  orphans,  within  the  garrison,  for  the  dead  of 
their  families — who  does  not  recall  all  these  terrible  features 
of  the  GROTON  MASSACRE  ! 

Immediately  on  hearing  of  the  event  Governor  Trumbull 
sent  to  New  London  for  a  careful,  duly  authenticated  state 
ment  of  all  its  material  circumstances,  in  order  that  he  might 
adopt  measures  suited  in  every  respect  to  the  emergency.* 

While  thus  taking  measures  to  procure  full  and  accurate 
information  of  the  attack,  Trumbull  hastened  to  communi- 

*"  Having,"  he  wrote,  September  eighth,  to  Thomas  Mumford,  who  was  on 
the  spot — "having  this  morning  received  by  express  from  Col.  Rogers  a  general 
narrative  of  the  proceedings  of  the  enemy  in  their  late  wanton  and  barbarous 
attack  upon  N.  London  and  Groton,  and  of  the  unhappy  fate  of  that  gallant  offi 
cer  Col.  Ledyard,  and  other  brave  men  who  fell  a  sacrifice  to  more  than  savage 
cruelty  after  their  surrender  to  a  superior  force,  as  you  are  upon  the  ground  where 
the  tragical  scene  happened,  I  desire  you  will  carefully  collect  and  state  those 
transactions  and  all  material  circumstances,  more  especially  respecting  the  treat 
ment  of  Col.  Ledyard  and  of  the  unfortunate  garrison,  and  procure  the  same  to 
be  properly  authenticated,  and  forwarded  to  me  for  such  improvement  as  may 
hereafter  be  thought  proper." 


1781.  CHAP.     XLV. — TEUMBULL.  545 

cate  what  he  had  already  received  to  General  "Washington  at 
Head  Quarters — as  the  following  letter,  bearing  date  at  Hart 
ford,  September  fifteenth,  shows : — 

"Your  letter  of  the  21st  ultimo,"  he  proceeds — "arrived  on  the  5th  in 
stant,  whereupon  my  Council  being  convened,  amidst  various  accounts 
of  the  movements  and  designs  of  the  enemy  in  New  York,  and  some  ap 
prehensions  of  their  hostile  attack  upon  or  invasion  of  this  State,  every 
exertion  was  made  and  making  for  its  defence,  by  ordering  the  militia  to 
be  reviewed,  and  detachments  to  be  sent  to  the  sea-coasts,  and  valuable 
effects  there  deposited  to  be  removed  to  interior  parts,  &c. 

"But  unfortunately  before  these  preparations  could  be  completed, 
namely,  on  the  6th  instant,  a  party  under  the  command  of  the  infamous 
Arnold,  made  wanton  destruction  both  of  lives  and  property  in  New 
London  and  Groton  near  the  harbour.  Though  many  material  circum 
stances,  relative  to  the  tragical  scene,  are  not  yet  obtainable  with  such  a 
degree  of  precision  and  certainty  as  might  be  wished,  yet,  according  to 
the  best  intelligence  I  have  been  able  to  collect,  it  seems  a  number  ex 
ceeding  one  and  perhaps  twro  thousand,  chiefly  of  chosen  British  and 
foreign  troops,  landed  in  the  morning  on  both  sides  of  the  harbour's 
mouth,  whereof  one  division  immediately  marched  up  to,  and  soon  took 
possession  of  the  town  and  fortifications  of  New  London,  which  were 
evacuated  on  their  approach,  as  being  indefensible,  whilst,  on  the  oppo 
site  shore,  the  fort  on  Groton  bank,  being  attacked  by  six  or  eight  hund 
red  men,  was  nobly  defended  for  a  considerable  time  by  about  one  hund 
red  and  fifty  men,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  William 
Ledyard,  who  bravely  repulsed  the  assailants  until  they  suffered  about 
one-fourth  part  in  killed  and  wounded.  But,  being  overpowered  by  su 
perior  numbers,  Colonel  Ledyard,  perceiving  the  enemy  had  gained  pos 
session  of  some  part  of  the  fort,  and  opened  the  gate,  although  he  had 
only  three  of  his  men  killed,  thought  proper  to  surrender  himself  with 
the  garrison  prisoners,  and  accordingly  presented  his  sword  to  a  British 
officer  on  the  parade,  who  received  the  same,  and  immediately  thrust  it 
through  that  brave  but  unfortunate  Commander ;  whereupon  the  soldiery 
also  pierced  his  body  in  many  places  with  bayonets,  and  proceeded  to 
massacre  upwards  of  seventy  of  the  officers  and  garrison,  till,  by  the  in 
terposition  of  a  British  officer,  who  entered  the  fort  too  late  to  rescue  the 
gallant  officers,  &c.,  about  forty  of  the  defenceless  survivors  were  made 
prisoners,  and  carried  off,  exclusive  of  about  the  like  number  who  were 
wounded,  and  many  of  them  dangerously. 

"  This  heroic  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  garrison,  however,  together 
with  the  increasing  appearance  of  the  militia,  and  small  skirmishes  be 
tween  some  scattering  parties  and  advanced  guards,  prevented  the  enemy 
from  fully  executing  their  savage  plan,  and  occasioned  them  to  retreat  on 
board  in  the  evening  with  precipitation,  after  having  knocked  off  the 
46* 


546  CHAP.    XLV. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

trunnions  of  seven  guns,  and  consumed  by  fire  about  seventy-one  dwell 
ing  houses,  sixty-five  stores,  twenty-two  barns,  a  church,  court-house, 
and  jail,  together  with  a  number  of  vessels,  lying  unrigged,  by  the 
wharves.  The  rest  of  the  shipping  in  the  harbour  was  saved  by  running 
up  Norwich  River,  and  several  valuable  buildings,  on  each  shore,  pre 
served  by  quenching  the  flames. 

"  The  loss  of  property  by  the  conflagration  was,  however,  very  great, 
and  ruinous  to  many  individuals,  as  also  a  sensible  damage  to  the  public. 
Yet,  what  is  more  to  be  regretted,  is  the  unhappy  fate  of  that  worthy 
officer,  Colonel  Ledyard,  and  those  brave  men  (many  of  whom  sustained 
respectable  characters,  and  were  esteemed  the  flower  of  that  town,)  who 
so  gallantly  fought  and  unfortunately  fell  with  him,  victims  to  British 
cruelty.  I  have  given  directions  for  procuring  authenticated  information 
of  those  transactions,  as  soon  as  the  situation  of  the  wounded  and  pris 
oners  (some  of  whom  are  parolled,)  will  admit ;  which  will  be  forwarded 
as  soon  as  obtained. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  every  sentiment  of  esteem  and  con 
sideration,  your  Excellency's  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

Not  a  moment  was  lost  by  Trumbull  in  restoring  to  a 
proper  state  of  defence  that  quarter  of  Connecticut  whose  de 
vastation,  in  this  letter  to  Washington,  he  so  feelingly  de 
scribes.  To  the  three  companies  which  he  sent  to  New  Lon 
don  instantly  on  hearing  of  the  attack,  he  added  five  hund 
red  men  more,  and  reordered  the  militia  of  the  neighbor 
hood  to  hold  themselves  constantly  ready  to  serve.  He  pro 
ceeded  to  repair  the  injury  done  to  the  fortifications  in  the 
harbor.  He  sent  to  General  Washington,  and  procured  seven 
hundred  excellent  French  arms  for  use  in  case  of  any  new 
alarm — and  warmly  urged  that  a  part  of  the  French  naval 
force  should  be  stationed  for  the  winter  in  the  port  of  New 
London — to  aid  in  its  security — to  protect  the  adjacent  coasts 
against  armed  vessels  of  the  enemy — and  to  convey  some 
supplies  of  fresh  beef  which  he  was  then  about  to  send  to 
the  General  of  Martinico,  for  the  use  of  the  garrisons  and 
hospitals  upon  that  island. 

"  While  the  spirits  of  the  people  are  agitated  and  exas 
perated,"  he  wrote  to  Mumford  at  this  time — "will  not  the 
Commanders  of  the  three  brigantines,  and  other  vessels  in 
port  at  New  London,  attempt  enterprises  against  the  enemy?  " 

To  Governor  Greene,  of  Khode  Island,  he  wrote,  urging 


1781.  CHAP.    XLV.— TRUMBULL.  547 

active  cooperation  in  schemes  for  defending  the  Northern 
States,  now  that,  by  the  march  of  General  "Washington  to 
the  southward,  these  States  were  peculiarly  exposed  to  inva 
sion  by  the  enemy. 

"As  we  cannot,  I  think,  suppose  that  they  will  be  idle  in  New  York," 
he  said,  "  while  the  General  is  carrying  on  operations  of  such  vast  im 
portance  in  Virginia,  your  Excellency  will  therefore,  I  think,  be  with  ine 
in  opinion  that  we  ought  not  only  to  exert  every  nerve  to  furnish  for  the 
general  defence  all  the  regular  and  militia  aid  required,  with  the  great 
est  possible  dispatch,  but  that  these  Northern  States  ought  to  afford  all 
the  mutual  aid  to  each  other  which  shall  be  in  their  power,  in  case  any 
of  them  are  attacked.  You  may,  Sir,  in  such  circumstances,  expect  the 
friendly  aid  of  this  State,  and  I  doubt  not  but  that  it  will  be  reciprocal, 
if  it  shall  be  necessary — for  which  purpose  I  have  conversed  with  my 
Council  of  Safety,  and  am  taking  the  necessary  measures  for  putting  this 
State  into  a  posture  of  defence." 

"Your  Excellency,"  he  wrote  to  General  Washington  again,  from  Leba 
non,  November  sixth — "has  been  made  acquainted  with  the  destruction 
lately  committed  upon  New  London  and  Groton,  by  a  considerable  force 
of  the  enemy  under  the  infamous  traitor,  whose  name  and  memory 
should  rot.  A  force  much  more  considerable  has  been  kept  there  since. 
They  have  done  much  to  repair  the  injury  done  to  the  fortifications;  and 
particularly  that  on  Groton  side,  which  entirely  commands  the  town  and 
harbour,  is  already  in  much  better  condition  than  before,  and  the  work 
is  still  going  on.  And,  as  I  take  it  for  granted  that  part  of  the  naval 
force  of  his  most  Christian  Majesty  will  remain  on  the  station  dur 
ing  the  winter,  I  would  take  leave  to  offer  to  the  consideration  of  your 
Excellency,  that  they  may  be  stationed  at  the  port  of  New  London, 
which  I  conceive  would  be  attended  with  advantages  superior,  with  re 
spect  to  themselves  and  the  country,  to  any  place  they  could  choose. 
The  harbour  is  very  sufficient  to  contain  any  number  and  size  of  ships ; 
is  peculiarly  safe  from  the  injuries  of  winds  or  storms.  Its  immediate 
connection  with  the  main  renders  it  accessible  by  the  militia  in  case  of 
need ;  and,  adjoining  to  a  country,  through  the  favor  of  Providence,  at 
present  abounding  with  every  kind  of  provision  they  can  want,  will 
render  their  supplies  much  more  easy  and  safe  than  at  the  Island  where 
they  last  wintered,  and  where  they  received  great  part  of  their  supplies 
by  water  from  New  London,  exposed  to  loss  and  capture,  and  which  act 
ually  did,  and  must  always,  happen  in  some  instances. 

"  I  have  very  lately  received  a  pressing  request  from  his  Excellency, 
the  General  of  Martinico,  for  large  supplies  of  fresh  beef  from  this  State, 
for  the  use  of  the  garrisons  and  hospitals  there.  I  purpose  to  permit  and 
encourage  private  adventurers  to  furnish  it,  which  must  be  shipped  from 
that  port.  The  lying  of  a  fleet  there  would  greatly  secure  and  protect 


548  CHAP.     XLV.— TRUMBULL.  1781. 

the  coasts,  for  a  considerable  distance,  against  the  armed  vessels  of  the 
enemy,  who  will  doubtless  get  knowledge  of  the  design,  and  be  engaged 
to  intercept  vessels  with  such  cargoes.  And,  for  their  more  effectual 
protection,  I  must  also  request  a  convoy  of  a  frigate,  armed  sloop,  or 
something  adequate  for  any  number  of  vessels  which  may  be  ready  to 
sail,  and  ask  your  Excellency's  direction  in  that  respect  also ;  and  on  the 
assurance  of  which,  I  doubt  not,  a  full  and  speedy  supply  might  and 
would  be  afforded  ;  and  without  it  I  fear  it  will  fall  short. 

"  Permit  me  to  add,  in  favor  of  the  town  which  has  so  severely  suf 
fered,  that  a  fleet  stationed  there  would  also  afford  relief  and  help  to 
many  of  the  distressed  inhabitants,  who  have  lost  their  all;  and  would 
be  a  protection  to  as  much  property,  taken  from  the  enemy,  as  perhaps  is 
brought  into  any  port  standing  in  need  of  such  protection. 

"  On  the  whole  I  submit  these,  and  other  reasons  which  will  readily 
occur  to  your  Excellency's  wisdom  and  candor." 

Washington,  in  response  to  this  letter,*  assured  Trumbull 
that  he  should  be  happy  to  promote  his  scheme  of  stationing 
some  of  the  allied  ships  at  New  London,  if  circumstances 
would  have  permitted — but  that  Admiral  De  Grasse  had 
taken  almost  all  his  vessels  of  war  with  him,  and  "except  a 
frigate  or  two  left  in  York  Eiver,  for  the  security  and  aid  of 
the  French  troops,"  not  a  ship  of  force  was  left  upon  the 
American  station.  The  provident  plan  of  Trumbull,  there 
fore,  for  the  protection  of  the  New  England  coast,  could  not 
be  carried  into  effect. 

*  From  Philadelphia,  November  28. 


CHAPTER    XLVI. 
1781. 

FORAYS  upon  Connecticut.  Hostile  ships  in  the  Sound.  Trum/bull's  con 
tinued  vigilance.  An  attack  upon  tories  at  Lloyd's  Neck — and  upon 
other  points  of  Long  Island.  Loss  of  the  frigate  Trum"bull — and  of  the 
Confederacy.  Another  crisis  of  want  among  the  troops  on  the  North 
River — and  relief  afforded  "by  Trumbull.  He  hears  of  the  triumph  at 
Yorktown.  The  joy  it  gives  him.  His  letter  to  Washington  on  the 
victory.  Extract  from  Washington's  reply.  Trumhull,  however,  still 
continues  his  preparations  for  another  campaign.  He  proclaims  a 
Thanksgiving. 

ON  the  last  day  of  August  the  enemy  made  a  marauding 
expedition  to  Newhaven,  West  Side — and  carried  off  sixteen 
prisoners,  besides  a  number  of  cattle  and  Horses.  In  July,  a 
gang  of  refugees  came  over  from  Lloyd's  Neck  in  seven 
boats,  and  surprised  and  captured,  at  Darien,  the  Eeverend 
Moses  Mather,  together  with  forty  of  his  congregation,  while 
they  were  in  the  very  act  of  worshiping  within  the  Meet 
ing  House.*  But  save  these  attacks,  and  the  memorable  one 

*"  They  took  also  about  forty  horses  belonging  to  the  congregation,"  says 
Barber — "mounted  them,  and  marched  their  prisoners  to  the  shore,  and  thence 
conveyed  them  to  Lloyd's  Neck  on  Long  Island.  From  this  place  they  were 
soon  after  conveyed  to  New  York,  and  confined  in  prison.  Some  of  them  never 
returned ;  these  probably  perished  in  prison ;  others  were  parolled,  and  some  re 
turned  after  having  suffered  severely  by  the  small  pox."  In  prison  they  were 
treated  most  severely.  Dr.  Mather,  particularly,  was  insulted  almost  daily  by 
the  Provost  Marshal,  that  execrated  Cunningham,  who  "took  a  particular  satis 
faction  in  announcing  to  him,  from  time  to  time,  that  on  that  day,  the  morrow, 
or  some  other  period  at  a  little  distance,  he  was  to  be  executed."  The  mother 
of  Washington  Irving  is  said  to  have  kindly  ministered  to  his  wants  while  he 
was  in  prison.  "Full  forty  of  us  were  confined" — writes  Peter  St.  John,  one  of 
the  prisoners,  who  has  given  us  a  poetic  version  of  the  affair : — 

"So  cruelly  they  were  inclined, 

In  a  small  room,  six  days  complete, 

With  very  little  food  to  eat, 

Full  eighteen  days,  or  something  more, 

We  fairly  were  exchanged,  before 

Of  the  exchange  they  let  us  know, 

Or  from  that  place  of  bondage  go, 

That  of  the  number  twenty -five 

But  just  nineteen  were  left  alive, 

Four  days  before  December's  gone, 

In  seventeen  hundred  eighty-one." 


550  CHAP.    XLVI. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

on  New  London  already  described,  Connecticut  remained 
quite  free  from  hostile  ravages  during  the  present  year. 
Trumbull,  however,  kept  up  carefully  its  defence.  Besides 
strengthening  the  New  London  quarter,  after  the  assault  there, 
he  also  again  strengthened  the  western  frontier — sending 
General  Parsons  there  to  take  command,  with  directions  to 
call  out  the  militia  of  the  second,  fourth,  and  fifth  brigades, 
or  such  part  thereof  as  he  should  judge  necessary,  and  em 
ploy  them  both  to  repel  invasion,  and  for  enterprises  against 
the  enemy  either  by  sea  or  land. 

Though,  in  the  first  part  of  the  year,  the  British  squadron, 
which  was  employed  in  blockading  the  French  fleet  at  New 
port,  lay  near  Connecticut — one  ship  of  ninety  guns,  four  of 
seventy -four,  three  of  sixty -four,  one  of  fifty,  and  two  or 
three  frigates,  anchored  along  in  a  formidable  line  between 
Gardiner's  Island  and  Plum  Island — yet  this  squadron  ven 
tured  upon  no  enterprises  against  the  Connecticut  Main. 
Trumbull,  in  February,  had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing  that 
one  of  the  ships  composing  it — the  Culloden,  a  seventy- 
four — was  driven  by  a  violent  storm  on  a  reef  near  Gardi 
ner's  Island,  and  lost — and  at  the  same  time  that  another  sev 
enty-four — the  Bedford — her  masts  having  been  carried 
away,  and  her  whole  upper  tier  of  guns  thrown  overboard — 
floated  almost  a  wreck  off  New  London. 

He  was  not  the  man,  of  course,  to  have  mourned  had  the 
whole  armament  been  swamped.  As  usual,  however,  he 
kept  close  watch  upon  its  movements — and  the  armed  vessels 
of  the  State,  by  his  orders,  continued  busy  cruising — busy 
in  checking  illegal  trade,  and  all  unlawful  correspondence 
with  the  enemy.  As  usual,  he  commissioned  privateers,  and 
some  whaleboats* — and  had  the  pleasure,  during  the  year, 

*  "  1781.  Jan'y  25th.  A  \vhaleboat  Commission,  &c.,  d<*'  Capt.  Joshua  Grif 
fiths. 

"Feb.  26th.  Commissions  granted  for  schooner  Weasel,  and  Capt.  Hale's 
Whale  Boats,  to  cruise  ags1  the  Enemy  and  Illicit  trade,  under  direction  of  Capt. 
Wm.  Ledyard. 

"  March  24th.    Granted  liberty  of  Commission  for  Whale  Boat  to  Abner  Ely. 

"  April  4th.  Common  Commission  for  Whale  Boat — given  John  Waterman — 
sent  by  Mr.  Torrey— p'd  £3. 

"May  10th.    Gave  commission  to  Capt.  Elisha  Hart — sloop  Kestoration — 10 


1781.  CHAP.    XLVI. — TRUMBULL.  551 

of  finding  quite  a  number  of  valuable  prizes  brought  into 
New  London — particularly,  among  others,  about  September, 
two  large  victualing  ships,  taken  by  the  Young  Cromwell— 
and  the  Hannah,  an  exceedingly  rich  merchant  ship  from 
London  bound  to  New  York,  which  was  captured  a  little 
south  of  Long  Island  by  Captain  Dudley  Saltonstall  of  the 
Minerva  privateer.  It  was  the  loss  of  this  ship,  which, 
"  more  than  any  other  single  circumstance  exasperating  the 
British,  is  thought  to  have  led  to  the  expedition  against  New 
London." 

In  June,  the  Governor  planned  an  attack  upon  the  tories  on 
Lloyd's  Neck — a  scheme  which,  in  April,  Major  Tallmadge,  of 
Connecticut,  had  contemplated,  but  had  not  been  able  to  accom 
plish.  For  this  purpose  he  wrote,  by  the  Duke  de  Lauzun,  to 
Count  de  Barras,  the  Admiral  of  the  French  fleet,  soliciting 
the  use  of  some  armed  frigates — which,  aided  by  a  force  from 
Connecticut,  were  to  make  the  attack.*  The  frigates  were 
sent,  together  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  land  troops.  They 
were  joined  by  several  boats  from  Fairfield  with  American 
volunteers  and  pilots — and  the  attack  was  made — but,  from 
ignorance,  on  the  part  of  those  engaged,  of  the  true  point  to 
be  assailed,  and  the  want  of  cannon,  it  was  unsuccessful. 
Fort  Franklin,  which  was  supposed  to  be  without  any  heavy 
guns,  in  fact  had  them,  and  with  its  grape  shot  from  two 
twelve  pounders,  compelled  the  French  to  retire. 

A  descent  also  on  Long  Island,  in  May,  by  several  whale- 
boats  from  Horseneck,  was  likewise  unsuccessful.  It  was 
intercepted  by  the  British,  and  thirty-nine  of  the  party  were 
made  prisoners.  So,  unsuccessful  also,  was  another  descent 
upon  the  same  island,  in  September,  by  Captain  Hart  of  the 
sloop  Eestoration.  Driven  on  shore  on  a  point  of  land  near 
Hempstead  by  a  hostile  frigate,  and  there  attacked  by  five 
companies  of  soldiers,  he  was  compelled  to  come  to  terms, 
after  a  brave  defence,  and  return  home  parolled.  To  the 
losses  now  stated,  is  to  be  added,  this  year,  that  also  of  the 
beautiful  frigate  named  after  the  Governor  himself,  whose 

* "  June  6th.  "Wednesday,  12  o'clock,  Duke  de  Lauzun  at  my  lodgings  [at 
Hartford.]  Wrote  by  him  to  La  Cornpte  de  Barras  de  sends  a  frigate  to  Lloyd's 
Neck."— TrumbuWs  Diary. 


552  CHAP.    XLVI. — TKUMBULL.  1781. 

construction,  at  Chatham  on  the  Connecticut  Kiver,  it  will  be 
remembered,  he  had  with  peculiar  interest  superintended. 
The  Trumbull — after  having  been  placed  by  Congress  under 
the  direction  of  the  United  States  Superintendent  of  Fi 
nance — Mr.  Morris — for  such  service  as  he  might  judge  neces 
sary — August  eleventh  was  "carried  into  New  York  by  one 
of  the  King's  ships  " — on  the  very  same  day  that  three  thou 
sand  of  the  King's  mercenary  German  troops  arrived  in  that 
city.* 

But  the  disappointments  upon  Long  Island  were  more  than 
compensated  by  numerous  successful  descents  upon  that  quar 
ter.  There  was  one  in  November,  for  example,  by  Lieuten 
ant  Hull,  who  boarded  nine  vessels  which  lay  in  Musquito 
Cove,  near  Hempstead,  and  made  prisoners  of  sixteen  men. 
There  was  another  in  December,  when  some  Connecticut 
whaleboats  seized  some  valuable  craft  in  Oyster  Bay,  and 
running  a  vessel  of  the  enemy  on  shore  at  Oak  Neck,  set  her 
on  fire.  There  were  many  made  at  different  times  by  Cap 
tain  John  Fitch,  who,  in  June,  was  specially  commissioned  by 
the  Governor  to  go  over  to  Long  Island,  and  "  break  up  the 
barbarous  tory  nests  there." 

*  Off  the  capes  of  the  Delaware — "in  the  midst  of  rain  and  squalls,  in  a  tem 
pestuous  night,  with  most  of  the  forward  hamper  of  the  ship  over  her  bows,  or 
lying  in  the  forecastle,  with  one  of  the  arms  of  the  foretopsail  yard  run  through 
her  foresail,  and  the  other  jammed  on  deck,  and  with  a  disorganized  crew,"  her 
commander,  Capt.  Nicholson,  was  compelled  to  strike  to  two  British  cruisers  of 
superior  force — the  Iris,  and  the  General  Monk.  In  this  action,  remarks  Cooper 
in  his  Naval  History — "  none  but  a  man  of  the  highest  notions  of  military  honor 
would  have  thought  resistance  necessary.  To  say  nothing  of  the  ship,  the  Iris 
[Hancock,]  was  one  of  the  largest  ships  built  by  the  Americans  in  the  Revolu 
tion,  and  the  Trumbull  was  one  of  the  smallest.  The  Monk  was  a  heavy  sloop- 
of-war  for  that  day."  The  Iris,  when  known  as  the  United  States  ship  Hancock, 
had  been  captured  by  Sir  George  Collier  in  the  Eainbow  of  forty-four  guns.  In 
the  end  she  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French  in  the  West  Indies.  The  Monk, 
formerly  the  American  privateer  General  Washington,  having  fallen  into  the 
power  of  General  Arbuthnot,  had  been  taken  into  the  King's  service.  It  is  a 
pleasing  fact  that  the  Monk  was  recaptured,  and  restored  to  the  American  Ma 
rine.  Capt.  Barney,  in  a  brilliant  action  at  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware,  retook 
her. 

Trumbull  had  also  to  regret,  in  1781,  the  loss  of  another  ship  belonging  to  the 
Continental  Marine.  It  was  the  Confederacy,  whose  construction  at  Norwich, 
Conn.,  he  had  himself  overlooked.  While  on  her  return  from  Cape  Francois,  in 
June,  with  clothing,  and  other  supplies  on  board,  and  a  convoy  in  charge,  she 
was  compelled  to  strike  to  a  superior  force  of  the  enemy,  consisting  of  a  large 
ship  and  frigate. 


1781.  CHAP.    XLVI. — TKUMBULL.  553 

The  interval  from  the  attack  of  New  London  down  nearly 
to  the  close  of  October,  was  passed  by  Trumbull  in  sessions 
with  his  Council,  or  with  the  General  Assembly — and,  so  far 
as  the  war  is  concerned,  in  providing  supplies  for  the  army. 
One  more  crisis  of  want  occurred  about  this  time,  which,  as 
usual,  called  for  his  special  exertions,  and  was  promptly  met. 
It  was  upon  the  North  Eiver.  They  had  not  cattle  enough 
there,  General  Heath  wrote  him,  to  serve  the  troops  more 
than  two  days — and  one  of  the  large  contractors  for  that 
quarter — Mr.  Phelps — on  account  of  an  alarm  at  the  North 
ward,  was  unable  to  furnish  the  troops  on  the  Hudson  with 
his  customary  number.  "  Upon  a  punctual  supply  of  beef 
cattle,"  urged  Governor  Trumbull  immediately  in  a  Message 
to  the  Legislature — "  not  only  the  army  on  the  North  River, 
but  that  under  the  immediate  command  of  General  Washing 
ton,  to  whom  General  Heath  forwards  one  hundred  head  per 
week,  depends."  The  four  pence  tax  for  providing  live  cat 
tle,  he  informed  them,  was  now  nearly  exhausted,  and  it 
would  be  necessary  to  provide  them  on  a  two  and  sixpenny 
tax  which  had  been  laid  for  furnishing  barrelled  beef.  The 
matter  should  be  taken  into  consideration,  he  said,  "soon 
as  possible."  The  cattle  should  be  "most  punctually  sent 
on."  And  so  they  were,  under  the  stimulus  thus  given  to 
effort. 

On  the  very  day  on  which  this  Message  was  sent  to  the 
General  Assembly — in  a  coincidence  that  is  somewhat  re 
markable — in  a  contrast  between  past  and  present  army  sup 
port,  and  that  which  would  be  required  in  the  future,  which 
was  most  heart-cheering — on  this  day — October  nineteenth — 
Lord  Cornwallis — his  works  in  every  quarter  sunken  under 
the  fire  of  the  besiegers — the  guns  of  his  batteries,  nearly 
every  one,  silenced — his  shells  expended — the  second  parallel 
of  the  assailants  about  to  open  again,  from  an  immense  artil 
lery,  a  resistless  weight  of  fire — in  this  situation — his  catas 
trophe  inevitable — Cornwallis  "  submitted  to  a  necessity  no 
longer  to  be  avoided,  and  surrendered  the  posts  of  Yorktown 
and  Gloucester  Point,  with  the  garrisons  which  had  defended 
them,  and  the  shipping  in  the  harbor  with  their  seamen,  to 

the  land  and  naval  officers  of  America  and  France." 
47 


554  CHAP.    XLVI. — TRUMBULL.  1781. 

"Friday,  October  26th,"  entered  Trumbull  in  his  Diary,  commemora 
ting  his  first  reception  of  the  news — "  about  T  o'clo.  in  the  even*  recd 
the  hand  Bill  from  D.  Govr  Bower,  of  the  surrender  of  Ld  Cornwallis  & 
his  Army — 9000  men,  seamen  included — quantity  of  Warlike  Stores — 
one  40  gun  ship — 1  frigate — about  100  Transports.  Praised  be  the 
Lord  of  Hosts ! 

"  Saturday,  27th,"  he  adds — "  sent  Torrey*  to  Hartford  with  the  news. 

"Monday,  29th,"  he  continues — "the  surrender  of  Ld  Cornwallis  17th 
or  18th  instant  confirmed. 

"Wednesday,  31st,"  he  concludes — "night  follow^  came  Letters  with 
the  Articles  of  Capitulation  with  Ld  Cornwallis." 

With  what  unbounded  satisfaction — with  what  patriotic 
exultation — must  Trumbull  have  received  this  glorious  news ! 
"  Praised  be  the  Lord  of  Hosts  " — he  exclaimed,  in  a  thanks 
giving  to  God  that  was  doubtless  spontaneous,  exuberant,  and 
profound. 

His  son,  Colonel  Jonathan — who  was  then  at  Yorktown, 
as  private  Secretary  to  General  Washington-)- — wrote  him  at 
once  confirming  the  accounts,  and  describing  fully  the  con 
cluding  scenes  of  this  eventful  siege.  He  told  him,  particu 
larly,  of  the  completion,  with  indefatigable  toil — in  the  face 
of  a  tremendous  fire  from  the  beleaguered  garrison — through 
embrasures  which  the  enemy  constantly  opened  out — of  the 
famous  Second  Parallel.  He  told  him  of  that  impetuous, 
irresistible  rush  of  parties  under  Baron  Yiomenil  and  Colo 
nel  Hamilton,  upon  the  two  British  redoubts  which  flanked 
this  parallel — of  the  noble  refusal  by  Hamilton  upon  the  oc 
casion — under  all  the  deeply-seated  irritation  engendered  by 
the  then  recent  carnage  at  Fort  Griswold  in  Connecticut — to 
retaliate  this  example  of  barbarity,  and,  as  had  been  sug- 

*  Torrey  was  a  farmer  and  a  taverner  in  Lebanon,  and  lived  at  a  place  called 
Liberty  Hill,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  town— on  the  road  from  Lebanon  to 
Hartford. 

tHe  was  appointed  by  Washington,  April  16th,  1781,  as  the  successor  to  Col. 
Hamilton.  "  The  circle  of  my  acquaintance,"  says  Washington,  writing  him  on 
the  subject — "  does  not  furnish  a  character  that  would  be  more  pleasing  to  me  as 
a  successor  to  bim  than  yourself.  I  make  you  the  first  offer,  therefore,  of  tbe 
vacant  office,  and  sbould  be  happy  in  your  acceptance  of  it.  The  pay  is  one 
hundred  dollars  a  month ;  the  rations  those  of  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  army, 
which  in  fact  are  additional,  as  the  value  tbereof  is  received  in  money.  No  per 
quisites  appertain  to  the  office.  The  secretary  lives  as  I  do,  is  at  little  expense 
while  he  is  in  my  family,  or  when  absent  on  my  business,  and  is  in  tbe  highest 
confidence  and  estimation  from  tbe  nature  of  his  office.'' 


1781.  CHAP    XLVI. — TRUMBULL.  555 

gested,  put  every  man  in  the  redoubt  which  he  had  won,  to 
the  sword.  He  told  him  of  the  repulse  of  Abercrombie  in 
his  brave,  yet  forlorn  sortie  upon  two  American  batteries — 
and  of  the  attempt  of  Cornwallis  to  retreat  by  the  Gloucester 
shore,  which  Lauzun  and  Sheldon  guarded  against,  and 
which  the  wind  and  the  rain  stormed  upon  in  fury,  and 
thwarted.  He  delineated  the  preparation  then  which  was 
made  to  open,  within  three  hundred  yards  of  the  Brit 
ish  foe,  the  whole  terrific  fire  of  a  line  of  batteries  that 
must  inevitably,  if  employed,  have  within  but  a  few  hours, 
leveled  Yorktown  with  the  dust.  He  described  that 
parley  then  which  the  British  Commander  was  compelled  to 
beat — his  proposition  next  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities — his 
terms  for  capitulation — their  modification  by  Washington  to 
suit  the  patriot  triumph — the  surrender — that  marching  out 
at  last  by  the  enemy  from  their  once  stronghold,  with  their 
colors  cased — and  that  grounding  of  their  arms,  while  Gener 
al  Lincoln  received  the  sword  of  their  commander,  upon  the 
field  in  front  of  their  own  outworks,  and  near  the  quarters 
of  those  French  and  American  regiments  of  artillery  that 
had  battered  those  outworks  down.  All  these  stirring  facts 
of  the  closing  contest  of  the  American  Eevolution,  his  son 
described  to  the  Governor  of  Connecticut — as  did  also  his  son- 
in-law  General  Huntington  and  others — with  graphic  partic 
ularity,  from  the  very  spot  in  which  they  transpired. 

"  The  very  interesting  and  important  news  of  the  surrender  of  General 
Lord  Cornwallis,"  wrote  Trumbull  then  from  Lebanon,  November  sixth, 
to  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  American  Armies — and  he  expressed 
similar  sentiments  in  a  letter  also  to  Rochambeau — "with  the  British 
army,  shipping,  &c.,  &c.,  under  his  command,  reached  me  on  the  26th 
ultimo  by  a  vessel  from  the  Chesapeake  to  Rhode  Island ;  and  the  full 
confirmation  a  few  days  since  by  a  letter  from  my  son.  My  warmest  and 
most  sincere  congratulations  await  your  Excellency  on  an  event  so  hon 
orable  and  glorious  to  yourself,  so  interesting  and  happy  to  the  United 
States; — an  event,  which  cannot  fail  to  strengthen  the  impressions  of  the 
European  powers  in  favor  of  the  great  and  good  cause,  in  which  you 
have  so  long  and  so  successfully  contended,  and  go  far  to  convince  the 
haughty  King  of  Great  Britain,  that  it  is  in  vain  to  persevere  in  his  cruel 
and  infamous  purpose  of  enslaving  a  people,  who  can  boast  of  Generals 
and  armies  that  neither  fear  to  meet  his  veterans  in  the  high  places  of 
the  field,  or  pursue  them  to  their  strongholds  of  security,  and  for  whose 


556  CHAP.    XLVI. — TRUMBULL. 


1781. 


help  the  arm  of  the  Almighty  has  been  made  bare,  and  his  salvation  ren 
dered  gloriously  conspicuous ; — an  event,  which  will  hasten  the  wished- 
for  happy  period,  when  your  Excellency  may  retire  to  and  securely  pos 
sess  the  sweets  of  domestic  felicity  and  glorious  rest  from  the  toils  of 
war,  surrounded  by  the  universal  applauses  of  a  free,  grateful,  and  happy 
people. 

"  The  very  important  assistance  and  powerful  cooperation  afforded  by 
the  fleet  and  army  of  our  illustrious  ally,  the  King  of  France,  demand 
the  most  grateful  acknowledgments.  The  gallant  and  intrepid  conduct 
of  the  Commander  and  Officers  of  both  has  acquired  them  great  glory, 
and  entitles  them  and  their  army  to  the  warmest  thanks  of  America." 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  your  favor  of  the  6th  instant," 
wrote  Washington  to  Trumbull  in  reply,  November  twenty-eighth—"  and 
to  thank  your  Excellency  with  great  sincerity  for  the  very  cordial  and 
affectionate  congratulations,  which  you  are  pleased  to  express  on  our  late 
success  in  Virginia.  I  most  earnestly  hope  that  this  event  may  be  pro 
ductive  of  the  happy  consequences  you  mention." 

And  the  Commander-in-chief  proceeded  to  express  the 
conviction,  that  its  good  effects  could  not  fail  to  be  very  ex 
tensive,  unless,  under  a  hope  that  the  contest  was  now  really 
brought  to  a  close,  "a  spirit  of  remissness  should  seize  the 
minds  of  the  States."  This  hope,  he  thought,  might,  after 
all,  prove  delusive.  European  negotiations — however  to  be 
brightened  in  favor  of  America  by  the  late  victory — were 
yet  a  precarious  dependence.  Still  therefore,  in  his  judg 
ment,  vigorous  preparations  were  to  be  made  for  "another 
active,  glorious,  and  decisive  campaign."  "Wisdom  dictated 
them.  They  would  render  the  country  "secure  against  any 
event." 

So  reasoned,  and  in  conformity  with  such  views  so  acted 
Trumbull  during  the  last  two  months  of  the  year  whose  term 
ination  we  now  closely  approach.  To  the  future  possible 
demand  for  more  men  and  stores  he  looked  with  prudent 
forecast.  He  ordered  new  detachments  of  troops  for  the  de 
fence  of  New  London  and  Groton.  He  sent  for  some  Conti 
nental  companies  to  be  stationed  for  the  winter  at  Horseneck, 
or  near,  for  defence  in  that  direction — and  thoughtful  of 
those  under  his  government  who  had  sustained  losses  by  the 
wanton  incursions,  in  past  days,  of  the  now  humbled  foe,  he 
superintended  carefully  the  execution  of  estimates  of  dam 
ages  done  at  New  London  and  Groton,  at  Newhaven,  at  Fair- 


1781.  CHAP.    XLVI. — TRUMBULL.  557 

field,  at  Norwalk,  at  Horseneck,  and  at  Danbury.  He  caused 
them  to  be  duly  authenticated* — that  so  the  sufferers,  all, 
might  be  remunerated — as  they  in  fact  were — from  time  to 
time  in  part,  as  funds  could  be  improved  for  the  purpose — 
and  finally  in  full,  in  1792,  by  a  magnificent  grant  from  the 
State  of  five  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  in  Ohio,  on  the 
then  untouched  and  fertile  border  of  Lake  Erie. 

It  must  have  been  with  a  heart  full  of  happiness,  that — in 
conformity  with  a  recommendation  from  Congress — the  ven 
erable  Governor  of  Connecticut  rounded  off  his  labors  for 
the  year  1781  with  a  Proclamation  for  a  Thanksgivingf — that 
Almighty  God  might  be  acknowledged  and  worshiped  for 
the  many  signal  interpositions  of  his  Providence,  the  twelve 
month  past,  in  behalf  of  those  engaged  in  the  important 
struggle  for  liberty — interpositions  clearly  perceived  in  his 
preserving  and  securing  the  union  of  the  States — in  his  keep 
ing  a  powerful  and  generous  European  ally  firm  to  their 
side — in  his  causing  an  abundance  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth, 
to  supply  their  armies,  and  give  comfort  to  their  people — and 
finally,  and  conspicuously,  in  his  causing  the  counsels  of  the 
great  foes  of  freedom  to  be  confounded,  and  a  British  gen 
eral  of  the  first  rank,  with  his  whole  army,  to  be  captured 
by  the  Allied  Forces  under  the  direction  of  the  American 
Commander-in-chief. 

*  "Enclosed,"  he  wrote  to  Secretary  George  "Wyllys,  Nov.  llth — "are  a  num 
ber  of  depositions  relative  to  the  behaviour  and  barbarities  of  the  enemy  at  New- 
haven,  Fairfield,  and  Norwalk,  with  an  abstract  of  the  buildings  burnt  in  said 
towns,  and  Sir  George  Collyer  and  General  Tryon's  declarations.  You  have  in 
your  custody  estimates  of  the  damages  done  in  each  of  the  said  towns.  I  have  to 
desire  you  to  make  out  copies  of  such  damages  and  of  the  enclosed  affidavits, 
abstract  of  buildings  burnt,  and  the  declarations,  and  fix  the  public  seal  of  the 
State,  with  your  attestation,  to  which  also  I  will  set  my  hand.  Wish  you  to  have 
it  done  soon  as  convenient.  The  Committee  appointed  to  estimate  the  damages 
at  New  London  and  Groton,  and  the  affidavits  relative  to  the  cruelties  and  bar 
barities  there,  are  to  be  made  up  hereafter  distinct.  You  will  please  to  add  the 
estimate  of  the  damages  at  Danbury  and  Horseneck— which  you  have  in 
custody." 

t  On  the  thirteenth  of  December. 

47* 


C  HAPTER    XL  VII. 

1782. 

MILITARY  events  of  the  year.  England  inclined  to  peace.  The  United 
States,  however,  continue  their  military  preparations.  Trumbull  in 
this  connection  again — and  in  connection  with  war  debts,  confiscated 
estates,  refugees,  and  deserters.  He  superintends  a  new  census  of  the 
State — prepares  the  Susquehannah  Case  for  trial — and  arranges  a  cele 
bration  in  honor  of  the  "birth  of  a  Dauphin  of  France.  Prisoners,  and 
his  negotiations  for  their  exchange.  He  remonstrates  against  the 
course  taken  by  the  enemy  in  this  matter,  and  counsels  retaliation. 
Naval  matters  and  illicit  trade.  He  is  still  active  in  Home  Defence, 
although  this  year  there  are  no  material  depredations.  His  measures 
for  suppressing  illicit  trade  bring  upon  him  the  slanderous  charge,  from 
a  few  worthless  traders  and  tories,  of  being  himself  engaged  in  it. 
His  Memorial  to  the  General  Assembly  on  the  subject.  He  is  thor 
oughly  vindicated.  Maritime  prizes  and  losses  this  year.  Not  de 
luded  by  any  prospects  of  peace,  he  maintains  the  little  navy  of  Con 
necticut  with  unabated  interest. 

THE  Battle  of  Yorktown  closed  in  fact  tlae  American  War. 
The  period  of  1782  carries  with  it  hardly  a  trace  of  blood. 
A  few  skirmishes  around  Savannah — a  few  with  British  for 
aging  parties  in  South  Carolina — and  that  little,  gallant  fight 
in  New  Jersey  between  Captain  Huddy  and  a  party  of  Brit 
ish  refugees,  constitute  the  chief  and  almost  the  only  armed 
struggles  of  the  year.  The  signal  success  of  the  American 
troops  at  Yorktown  satisfied  Great  Britain  that  the  United 
States  could  not  be  subdued  by  force  of  arms.  Negotiations 
for  peace  commenced.  They  were  protracted  through  the 
year.  And  they  terminated  in  a  Provisional  Treaty,  No 
vember  thirtieth. 

But  though  hostilities,  in  consequence  of  the  victory  in 
Virginia,  were  suspended,  preparation  as  usual  was  made  by 
the  United  States  for  another  campaign.  Men  and  money, 
in  the  judgment  of  those-  at  the  head  of  American  affairs, 
w§re  still  to  be  raised. 

To  all  appearance  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  Great 
Britain  would  persist  in  the  war.  The  Speech  from  the 


1782.  CHAP.    XLVII. — TRUMBULL.  559 

Throne,  in  November,  following  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis, 
breathed  hostility,  and  the  answer  of  both  Houses  of  Parlia 
ment  was  in  accord.  True — soon  after — the  Commons  re 
solved  that  the  contest  ought  no  longer  to  be  pursued  for  the 
"impracticable  purpose,"  they  said,  of  reducing  America  to 
obedience  by  force — and  yet  again  they  resolved — in  terms 
now  more  decided  than  before — that  all  who  should  advise, 
or  by  any  means  attempt  its  continuation,  should  "be  con 
sidered  as  enemies  to  their  king  and  country."  But  all 
this  was  short  of  that  vital  concession  without  which  it  was 
certain  that  America  would  fight  to  the  last  gasp.  It  did  not 
yield  independence — nor  had  the  King  or  Shelburne  a 
thought  of  yielding  this. 

"The  point  next  my  heart,"  said  the  former  most  earnest 
ly — "and  which  I  am  determined,  be  the  consequences  what 
they  may,  never  to  relinquish  but  with  my  crown  and  with 
my  life,  is  to  prevent  a  total,  unequivocal  recognition  of  the 
independence  of  America."  Make  such  recognition,  re 
sponded  Lord  Shelburne,  and  "the  sun  of  England's  glory  is 
set  forever."  Let  us  have  peace — if  peace  we  must  have — 
said  other  leading  British  statesmen — but  not  on  the  footing 
of  equality.  Let  us  profess  pacific  intentions,  and  if  we  can, 
carry  them  out.  And  so  the  English  Cabinet  did.  But  were 
these  intentions  sincere  ?  Even  though  they  were,  thought 
and  reasoned  the  United  States,  with  Washington,  and  as 
Washington  expressed  it  at  the  time — "it  will  undoubtedly 
be  wisdom  in  us  to  meet  them  with  great  caution  and  circum 
spection,  and  by  all  means  to  keep  our  arms  firm  in  our 
hands,  and,  instead  of  relaxing  one  iota  in  our  exertions, 
rather  to  spring  forward  with  redoubled  vigor,  that  we  may 
take  the  advantages  of  every  favorable  opportunity,  until 
our  wishes  are  fully  obtained.  No  nation  ever  yet  suffered 
in  treaty  by  preparing,  even  in  the  moment  of  negotiation, 
most  vigorously  for  the  field." 

These  were  the  sentiments  also  of  Governor  Trumbull. 
So  again,  for  another  year,  he  moved  on  in  a  round  of  war 
measures — raising  troops,  raising  supplies,  paying  troops, 
quickening  taxes,  guarding  Connecticut,  and  laboriously  aid 
ing  to  guard  the  Continent. 


560  CHAP.    XLVII. — TRUMBULL.  1782. 

A  new  act  for  filling  up  the  quota  of  Connecticut  in  the 
Continental  Army,  passed  the  General  Assembly  early  in 
January,  and  large  Committees  were  appointed  in  each 
County  to  aid  in  carrying  it  into  effect.  A  new  regiment  of 
foot  was  ordered  for  the  defence  of  Horseneck,  and  the  whole 
western  frontier  of  the  State.  The  Governor  was  to  see  it 
raised,  and  to  send  three  hundred  men  to  Stamford.  Nine 
thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety  pounds  were  appropriated 
for  the  service  of  the  several  towns  upon  the  Sound,  to  ena 
ble  them  to  support  coast-guards  for  the  year.  The  Govern 
or  was  to  look  to  the  proper  distribution  of  this  fund.*  In 
May  again,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty -six  men  were  to  be 
specially  raised  for  the  Continental  Army.  The  Governor 
labored  to  collect  them.  In  the  same  month  a  new  act  was 
passed  for  regulating  and  conducting  the  whole  military  force 
of  the  State.  It  was  crowded  with  directions,  and  required 
careful  superintendence.  The  Governor  was  to  see  this  act 
also  executed,  and  accordingly  he  addressed  every  Brigadier 
General  of  the  State  on  the  matter.  Let  each  one,  he  said, 
in  his  own  command,  enforce  the  new  arrangements — that 
the  militia  of  Connecticut  "may  be  in  readiness  to  act  on 
every  necessary  occasion."! 

To  support  all  these  military  measures,  fresh  taxes,  of 
course,  were  necessary.  The  United  States  Superintendent 
of  Finance  wrote  Trumbull  for  money — Congress  wrote  for 
it — Washington  sent  repeated  circulars  for  it.  A  quota  from 
the  State  of  eight  millions  of  dollars  for  the  current  year  was 
wanted.  The  Governor,  therefore,  by  direction  of  his  Coun 
cil,  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  stating  the  several  taxes 
that  remained  unpaid — particularly  those  for  specific  articles, 

*  Exhausted  as  Connecticut  had  been  by  the  war,  it  was  more  difficult  for  her 
now  than  formerly  to  support  both  her  troops  in  the  Continental  line,  and  those 
employed  for  home  defence.  Her  expenses  had  been,  she  said,  "an  insupport 
able  burden."  The  Governor  was  therefore  directed  by  the  General  Assembly 
to  ask  Congress  for  payment  often  of  the  companies  raised  for  the  State,  and  "to 
inforce  his  request  with  such  further  reasons  and  observations  as  his  Excellency 
should  think  proper."  The  application  was  made,  but  did  not  avail. 

tj' You  will  hear,"  he  added  in  his  instructions  to  the  generals— "  and  grant 
liberty  to  such  officers  whose  circumstances  may  require  a  dismission  from  serv 
ice,  for  reasons  to  be  assigned  in  the  orders  for  a  new  choice,  in  which  the  Gen 
eral  will  be  careful  not  to  dismiss  on  slight  grounds." 


1782.  CHAP.    XLVII. — TRUMBULL.  561 

and  a  three  pence  tax, .  and  a  twelve  pence  tax  that  had  been 
laid  for  the  national  service — the  collection  of  which  he  was 
to  "invigorate,"  as  the  record  expresses  it,  and  the  money, 
when  collected,  to  transmit  to  the  Treasury  of  the  Nation. 
The  gathering  of  these  and  other  taxes — orders  on  towns  for 
their  respective  quotas  of  provisions — the  making  up,  in  nu 
merous  private  instances,  the  depreciation  in  the  wages  of  offi 
cers  and  soldiers — the  adjustment  of  old  debts  and  of  arrears 
of  debts — and  measures  with  regard  to  refugees,  confiscated  es 
tates,  and  to  the  apprehension  of  deserters  from  the  army — fig 
ure  at  this  time  in  the  Eecords  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  as  the 
matters  which  chiefly  and  constantly  occupied  his  attention. 

"  Wednesday  9  Janr  y  1782,"  he  wrote  in  his  Diary — making  a  few 
succinct  entries  which  will  give  the  Reader  some  idea  of  his  employment 
at  three  important  periods  of  the  year — "  set  from  home  with  Col.  Wil 
liams.  At  Alvords*  met  President  Wheelock  and  Mr.  Pomeroy — signed 
the  recommendation  of  Dartmouth  College.  Passed  the  ferry — got  to 
Mr.  Caldwell's  at  8  o'clock  in  the  evening — exceedingly  hard  riding — 
much  worried. 

"  llth.     Opened  the  Assembly.     Speech  &  Letters  before  dinner. 

11 12th.     Attended  Assembly. 

"  From  Tuesday  to  Saturday  had  public  hearings.  Benjamin  Payn, 
Esq.,  at  meeting  last  Sunday,  died  Wednesday  23rd  about  9  o'clock  in 
the  Evening.  Funeral  attended  on  Friday,  3  o'clock  P.  M.  Rev.  Mr. 
Perry  made  a  very  pertinent  prayer  in  the  Meeting  House,  when  the 
Corpse  was  brought,  on  this  Solemn  and  Melancholy  Occasion. 

"Friday,  10th.     Dr.  Stiles  opened  the  Assembly  by  prayer. 

"  Tuesday,  [June]  4th.  Enemies  fleet  of  20  sail,  including  two  Frig 
ates,  passed  Fairfield — oif  N.  Lond"  Harbour — 6th  joined  by  4  Frigates — 
7th  went  to  the  Eastward — from  Block  Island  steered  S.  E.  This  occa 
sioned  an  Alarm — Tyler's  &  Douglass's  Brigade. 

"  Saturday,  June  15th,  1782—6  o'clock  P.  M.  The  General  Assembly 
finished  the  Sessions. 

"Monday,  June  17th — 8  o'clock  A.  M. — came  from  Hartford. 

"  Wednesday,  26th.  Sent  Mr.  Wm  Lisk  Express  from  hence  to  Stam 
ford,  to  carry  Proclamations  and  Letters,  and  gave  an  Order  to  Pay  Table 
to  settle  his  acc°,  and  draw  on  the  Treasurer  for  payment. 

"Saturday,  July  13th.  Mr.  Jesse  Brown  went  for  Philadelphia.  Sent 
by  him  Letter  to  Office  of  Foreign  Affairs — acc°  of  Losses — to  Office  of 
Finance  sundry  inclosures — Delegates — Secret?  Thompson,  Bonds,  and 
for  Blank  Commissions  &c. 

*BoltonHill. 


562  CHAP.     XLVII. —  TRUMBULL.  1782. 

"  Oct.  9th.     Came  with  Col.  Williams  to  Hartford. 
"10th.     Assembly  opened.     10th  &  12th  appointed  Committees  &c. 
"Thursday  17th,  and  Friday  18th.     Reports  of  Commteeg  de  Taxes — 
both  negatived  in  1.  h. — approved  in  up.  h.     Mr.  Law  Comtee  on  diff. 
"  Friday  &  Saturday  19th.     Col.  Canfield  here— finished  for  him. 
"Friday,  Oct.  25th.     The  Session  of  Assembly  finished." 

To  the  business  to  which  reference  has  now  been  made  as 
occupying  Governor  Trumbull  the  present  year,  is  to  be 
added  that  of  superintending  a  new  census  of  the  State, 
which  he  was  to  transmit  to  Congress.  He  had  also  to  regu 
late  the  export  of  surplus  provisions,  particularly  to  the  Ha- 
vanna.  He  had  to  prepare  the  Susquehannah  Case  for  trial 
before  a  Committee  of  Congress,  and  upon  this  he  now  cor 
responded  much  both  with  National  Delegates,  with  the 
Counsel  for  the  State,*  and  with  gentlemen  in  England.  He 
had  to  adjust  proceedings  upon  occasion  of  the  birth  of  a 
Dauphin  of  France.  He  had  still  to  look  after  the  exchange 
of  prisoners — regulate  cruisers  in  the  Sound — and  prevent 
illicit  trade. 

As  regards  the  Dauphin — that  son  of  whom  "  the  queen, 
our  most  dear  spouse,  is  just  now  happily  delivered,"  as  Louis 
of  France,  October  twenty-second,  wrote  to  Congress — that 
child,  as  the  Honorable  the  French  Minister  announced  to 
the  same  Body,  who  "  will  one  day  be  the  friend  and  ally  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  guarantee  of  their  freedom " — 
Trumbull  received  notice  of  his  birth  in  May,  from  Eobert 
E.  Livingston,  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  at  Philadelphia — 
with  a  request  that  the  event  should  be  duly  celebrated  in 
Connecticut  as  elsewhere.  By  direction  of  the  General  As 
sembly,  therefore,  he  ordered  his  own  Guards,  and  the  Ma- 
tross  Company  at  Hartford,  to  parade  on  a  stated  day — which 
was  accordingly  done — arid,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
amid  crowds  of  spectators,  a  rousing  feu  de  joie  emphasized 
the  annunciation  that  a  Dauphin  was  born — while  "  the  good 
people  of  this  State,"  says  a  record  of  the  event,  "partook 
in  the  general  joy  which  was  diffused  on  receiving  the  happy 
intelligence."  France  had  not  then  become  that  whirlpool 

*  The  Counsel  for  the  State  were  Eliphalet  Dyer,  Wm  S.  Johnson,  and  Jesse 
Eoot — whom  his  Excellency  duly  commissioned  for  the  purpose. 


1782.  CHAP.    XLVII. — TRUMBULL.  563 

of  revolution — that  arena  for  bloody  civil  convulsions — 
which  soon  afterwards  she  did  become.  Generosity  towards 
America,  even  though  selfish,  was  in  her  disposition.  She 
had  already  given  us  blood  and  treasure.  By  all  the  ties  of 
consistency,  as  well  as  by  her  own  mortal  hate  of  England, 
she  was  bound,  if  necessary,  to  give  more.  Courtesy,  if  not 
gratitude,  was  her  due.  Well  then  might  Trumbull — as  did 
the  Congress  of  America — put  up  the  prayer  that  the  newly- 
born  son  might,  with  the  throne,  "  inherit  the  virtues  "  which 
had  acquired  to  his  Majesty  the  father  "  so  much  glory,  and 
to  his  dominions  so  much  prosperity  " — and  which  would  be 
"  the  means  of  cementing  and  strengthening  the  union  so 
happily  established  between  the  two  nations."  The  demon 
stration  of  joy  which  he  ordered  was  well-timed. 

As  regards  prisoners  the  present  year,  there  were  no 
additions  to  their  number  in  Connecticut,  for  there  were 
no  contests  to  win  them — but  Trumbull,  from  time  to  time, 
happily  negotiated  important  exchanges  with  the  British 
at  New  York,  and  released  many  of  his  suffering  country 
men,  to  his  own  and  their  great  joy,  from  cruel  confinement. 
The  long  negotiations  at  this  period  respecting  captives,  be 
tween  British  and  American  Commissioners,  attracted  his 
close  attention,  and  when  they  failed,  drew  from  him  warm 
remonstrances.  That  the  enemy  should  deny,  as  they  did, 
that  upon  a  general  settlement  of  accounts  for  the  mainte 
nance  of  prisoners,  in  past  times,  any  large  balance  was  due 
from  themselves  to  America — or  that  they  should  strive,  as 
they  did,  in  their  plan  of  exchanging  land  prisoners  for  sea 
men,  to  provide  a  constant  source  of  reinforcement  to  their 
own  ranks — did  not  surprise  or  disturb  the  Governor  of  Con 
necticut.  But  he  felt  pained  particularly,  that  they  refused 
to  comprehend  the  American  captives  in  England  within  the 
terms  of  a  general  cartel — and  that  the  meeting  of  the  Com 
missioners,  for  this  reason,  more  than  for  any  other,  should 
have  been  dissolved,  and  thus  one  of  the  most  benevolent  of 
purposes  frustrated. 

When  Captain  Huddy,  therefore,  of  New  Jersey — whose 
case  attracted  universal  attention — was  summarily  hung  by 
the  enemy  from  a  tree,  he  gave  vent  to  his  feelings  in  no 


564  CHAP.    XLVII. — TRUMBULL.  1782. 

measured  terms.  The  blood  of  that  captive,  he  thought — 
barbarously  murdered — called  aloud  for  atonement.  The 
sorrowful  case  too  of  other  Americans,  who,  refused  a  pas 
sage  home,  were  drearily  wasting  away  their  lives  in  a  for 
eign  land,  demanded  requital.  Trumbull,  consequently, 
wrote  to  Washington,  and  wrote  to  Congress,  counselling  re 
taliation — that  the  enemy  who  to  all  appearance  would  not 
be  persuaded,  might  be  forced  into  the  practice  of  humanity. 
"  I  had  the  honor,"  wrote  Washington  in  reply,  May  eighth — 
"  to  receive  your  Excellency's  letter  of  the  24th  of  April, 
enclosing  a  copy  of  your  letter  to  Congress  on  the  subject  of 
American  prisoners  confined  in  England,  with  your  senti 
ments  on  the  necessity  of  retaliation.  I  have  the  honor  to 
concur  in  sentiment  with  your  Excellency  on  the  subject." 
And  the  Commander-in-chief  proceeded  to  inform  the  Gov 
ernor  that  Captain  Huddy's  case  would  "  bring  that  matter 
to  a  point " — and  that  nothing  but  the  surrender  of  the  prin 
cipal  perpetrators  of  his  horrid  murder,  would  stay  his  own 
resolution  of  carrying  the  retaliatory  principle  into  full  effect. 
As  regards  naval  matters  and  illicit  trade,  the  present  year, 
Trumbull — relieved  somewhat  from  that  round  of  anxious 
duty  which  he  had  traveled  in  former  years — had  yet  some 
thing  to  do.  That  hostile  fleet — to  which  in  his  Diary  he 
refers  as  off  the  Connecticut  coast  in  June — passed  by,  it  will 
have  been  observed,  without  attempting  to  land,  or  in  any 
way  annoy  the  Main.  And  so  did  all  the  British  cruisers 
this  year,  though  occasionally  they  were  very  alert  and 
threatening.  Connecticut,  fortunately,  was  free  from  any 
material  depredations — but  yet,  at  all  times,  from  her  prox 
imity  to  New  York,  was  greatly  exposed  to  them,  and  in 
consequence,  as  has  been  suggested,  was  compelled  to  main 
tain  carefully  her  coast  defence.  The  system  too  of  predatory 
descents  from  Long  Island  was  less  active  the  present  than  in 
any  year  before  during  the  war,  and  by  October — on  the  evac 
uation  at  this  time  by  the  enemy  of  their  frowning  post  on 
Lloyd's  Neck — was  entirely  abandoned.  Intercourse  be 
tween  the  two  shores  in  fact — soon  after  peace  began  to  be 
seriously  contemplated,  and  Carlton  and  Digby,  the  British 
Commissioners,  commenced  promulgating  overtures  for  rec- 


1782.  CHAP.    XLVII. — TBUMBULL.  565 

onciliation — became  so  pacific,  as  to  induce  many  persons  in 
Connecticut — contrary  to  law — to  renew  traffic  with  the  Brit 
ish  and  tones  upon  Long  Island — and  consequently  exacted 
at  the  hands  of  Governor  Trumbull  even  more  than  ordinary 
pains  to  check  the  unlawful  intercourse. 

His  efforts  in  this  particular  direction — interfering  as  they 
did  with  the  private  interests  of  gain-loving  traders — brought 
upon  him  the  particular  aversion  of  this  class  of  persons — 
some  of  whom — together  with  certain  emissaries  of  the  ene 
my  who  availed  themselves  of  the  public  odium  in  which 
traders  of  this  description  stood — circulated  against  Trum 
bull  himself  the  slanderous  charge,  that  he  too  was  engaged 
in  the  illicit  traffic.  The  British  foe,  it  was  believed  at  the 
time — failing  to  subjugate  this  country  by  force — resorted  to 
every  species  of  artifice  to  effect  their  purpose,  and  particu 
larly  to  the  scheme  of  traducing — through  secret  incendia 
ries,  tories,  and  apostates — those  Americans  whose  patriotism 
and  distinguished  services  have  rendered  their  names  im 
mortal.  Among  these,  especially,  was  the  "  Eebel  Governor" 
of  Connecticut. 

"  They  all  know  him,"  said  a  writer  of  the  day* — "  to  be  a  fast  friend 
to  the  Liberties  and  Independence  of  these  States.  They  consider  him 
as  one  of  the  Pillars  of  our  new  Constitution.  They  are  well  acquainted 
with  the  peculiar  enmity  he  bears  the  Illicit  Trade — with  his  spirited  and 
unremitted  exertions  to  prevent  it.  Their  plan  has  evidently  been  to 
ruin  the  character  of  so  formidable  an  enemy,  in  order  to  promote  the 
interest  of  their  unjust  cause.  To  effect  this  they  have  been  attempt 
ing  to  convince  his  countrymen,  that  he  himself  is  concerned  and  bene 
fits  by  the  same  Illicit  Trade ;  and  with  this  view  they  have  exposed 
large  trunks  and  packages  of  goods,  in  New  York,  addressed  to  him  in 
fair  and  legible  characters — [with  not  the  least  design,  however,  that 
they  should  ever  reach  him] — and  they  have  been  frequently  seen  to  send 
them  publicly  on  board  vessels  bound  eastward,  in  so  much  that  our  offi 
cers  in  captivity  among  them  have  been  induced  to  believe  his  Excellen 
cy  was  actually  concerned,  and  many  were  not  undeceived,  till  they  were 
exchanged,  and  came  out,  and  enquired  into  the  truth  of  the  matter,  "t 

*  In  the  Hartford  Courant  of  April  2nd,  1783.  He  signs  himself  "  A  Republic 
an  Whig." 

t" If  facts  are  as  they  insinuate,"  continues  the  writer  quoted  in  the  text — 
*'  why  has  there  never  a  single  instance  been  found  out  ?  Could  these  people 
prove  what  they  affirm,  instead  of  sneaking  privately  about  incog.,  and  telling  it 
48 


566  CHAP.    XLVII. — TRUMBULL.  1*782. 

In  pursuance  of  the  scheme  unfolded  by  the  writer  now 
quoted — at  Enfield  once,  in  Connecticut — one  day  in  Janu 
ary — a  stranger  from  Middletown,  as  he  represented  himself 
to  be,  but  whose  name  does  not  appear — while  passing 
through  the  town,  reported  to  quite  a  large  assemblage  of 
persons  at  a  tavern  there,  that  "a  vessel  which  belonged  to 
his  Excellency  the  Governor,  and  which  was  employed  in 
carrying  on  the  illicit  trade,  had  been  lately  taken  coming 
from  the  enemy  loaded  with  goods,  and  that  she  was  brought 
into  one  of  the  ports  of  Connecticut  for  condemnation." 
This  account,  added  the  stranger,  "  may  be  depended  on  as 
undoubted  truth  " — and  he  passed  on  his  way,  journeying  up 
the  Connecticut  Eiver. 

The  story  which  he  told,  becoming  at  once  the  general 
topic  of  conversation  among  the  people  of  Enfield,  was  list 
ened  to  with  amazement.  The  governor  was  soon  informed 
of  it  by  letter — and  nothing  could  have  startled  and  pained 
him  more.  It  was  a  galling  wound  indeed  to  one  to  whom 
his  own  character,  his  good  name,  and  his  country,  in  truth 
were  dearer  than  all  the  "  wealth  of  Ormus  or  of  Ind  " — one 
who,  far  more  intensely  than  most  men,  felt  that 

"  The  purest  treasure  mortal  times  afford, 

Is — spotless  reputation — that  away, 

Men  are  but  gilded  loam,  or  painted  clay." 

And  he  felt  also  that  the  attack  was  not  altogether  aimed  at 
himself  as  an  individual,  but  was  "an  intended  injury  to  the 
State,  and  indeed  to  all  the  United  States  through  one  of 
their  confidential  servants."  He  immediately,  therefore, 
transmitted  the  letter  containing  the  charge  to  the  General 
Assembly,  accompanied  by  the  following  painfully  eloquent 
Address — and  left  it  with  this  Body  to  take  such  action  as  it 
might  itself  choose  in  vindication  of  the  honor  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  Connecticut,  and  of  their  own. 

in  small  circles,  they  would  publish  it  on  the  house-top,  and  thunder  it  through 
the  State  in  exultation.  Only  tell  them  that  Burgoyne  and  Cornwallis  are  made 
prisoners,  and  they  will  hang  down  their  heads  like  the  bulrush.  There  are  a 
set  of  people,  whose  mouths  would  not  be  stopped,  should  Gabriel  himself  de 
scend  to  administer  the  government  among  us." 


1782.  CHAP.    XLVII. — TRUMBULL.  567 

"To  the  Honorable  General  Assembly  now  sitting. 

"  A  member  of  the  honorable  House  of  Representatives  handed  to  me  a 
letter  of  the  21st  instant,  which  is  herewith  offered  for  your  Observation, 
and  opens  the  occasion  of  this  address. 

"  Perhaps  no  person  in  the  United  States  was  earlier  apprised  than 
myself  of  the  origin  and  insidious  design  of  our  enemies  to  set  on  foot, 
and  carry  on  a  trade  and  commerce  with  this  and  the  other  States  for  the 
manufactures  and  merchandise  of  their  country,  or  more  deeply  sensible 
of  its  dangerous  and  pernicious  effects — and  I  am  persuaded  no  one  has 
been  or  could  be  more  active  and  vigilant  to  prevent  the  execution  of 
that  ensnaring  and  ruinous  project ;  and  during  my  administration  my 
whole  time  has  been  devoted  to  and  intent  upon  the  Salvation  of  my 
Country,  and  the  defence  of  its  inestimable  rights  against  the  open  force 
and  more  dangerous  secret  fraud  of  our  restless  and  implacable  enemy. 
My  character  and  conduct  in  these  respects,  I  am  happy  to  believe,  meets 
the  approbation  of  all  the  true  Friends  in  this  State  in  proportion  to  their 
knowledge  and  acquaintance  with  them,  and  are  not  unknown  through 
all  these  States,  and  in  Europe.  Pardon  me,  Gentlemen,  I  am  far  from 
boasting ;  I  have  not  done  more,  but  less  than  my  duty,  and  it  is  my 
highest  temporal  wish  to  do  much  more  good  to  my  State  and  Country, 
and  to  see  its  Liberty  and  Independence  established  on  a  firm  and  immov 
able  basis. 

"  But  who  can  stand  against  the  secret  and  malignant  whispers  of  envy 
and  falsehood,  which  like  the  pestilence  walk  in  darkness.  My  Character 
is  dearer  to  me  than  all  worldly  instruments,  or  the  remains  of  a  life  so 
far  spent  and  exhausted  in  the  service  of  my  country.  For  several  years 
past,  accumulated  and  increasing  slanders,  similar  to  the  present,  have 
been  whispered  and  directly  spread  and  propagated  concerning  me  by 
the  radical  Enemies  of  our  Country's  cause,  by  deceived  or  malicious 
people,  or  all,  as  I  must  believe.  Conscious  innocence  and  integrity  have 
enabled  me  calmly  to  bear  them ; — and  in  my  circumstances  I  have  not 
thought  it  prudent  to  seek  a  legal  redress,  although  in  some  instances,  I 
could  easily  have  traced  the  Slanders  to  their  Authors — and  my  neglect 
ing  to  seek  such  redress  has  to  my  knowledge  been  construed  as  an  ac 
knowledgment  of  Guilt.  If  indeed  I  am  guilty,  or  have  any  connections 
with  a  conduct  so  contrary  to  the  Laws  and  interests  of  my  Country,  and 
which  I  profess  from  my  heart  to  detest  and  abhor,  is  it  not  high  time  it 
was  known,  and  for  me  to  be  spurned  from  your  confidence  and  trust  ? 
The  author  of  the  present  report  may  be  brought  to  your  View — the 
way  is  open  for  it. 

"Permit  me  to  ask,  if  I  am  and  have  been  thus  guilty,  whether  your 
honor,  wisdom,  and  integrity,  or  all  are  not  also  affected,  while  by  your 
suffrages  I  hold  a  station  too  important  for  even  a  suspected  person  to 
fill — whether  under  all  the  circumstances,  it  may  not  become  the  Honor 
and  dignity  of  this  Virtuous  assembly  to  inquire  into  and  investigate  the 
truth  or  falsehood  of  the  facts  alledged,  and  let  my  guilt,  if  it  appears, 


568  CHAP.    XLVII.— TRUMBULL.  1782. 

be  fully  exposed?  It  is  my  wish— but  is  cheerfully  submitted  to  the 
Wisdom  and  justice  of  the  Honorable  Assembly  by  their  faithful,  obedi 
ent,  humble  servant, 

"JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 
41  Hartford,  January  29th,  1782." 

The  desired  investigation  was  immediately  made.  A  Com 
mittee  was  appointed  for  the  purpose.  General  Silliman,  Mr. 
Canfield,  Mr.  Southworth,  and  Colonel  Talcott,  from  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives,  with  Oliver  Wolcott  as  Chairman 
from  the  Upper  House,  formed  it.  They  found  the  facts  with 
regard  to  the  origin  and  circulation  of  the  charge  as  already 
narrated,  and  reported  that  they  could  not  discover  the  least 
reason  even  to  suspect  "  that  ever  his  Excellency  the  Gov 
ernor  gave  the  least  countenance  whatever  to  illicit  trade  with 
the  Enemy,  much  less  that  he  ever  had  any  concern  with  it 
himself.  Your  Committee  are  of  opinion,"  they  added, 
"that  all  Reports  of  that  kind  respecting  his  Excellency  are 
false,  slanderous,  and  altogether  groundless;  and  that  they 
most  probably  originate  from  the  Partisans  and  Emissaries 
of  the  Enemy  that  are  secretly  among  the  people,  and  that 
those  kind  of  Eeports,  tho'  intended  to  injure  his  Excellen 
cy's  private  character,  are  designed  principally  to  embarrass 
Government,  and  sow  the  seeds  of  Jealousy  and  Distress  in 
the  minds  of  the  People,  with  a  Yiew  to  remove  out  of  the 
Way  a  Character  so  firmly  opposed  to  every  Measure  that  is 
favorable  to  the  enemy.  And  tho'  we  have  not  been  able  to 
discover  the  author  of  this  slanderous  Report,  we  are  inclined 
to  believe  him  to  be  an  Emissary  of  the  Enemy." 

This  Report — thus  triumphantly  vindicating  Trumbull, 
and  placing  him  in  the  clear  sunlight  of  innocence — was  at 
once  accepted  and  approved  by  both  branches  of  the  Legis 
lature,  and  ordered  to  be  lodged  on  file  in  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  State.  It  was  balm  to  his  wounded  heart.  Not 
the  faintest  stain  of  an  attaint  longer  touched  him.  The  con 
temptible  detraction  had  no  effect  but  to  rally  friends  enthu 
siastically  to  his  defence,  and  to  make  him  in  the  general  bo 
som  reign  more  loftily  than  ever.  And  he  went  on  with  his 
labors  in  the  naval  department,  heart-whole,  and  with  in 
creased  efficiency — commissioning  whaleboats,  still  to  check 


1782.  CHAP.    XLVII, — TKUMBULL.  569 

the  unlawful  trade — giving  to  the  captors  of  craft  engaged  in 
such  trade  all  the  booty  they  should  take — as  was  at  this 
time  allowed — and  continuing  privateers  and  other  armed 
vessels  in  service,  to  attack  the  enemy,  and  make  what  prizes 
they  could.* 

Arid  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  finding  the  naval  affairs  of 
Connecticut,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  relatively  on  as  good  a 
footing  as  ever  before.  Quite  a  number  of  prizes  rewarded 
the  seamen  of  the  State — though  not  so  numerous  or  so  val 
uable,  of  course,  as  in  former  years — for  there  was  the  calm, 
most  of  the  time,  of  an  expected  peace — while,  on  the  other 
hand,  one  brig  from  Norwich,  f  another  small  brig  from  New 
London,:):  and  the  privateer  sloop  Randolph,  Captain  Peck, 
also  from  New  London — which  was  captured  and  carried  into 
New  York — were  the  only  losses  of  much  account  which 
Connecticut  suffered  in  her  Marine  during  the  entire  period 
upon  which  we  now  dwell. 

Trumbul],  as  ever  before — deluded  by  no  prospects  of 
peace,  however  flattering  they  seemed — anxious,  up  to  the 
moment  until  a  treaty  for  this  great  object  should  seriously 
commence,  to  present  a  bold  aggressive  front  to  the  foe — and 
win  advantages,  if  he  could,  that  might  give  a  favorable 
color  to  the  position  of  his  own  beloved  country — maintained 
his  little  navy  with  unabated  interest — until,  in  August,  offi 
cial  assurances  came  that  Mr.  Grenville  was  at  Paris,  fully 
empowered  by  Great  Britain  to  confer  with  all  the  parties  at 
war,  and  that  negotiations  for  a  general  peace  had  already 

*  When  will  talkers  refrain  from  evil  speaking?  "  Calumny  will  sear  virtue 
itself" — no  greatness  escapes  it.  It  attacked  Trumbull  in  1783  again — in  a  man 
ner  somewhat  similar  to  that  described  in  the  text,  and  by  the  General  Assembly 
was  as  promptly  met.  One  Seymour,  alledged  that  the  Governor  took  a  bribe  of 
one  hundred  guineas  from  one  Kichard  Smith,  a  petitioner  for  a  confiscated  es 
tate — on  condition  that  he  the  Governor  should  give  his  influence  and  his  vote  in 
favor  of  the  said  Smith.  Whereupon  Seymour  was  arrested,  by  order  of  the  As 
sembly,  for  "his  false  and  contemptuous  conduct."  He  at  once  prayed  forgive 
ness  both  of  the  Governor  and  the  Assembly,  most  sincerely — stated  that  he  was 
old,  infirm  in  memory,  and  that  in  his  "cooler  moments,"  he  felt  "fully  con 
vinced"  that  he  "had  not  sufficient  ground"  for  the  declaration  he  had  made. 
So  he  was  pardoned. 

t  She  was  commanded  by  Capt.  Elisha  Lathrop,  and  when  captured  was  carried 
into  Bermuda. 

%  She  was  commanded  by  Capt.  Latham,  and  was  laid  up  by  the  enemy  at  St. 
Thomas. 


570  CHAP.    XLVII.— TRUMBULL.  1782. 

commenced.  The  British  commander  in  America — Sir  Guy 
Carlton — confirmed  the  news — formally  declared  that  he 
could  no  longer  discover  any  object  of  contest  between  Eng 
land  and  America — and  openly  disapproved  of  any  farther 
hostilities  either  by  land  or  sea.  The  curtain,  therefore,  fell 
upon  the  ^Revolutionary  naval  warfare  of  Connecticut. 


C  HAPTER    XLVIII. 

1781 

NEGOTIATIONS  for  peace.  Trum"bull'a  views  of  their  "basis.  These  views 
shown  particularly  "by  a  letter  which  he  addressed  to  Silas  Deane. 
Explanation  of  the  circumstances  under  which  this  letter  was  written. 
Deane  in  Europe  at  the  time — and  has  heard  of  nothing  "but  disasters, 
severely  fatal  to  the  American  cause.  He  therefore  sends  over  propo 
sitions  for  a  reconciliation  with  Great  Britain.  His  letter  falls  into  the 
hands  of  foes  to  America,  and  is  materially  altered  from  its  original 
shape.  The  alterations.  As  changed,  Trumbull  receives  the  com 
munication,  with  a  request  that  the  plan  it  contained  should  "be  laid 
"before  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut.  Trumbull  replies,  as  if 
to  propositions  from  an  alien  enemy,  in  a  firm,  patriotic,  and  indignant 
strain.  The  sentiments  he  expresses  are  inwrought  into  all  the  nego 
tiations  for  closing  the  war.  The  French  Army  marches  from  Virginia 
for  Boston,  to  embark  for  the  West  Indies.  Trumbull  provides  again 
for  their  passage  through  Connecticut.  The  American  Army  goes  into 
winter  quarters.  Everything  indicates  a  speedy  end  to  the  war. 
Trumbull  proclaims  a  Thanksgiving. 

THE  intelligence  that  negotiations  for  a  general  peace  had 
commenced,  was  indeed  welcome  to  Trumbull.  He  had 
watched  all  the  preparations  for  putting  an  end  to  the  war, 
with  intensest  interest.  No  negotiations,  with  a  tithe  of  his 
approbation,  could  have  taken  place  short  of  those  which 
were  to  recognize,  as  their  unalterable  basis,  the  entire  free 
dom  and  independence  of  the  United  States.  And  of  this 
he  gave  signal  proof  at  this  time,  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote 
to  Silas  Deane  at  Ghent,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  with  which 
we  are  now  concerned — in  reply  to  propositions  from  the  lat 
ter  for  a  reconciliation  with  Great  Britain.  It  is  a  letter, 
which,  under  all  the  circumstances,  is  one  of  the  most  strik 
ing  memorials  on  record  of  a  great  and  patriotic  man.* 

Kightly  to  understand  it,  these  circumstances  must  be  ex 
plained.  They  will  reward  the  Reader's  attention. 

At  the  time  when  Deane  made  his  propositions — which. 

*  The  author  is  indebted  for  the  letter  to  J.  Deane  Alden,  Esq.,  of  Hartford, 
Connecticut — himself  a  descendant  of  the  distinguished  gentleman  to  whom  it 
was  addressed. 


572  CHAP.    XLVIII. — TEUMBULL.  1782. 

was  in  1781 — the  aspect  of  American  affairs,  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  was  most  unpropitious.  The  whole  State  of 
South  Carolina  had  been  overrun  by  the  British,  and  in  effect 
conquered.  Charleston,  its  capital  city,  had  fallen.  Three 
out  of  four  hundred  American  troops  under  the  brave 
Colonel  Buford,  had  been  hewn  in  pieces  at  the  battle  of  the 
Waxhaws.  General  Gates,  with  his  four  thousand  troops,  had 
been  overpowered  near  Camden  by  a  force  of  but  two  thou 
sand  under  Lord  Cornwallis — and  seven  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  Americans  killed  or  captured  in  this  eventful  struggle — 
against  only  half  that  number  lost  by  the  British — told  fear 
fully  in  favor  of  the  enemy — while  Tarleton's  surprise  and 
complete  rout  of  Colonel  Sumpter,  which  soon  succeeded, 
served  vastly  to  deepen  the  gloom  which  events  threw  over 
the  American  cause. 

Nor  were  there  any  American  victories  at  the  North,  at 
this  period,  of  force  enough  to  lift  and  counterbalance  this 
gloom.  On  the  other  hand,  Arnold's  devastating  expedition 
to  Virginia — his  horrible  successes  at  New  London — and  the 
plundering  and  burning  of  many  villages  in  New  Jersey,  by 
Knyphausen — these  and  other  instances  of  British  venge 
ance — magnified  a  thousand-fold  by  British  newspapers,  and 
British  emissaries — reached  the  ears  of  Deane  in  his  seclusion 
at  Ghent.  With  -them  came  overwrought  pictures  of  the 
feebleness  of  the  Americans,  and  false  allegations  of  a  pre 
vailing  disposition  among  them  to  accommodate  their  differ 
ences  with  the  Mother-Country — allegations  which  were 
trumpeted  far  and  wide,  and  were  very  widely  credited. 

Deane,  from  his  residence  abroad,  knew  well  the  deep  dis 
credit  into  which  the  American  cause,  and  American  credit, 
had  fallen  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  sincerely  believed 
the  majority  of  his  countrymen  no  longer  desired  to  continue 
the  war.  The  opinion  which  he  entertained  at  its  outbreak, 
that  England  could  not  long  maintain  it,  had  been  changed. 
"  Six  years'  experience,"  as  he  wrote  Trumbull — "  in  three  of 
which  France  and  Spain  had  been  engaged  with  us  against 
Great  Britain — had  convinced  him  of  his  mistake."  He  be 
lieved  too,  as  he  adds — that  "  independence  in  the  three  great 
articles  of  Legislation,  Taxation,  and  Commerce,  contained 


1782.  CHAP.    XLVIII. — TRUMBULL.  573 

all  the  essentials  of  liberty,  and  that  the  title  and  honors  of 
sovereignty  can  by  no  means  balance  the  losses  and  the  ex 
penses  of  blood  and  treasure  unavoidable  in  the  acquisition 
and  support  of  them."  He  was  satisfied  too  in  his  own  mind 
that  self-interest  was  the  ruling  motive  both  of  France  and 
Spain  in  their  adoption  of  the  American  cause — and  that  by 
binding  this  cause  irrevocably,  as  the  Treaty  with  France 
was  supposed  to  do,  to  this  Power,  we  virtually  became  "the 
military  slaves  and  vassals  of  France  and  her  allies."  Under 
all  these  circumstances — not  having  heard  either  of  the  battle 
of  Yorktown,  or  of  the  then  recent  brilliant  achievements,  in 
the  West  Indies,  of  the  French  arms — Deane  ventured  to 
recommend  to  Trumbull — and  through  him  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  Connecticut — a  plan  for  reconciliation  with  the 
Motherland.  Let  Great  Britain,  he  proposed,  "  renounce  all 
claim  or  pretence  to  legislate  for  or  to  tax  America,  in  any 
case,  or  in  any  shape  whatever."  Let  this  power  to  legislate 
and  tax,  "  forever,  and  in  the  utmost  extent  of  it,  remain  in 
our  own  hands,  and  we  still  continue  united  to  and  a  part  of 
the  empire  of  Great  Britain,  under  one  common  sovereign, 
and  let  our  commerce  be  placed  on  the  same  equal  and  free 
regulations  as  the  commerce  of  the  other  parts  of  the  Em 
pire,  and  under  the  common  protection  of  the  whole." 

Unfortunately  for  Deane,  his  letter  containing  these  prop 
ositions  fell  into  the  hands  of  foes  to  America — probably 
British  foes — and  was  substantially  and  sadly  changed  from 
its  original  shape.  He  was  made  to  propose — in  the  letter  as 
received  by  Trumbull — a  return  on  the  part  of  America  to 
her  allegiance  upon  the  basis  of  the  state  of  things  as  they 
existed  at  the  time  of  the  Pacification  of  Paris  in  1763 — a 
basis  which,  however  acceptable  it  might  have  been,  and  was 
to  the  Colonies,  almost  if  not  quite  down  to  the  day  when, 
at  Lexington,  the  first  blood  of  the  Kevolution  was  shed,  yet  at 
the  period  when  Deane  wrote  was  utterly  out  of  question — 
for  it  sacrificed  everything  for  which  the  States,  for  six  long 
and  distressing  years,  had  struggled  tirelessly  and  gloriously.* 

*  Of  the  alteration  made  in  his  letter,  Deane  subsequently  wrote  to  Governor 
Trumbull,  and  in  the  following  terms : — 
"  You  say  that  my  sentiments  appeared  to  you  so  very  singular  as  to  merit  your 


574  CHAP.    XLVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1782. 

Deane  did  not,  in  fact,  offer  this  basis  for  consideration  at 
all.  The  enemy  offered  it  for  him.  His  letter,  therefore, 
having  been  materially  altered  by  inimical  hands — having 
been  made  to  express  sentiments  and  opinions  which  he 
never  entertained — which  he  disavows — which  by  no  impli 
cation  from  his  life  can  be  made  to  appear  as  ever  having 
been  his  own* — so  far  as  an  entire  return  of  America  to  her 
old  colonial  state  is  concerned — is  to  be  considered,  in  great 
part,  as  the  letter  of  an  alien  enemy  to  the  American  cause — 
just  as  much  so  as  the  Proclamation  from  Howe,  and  the 
Communication  from  Tryon,  to  which  we  have  already  given 
Trumb  all's  replies.  The  reply  we  are  now  about  to  give — 
longer  than  either  of  the  preceding — the  Keader  will  find 
calm,  yet  firm  in  all  its  reasonings — inflexible  and  exalted  in 
its  expression  of  love  for  country — and  determined,  and  even 
indignant  in  its  defence  of  plighted  faith,  and  plighted  hopes. 
It  is  as  follows : — 

"HARTFORD,  16th  May,  1782. 

"  SIR  :  I  duly  received  your  letter  dated  at  Ghent  the  21st  of  Octr  last, 
by  Capt.  Trowbridge,  and  have  paid  that  attention  to  your  sentiments 
therein  expressed,  which  their  singularity  appeared  to  me  to  merit. 

"At  the  time  when  you  wrote,  the  Decisive  Event  of  the  last  campaign 
in  this  country  was  not  known  to  you.  You  was  unacquainted  with  the 
noble  part  which  France  acted  on  this  occasion,  and  you  could  not  foresee 
that  this  blow  would  reduce  the  British  Parliament  to  confess  themselves 

attention.  Permit  me  to  say  that  yours  appeared  no  less  singular  to  me,  nor  can 
I  account  for  many  of  the  expressions  contained  in  your  letter,  but  by  presuming 
that  mine  must  have  undergone  some  material  alterations,  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  took  the  liberty  of  opening  and  of  copying  it  before  they  permitted  it  to  be 
sent  on.  I  am  the  more  induced  to  think  that  this  must  have  been  the  case,  as 
several  of  my  letters  have  suffered  in  the  same  manner  in  Philadelphia,  and  still 
the  more  so,  as  the  substance  of  yours  is  in  reply  to  positions  and  principles 
which  I  never  either  entertained  or  expressed  in  my  letter  to  you,  or  in  my  letters 
to  any  of  my  correspondents,  nor  even  in  conversation  with  my  most  intimate 
friends.  I  know  not  indeed  what  Rivington  may  have  published,  but  I  know  to 
my  cost  that  he  is  not  the  only  printer  on  the  Continent  who  is  always  ready  to 
publish  everything  which  will  serve  his  own,  or  the  purposes  of  his  party ;  but 
such  have  been  the  retirement  and  obscurity  in  which  I  have  lived  for  the  last 
twelve  months,  that  I  have  seen  none  of  his  publications.  I  never  proposed  we 
should  return  to  the  state  in  which  we  were  in  1763,  but  to  one  every  way 
preferable." 

*  Deane,  though  in  exile,  and  under  a  cloud,  felt  for  his  country  still.  •  Her 
interest,  he  wrote  at  this  time  to  Trumbull— "  is,  and  ever  will  be  my  sole  and 
first  object." 


1782.  CHAP.    XLVIII. — TKUMBULL.  575 

unable  to  prosecute  a  future  offensive  war  in  this  country.  You  could  not 
foresee  that  the  trifling  and  indecisive  campaigns  in  Europe  were  to  be 
soon  followed  by  the  most  important  successes  in  other  quarters  of  the 
world — that  St.  Eustatia,  St.  Martins,  St.  Kitts,  Penobscot,  Nevis,  and 
Minorca,  were  destined  to  crown  the  glories  of  Yorktown.  Great  Britain 
is  declining  fast  towards  the  evening  of  her  glory,  yet  I  view  her  decline 
without  feeling  any  fears  of  France  or  Spain.  It  should  be  the  first  ar 
ticle  of  every  man's  political  creed,  that  no  Nation  will  ever  assist  an 
other,  but  with  a  view  of  advancing  her  own  interest.  I  am  sensible 
how  important  the  humiliation  of  their  ancient  enemy  is  to  France  and 
Spain,  and  I  would  not  that  any  country  should  have  received  their  fa 
vors,  unless  she  could  propose  to  them  at  the  same  time  an  adequate  re 
ward.  I  am  sensible  that  France  will  ever  have  just  demands  upon  our 
gratitude,  and  Heaven  forbid  we  should  ever  so  far  forget  the  principles 
of  virtue  and  honor  as  to  withhold  our  acknowledgments.  Yet  France, 
if  not  too  generous,  is  at  least  too  politic  to  follow  in  those  steps  which 
have  led  her  rival  to  ruin.  She  knows  our  rapidly  increasing  importance 
too  well  not  to  wish  to  cement  our  present  friendship  by  a  series  of  noble 
and  spirited  actions. 

"  You  observe  that  we  shall  be  too  deeply  in  debt  to  her  for  monies 
actually  borrowed,  and  supplies  of  different  kinds — but  shall  we  repay 
those  debts  with  perfidy  and  ingratitude  ?  Shall  we  basely  desert  her, 
shall  we  unite  with  her  enemies,  and  turn  against  her  the  resources 
which  we  derive  from  her,  in  the  very  War  which  she  has  undertaken 
for  our  service?  France  has  a  body  of  troops  in  our  country — very 
true — they  have  served  us  faithfully  and  effectually,  but  I  extremely 
doubt  their  having  any  idea  of  augmenting  their  number  to  thirty  or 
even  twenty  thousand  men.  The  debility  of  our  enemy  does  not  leave 
her  a  pretext  for  such  an  augmentation,  even  if  she  wished  it;  and  I 
trust  we  have  too  much  wisdom  to  admit  the  proposal,  were  one  made 
even  in  an  hour  of  distress,  to  that  purpose. 

"  As  to  the  Treaty  which  guarantees  our  Independence,  I  do  not  sup 
pose  it  will  exist  longer  than  it  shall  mutually  appear  to  be  the  interest 
of  the  parties  that  it  should  exist ;  and  I  rely  with  more  confidence  on 
the  good  sense,  the  bravery,  and  virtue  of  my  countrymen  for  the  pres 
ervation  of  our  liberties,  than  upon  any  foreign  aid.  It  is  we  ourselves 
who  are  interested  in  their  preservation,  and  as  long  as  we  shall  possess 
virtue  to  merit,  so  long  we  shall  undoubtedly  enjoy  the  invaluable  bless 
ing.  And  whether  Spain,  Holland,  or  any  other  Power  upon  earth 
formally  acknowledge  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
or  not,  is  in  my  politics,  a  matter  of  indifference.  They  are  independent 
in  fact,  and  the  name  is  a  bauble. 

44  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  who  arrived  a  few  days  ago  at  New  York,  has 
made  similar  propositions  for  Peace,  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Great 
Britain,  with  those  which  you  pointed  out  as  attainable. 

"  You  have  painted  the  consequences  of  a  continuation  of  the  war — 


576  CHAP.    XLYIII. — TRUMBULL.  1782. 

permit  me  to  view  the  consequences  of  such  a  Peace.  The  object  pro 
posed  by  the  Treaty  subsisting  between  France  and  America,  is  declared 
to  be  the  acknowledgment  of  the  independence  of  the  latter  by  Great 
Britain,  and  in  a  subsequent  resolution  of  Congress  it  is  declared  that 
even  this  object  being  gained,  neither  Party  is  at  liberty  to  conclude  a 
separate  peace,  without  the  express  consent  of  the  other  in  accepting  the 
terms  now  proposed  by  the  King  of  Great  Britain  to  his  "  revolted  Colo 
nies  in  North  America."  We  must  therefore  break  through  every  obli 
gation  of  National  Honor  to  dissolve  this  Treaty.  If  the  offer  were  of 
Independence,  the  words  of  the  Treaty  might  furnish  us  with  a  slender 
pretext  for  accepting  it,  though  even  then  our  own  explanatory  declara 
tion  would  forbid  the  step.  But  should  we  basely  stoop  to  return  to  the 
state  in  which  we  were  in  the  year  1763,  which  is  the  proposal  of  the 
enemy,  we  have  not  even  words  to  shelter  us  from  the  contempt  of  man 
kind — and  surely  nothing  but  madness  can  lead  us  to  a  breach  of  faith 
as  consummately  infamous  as  it  is  important. 

"  Yet  let  us  suppose  that  America  possesses  fortitude  sufficient  to  brave 
the  insults  of  the  world — in  that  moment  the  object  of  Great  Britain  is 
accomplished.  The  present  war  will  soon  be  terminated,  and  she  will 
then  be  at  leisure  to  renew  her  oppressions  in  this  country,  without  a 
fear  of  the  interposition  of  any  foreign  power — there  is  not  a  nation  upon 
the  earth  that  would  not  exult  in  seeing  a  race  of  such  perfidious,  ungrate 
ful,  dastardly  wretches,  oppressed,  harassed,  extirpated.  France  would 
for  once  forget  her  national  enmity  to  Great  Britain,  and  rejoice  heartily 
in  the  acceleration  of  our  ruin. 

"  And  let  no  one  object  to  these  ideas  the  generosity  of  the  British  na 
tion.  This  war  has  given  us  full  experience  of  what  we  are  to  expect 
from  their  generosity.  Grant  that  the  continuance  of  the  war  for  a  few 
years  will  add  to  our  public  debts  and  taxes ;  but  tell  me  what  ease  we 
are  to  gain  by  a  reunion  with  a  People  who  are  sinking  under  the  press 
ure  of  their  own  debts — and  whose  necessities  will  join  with  their  re 
sentments  in  the  resolution  to  load  us,  not  only  with  our  own,  but  a 
large  share  of  their  burdens. 

"  No.  I  will  sooner  consent  to  load  myself,  my  constituents,  my  pos 
terity,  with  a  debt  equal  to  the  whole  property  of  the  country,  than  con 
sent  to  a  measure  so  detestably  infamous,  and  I  doubt  not  but  my  coun 
trymen  in  general  will  choose  with  me  to  preserve  their  liberties,  with 
the  reputation  and  the  consciousness  of  preserving  virtue,  even  though 
poverty  be  the  consequence. 

"  That  there  have  been  injudicious  expenditures  of  the  public  monies, 
and  that  the  same  may  happen  again,  is  to  be  expected  in  this  country, 
as  it  has  been  evidenced  in  every  other — for  we  are  not  perfect  more  than 
all  those  who  have  gone  before  us  ;  but  extravagance  is  not  the  predom 
inant  vice  of  republics,  and  we  shall  endeavour  to  guard  against  it. 

"  That  our  public  officers,  at  home  and  abroad,  have  in  some  instances 
deviated  from  their  duty,  and  while  they  have  been  expensive,  proved 


1782.  CHAP.    XLVIII. — TKUMBULL.  577 

also  useless  or  unfaithful  servants,  cannot  be  denied ;  and  yet  we  have 
seen  as  little  of  treason  and  corruption  as  times  of  public  convulsion 
have  commonly  exhibited. 

"From  the  information  which  I  have  of  the  politics  of  Europe,  I  ap 
prehend  nothing  hostile  at  present  from  Russia.  Letters  from  Peters- 
burgh  of  as  late  date  as  November  last,  declare  that  "  the  temper  of  that 
Court  is  not  unfriendly  to  America,"  and  Holland,  if  not  our  friend,  will 
at  least  not  be  our  enemy. 

"  I  shall  lay  your  letter,  together  with  the  answer,  before  a  General 
Assembly  of  this  State.  You  will  therefore  regard  these  sentiments  on 
the  subject  of  Peace,  not  only  as  mine  individually,  but  the  general  voice 
of  the  Representatives  of  the  People.  They  will  afterwards  remain  in 
my  public  files,  as  you  request.  I  am  Sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"JONTH  TKUMBULL." 

The  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  peace  which  Trumbull  so 
warmly  expresses  in  the  letter  just  quoted,  he  had  the  satis 
faction  of  seeing  inwrought,  indissolubly,  into  all  the  nego 
tiations  for  putting  an  end  to  the  war  which  now  soon  fol 
lowed  at  Paris.  In  vain  every  attempt  of  Great  Britain  to 
thrust  America  from  the  position  and  claims  which  he  so 
eloquently  advances  and  defends.  In  vain  her  efforts  to 
treat  with  the  American  Negotiators  under  the  title  of  "Com 
missioners  of  Colonies  or  Plantations,"  instead  of  "Commis 
sioners  of  Thirteen  Independent  States."  Useless  the  labor 
of  Sir  William  Jones,  with  his  celebrated  "Fragment  from 
Polybius,"  to  convince  Dr.  Franklin  that  the  States  of 
America,  like  the  Colonies  of  Athens,  should  treat  their 
Motherland — if  not  "as  a  parent  whom  they  must  obey" — 
yet  "as  an  elder  sister  whom  they  could  not  help  but  love, 
and  to  whom  they  should  give  pre-eminence  of  honor  and 
equality  of  power."  Yain  the  attempt,  with  the  aid  too  both 
of  France  and  Spain,  to  bereave  our  own  cis- Atlantic  Eepub- 
lic  of  the  country  west  of  the  ridges  of  the  Alleghany,  the 
home  for  future  millions  of  her  population — or  to  deprive 
her  of  her  fisheries,  as  the  price  of  peace — or  to  make  her 
pledge  herself  for  the  restoration  of  the  confiscated  estates  of 
American  refugees. 

With  a  perseverance  that  knew  no  check — with  a  courage 
of  purpose  that  was  ready  to  brave  another  Seven- Years 
49 


578  CHAP.    XLVIII. — TRUMBULL.  1782. 

War  rather  than  make  a  single  unworthy  concession — the 
American  Commissioners  stood  their  ground — and  Peace — a 
Provisional  Peace,  soon  to  be  made  definitive — spread  light 
and  sunshine  over  the  closing  year.  The  tide  of  British  op 
pression  was  stayed  by  the  iron  barrier  of  American  Inde 
pendence — and  King  George  the  Third — forced  at  last  to 
put  off  the  trappings  of  pride  for  the  winding-sheet  of  hu 
miliation — was,  "with  all  convenient  speed,"  to  withdraw  his 
armies,  his  garrisons,  his  fleets,  from  every  portion  of  that 
magnificent  domain  which  he  had  so  long,  with  a  death-clasp, 
struggled  to  retain,  and  had  so  fearfully  dyed  with  blood. 

In  anticipation  of  this  result,  the  French  Army,  early  as 
July,  had  marched  from  their  station  as  a  Corps  de  reserve  in 
Virginia,  to  join  General  Washington  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson.  From  hence,  in  October,  after  having  aided  awhile 
to  watch  against  the  British  forces  in  New  York,  they  pro 
ceeded  on  to  Boston,  thence  to  embark  for  the  West  Indies— 
the  American  Army  meanwhile  retiring  to  winter  quarters  at 
New  Windsor — Charleston  and  the  whole  South  being  evac 
uated  by  the  foe — and  everything,  the  country  through, 
wearing  the  air  of  military  repose,  and  indicating  a  speedy 
end  to  the  great  War  of  the  American  Revolution. 

Trumbull,  therefore,  with  the  closing  months  of  the  year, 
had  no  armed  struggles  longer  to  exact  his  attention,  and 
vex  his  repose.  It  was  a  much  more  grateful  duty  for  him 
at  this  time  to  hail — as  he  had  occasion  to  do,  during  the  last 
week  of  October — the  returning  corps  of  Eochambeau,  as,  on 
its  way  to  temporary  barracks  at  Providence,  it  marched 
again  through  the  whole  of  Connecticut.  By  a  public  Proc 
lamation  then  to  his  fellow-citizens — the  injunction  of  which, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  the  French  Commander  him 
self,  was  "generously  obeyed"* — he  provided  for  "the  cheap 

*"The  French  corps  passed  through  the  whole  of  Connecticut.  Governor 
Trumbull  and  his  Council  issued  a  proclamation,  urging  their  fellow  citizens  not 
to  raise  a  single  cent  the  price  of  provisions  during  the  passage  of  the  French 
troops.  The  inhabitants  obeyed  this  injunction  so  generously,  that  each  mess 
were  able  to  add,  every  evening,  to  the  common  allowances,  every  kind  of  provis 
ion  at  a  very  low  price." — Memoirs  of  BocTiambeau. 

October  twenty-ninth,  the  first  division  of  the  French  Army  arrived  at  Hart 
ford — November  fifth,  the  second.  They  encamped  at  East  Hartford.  Eocham 
beau,  writing  to  Washington  from  Hartford,  Oct.  30th,  says :  "I  have  resolved  to 


1782. 


CHAP.    XLVIII. — TRUMBULL.  579 


and  comfortable  passage "  through  the  State  of  the  veteran 
French  Grenadiers,  and  the  Chasseurs  of  Saintioge — again  of 
the  regiments  of  Bourbonnois,  Soissonnais,  and  Royal  Deux 
Fonts* — and  to  Kochambeau  in  person,  doubtless,  communi 
cated  the  sense  of  Connecticut,  then  lately  expressed  by  her 
General  Assembly,  in  favor  of  a  strict  adherence  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States  to  all  the  obligations  of  their  Treaty 
with  France. 

Grateful  also  the  duty  to  Trumbull  at  this  time — in  con 
formity  with  another  periodical  recommendation  from  the 
American  Congress — to  proclaim,  as  he  did,  to  the  inhabit 
ants  of  Connecticut  another  Thursdayf  for  solemn  Thanks 
giving  to  God,  because  of  the  existing  "happy  and  promising 
state  of  public  affairs" — because  of  "the  signal  interposi 
tions  of  his  Providence  "  in  behalf  of  the  United  States  dur 
ing  the  year  that  had  passed — because  of  "the  perfect  union 
and  good  understanding  "  which  continued  to  exist  with  our 
powerful  allies,  the  French — and  because  of  the  acknowledg 
ment  of  American  Independence  by  another  European  Pow 
er,  whose  friendship  and  correspondence  would  redound,  it 
was  believed,  to  "  the  great  and  lasting  advantage  "  of  that 
new  Republic,  upon  which  the  westward-turning  Star  of  Em 
pire  now  for  the  first  time  began  to  shed  a  steady,  though  as 
yet  but  an  infant  illumination. 

stay  here  four  days  longer — then  to  go  as  far  as  Providence  by  very  short  jour 
neys,  where  I  shall  stay  until  the  fleet  be  ready." 

*Lauzun's  Legion,  which  had  been  so  hospitably  entertained  at  Lebanon,  had 
remained  at  Baltimore,  and  finally  embarked  from  the  Capes  of  Delaware  on  the 
twelfth  of  May. 

t  November  thirtieth. 


C  HAPTER    XLIX. 
1783. 

ARRIVAL  of  the  Preliminary  Articles  of  Peace,  and  Proclamation  for  a  Ces 
sation  of  Hostilities.  Trumbull  receives  the  Proclamation  from  Con 
gress.  Accompanying  testimony  of  Eliphalet  Dyer  to  his  services. 
Testimony  also  to  the  same  point  of  President  Stiles  of  Tale  College, 
in  his  Anniversary  Discourse  before  the  General  Assembly  of  Connec 
ticut.  Trumbull  directs  the  due  publishment  of  the  Proclamation. 
The  ceremonies  at  Hartford  upon  the  occasion.  Celebrations  else 
where  in  Connecticut.  Trumbull  relieved  from  further  military  prep 
arations.  He  secures  the  arms  and  military  stores  of  the  State,  and 
protects  the  public  property  generally.  He  attends  to  the  liquidation 
of  war  accounts.  He  receives  intelligence  of  the  Ratifications  of  a  Gen 
eral  Peace,  and  of  the  contemplated  discharge,  in  November,  of  the 
Army  of  the  United  States.  His  letter  to  Henry  Laurens  on  the  event 
of  peace.  He  -writes  letters  congratulatory  on  the  event  to  Edmund 
Burke,  Dr.  Price,  David  Hartley,  Richard  Jackson,  Baron  Capellan,  and 
others.  The  tone  of  these  communications.  Extract  from  his  letter 
to  Dr.  Price  Now  that  the  war  is  over,  he  advocates  solid  harmony 
with  Great  Britain.  A  remarkable  letter  from  his  pen  to  the  Earl  of 
Dartmouth,  in  this  connection — in  which,  particularly,  he  introduces 
and  pleads  the  case  of  the  Hon.  John  Temple. 

THE  Provisional  Treaty  of  Peace  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States — that  welcome  harbinger  of  repose  from 
the  storms  of  war  which  beautified  the  going  down  of  the 
year  we  have  just  left — was  followed,  in  January  of  the  new 
year  upon  which  we  now  enter,  by  those  Preliminary  Articles 
of  Peace — concluded  and  signed  between  England,  France, 
and  Spain — without  which  its  own  vitality,  as  its  consti 
tution  required,  was  to  remain  suspended  for  an  unknown 
time. 

Twelfth  of  March,  in  the  morning,  and  Captain  Barney,  in 
the  Washington — packet  of  happy  name — brought  this  news 
to  Philadelphia  from  L'Orient.  Twenty-third  of  March,  in 
the  afternoon,  and  the  Chevalier  de  Quesne,  in  the  Triumph, 
another  vessel  happily  baptized — a  French  armed  corvette 
that  had  been  selected  by  the  chivalric  La  Fayette  himself 


1783.  CHAP.    XLIX. — TRUMBULL.  581 

"by  way  of  compliment  on  the  occasion  " — brought  the  same 
news  up  the  Delaware  from  Cadiz.  Official  confirmation  soon 
followed.  Congress  at  once  recalled  their  armed  cruisers  from 
the  ocean — and  prepared  their  Proclamation  for  a  Cessation  of 
Hostilities,  both  by  sea  and  land.  And  April  Nineteenth — 
just  eight  years  from  the  day  when  the  green  sod  at  Lexing 
ton  drank  the  first  blood  of  American  martyrs  to  the  Revolu- 
tion — with  the  consecration  of  prayer* — with  the  outpouring 
from  multitudes  of  voices,  and  from  instruments  of  music,  of 
the  magnificent  anthem  of  " Independence  "\  and  with  rending 
huzzas — the  Proclamation  was  announced  by  the  Father  of 
his  Country  to  the  American  Armies  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson,  as  "  the  morning-star,  which  promised  the  approach 
of  a  brighter  day  than  had  ever  hitherto  illuminated  the 
western  hemisphere.^ 

April  twentieth,  and  Jonathan  Trumbull — in  common  with 
the  Governors  of  all  the  States — received  this  important  docu 
ment,  in  a  letter  from  the  national  Secretary  of  Foreign  Af 
fairs — Robert  R.  Livingston — with  a  request  that  he  should 
make  it  known.  Within  a  few  hours  of  the  same  time,  he 
also  received  it  in  another  letter,  long  and  admirable,  from 
the  Honorable  Eliphalet  Dyer,  then  in  Congress — who  spe 
cially  congratulated  the  veteran  Chief  Executive  of  Connec 
ticut  on  the  grand  result,  and  made  noble  mention  of  his  past 
services. 

"I  heartily  rejoice,  Sir,"  wrote  Dyer  upon  this  occasion — "that  in  the 
laborious  part  you  have  taken  in  your  advanced  years,  in  the  important 
station  which  Providence  has  assigned  you — in  which,  with  unwearied 
application,  you  have  exerted  your  utmost  abilities,  with  patience,  hope, 
and  perseverance,  in  the  cause  and  service  of  your  country,  and  in  the 
greatest  trials  and  darkest  hours  of  our  conflict,  with  a  firm  and  unshak 
en  reliance  on  Divine  Providence — that  God  has  supported  and  continued 
your  valuable  life  at  length  to  see  the  joyful  day  of  her  Deliverance. 

"  Rewards  you  will  not  too  much  expect  here,  except  in  conscious  rec 
titude,  but  wait  with  patience  for  those  superior,  with  which  God  will 
abundantly  reward  his  faithful  servants.  I  know  your  Country  owe  you 
their  esteem,  their  respect,  and  their  gratitude — whether  they  make  you 
that  remittance,  or  forbear  the  just  tribute  which  is  your  due." 

*  By  Eev.  Mr.  Ganno.  t  From  Billings. 

J  See  his  General  Orders  on  the  occasion. 
49* 


582  CHAP.    XLIX. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

"Yours  of  the  3rd  instant,"  wrote  Trumbull  in  reply,  April  twenty- 
first,  from  Lebanon — "is  received — and  yesterday  morning  I  received 
from  R.  R.  Livingston,  Esq.,  a  letter  of  the  12th,  inclosing  a  Proclama 
tion  for  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  which  I  have  this  morning  sent  to 
Hartford  for  publication. 

"  This  event  of  divine  Providence  is  truly  marvelous  in  our  eyes,  and 
demands  our  highest  gratitude  and  praise  to  Almighty  God.  It  relieves 
us  from  the  distresses  of  war,  and  affords  the  fairest  prospect  of  the 
future  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  United  States  of  America.  I  do 
most  sincerely  congratulate  you  on  this  great  event. 

"  I  have  the  peculiar  satisfaction  to  see  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  and 
to  enjoy  pleasing  hopes  of  a  good  national  character.  May  the  supreme 
Director  of  all  Events  give  wisdom  and  prudence  to  all  concerned  in  es 
tablishing  and  building  up  this  rising  Nation.  Union,  and  Harmony, 
Justice  to  creditors,  and  the  security  of  Public  Credit,  are  objects  worthy 
the  attention  of  all  concerned  in  government." 

"  We  account  ourselves  happy,  most  illustrious  Sire  " — said  President 
Stiles  about  this  time,  May  eighth,  in  the  usual  Anniversary  Discourse 
before  the  Legislature — also  congratulating  his  Excellency  on  the  term 
ination  of  the  war,  and  commemorating  his  services — "  we  account  our 
selves  happy  that,  by  the  free  election  and  annual  voice  of  citizens,  God 
hath  for  so  many  years  past  called  you  up  to  the  supreme  Magistracy  in 
this  commonwealth.  *  * 

"  Endowed  with  a  singular  strength  of  the  mental  powers,  with  a  vivid 
and  clear  perception,  with  a  penetrating  and  comprehensive  judgment, 
embellished  with  the  acquisition  of  academical,  theological,  and  political 
erudition,  your  Excellency  became  qualified  for  a  very  singular  variety  of 
usefulness  in  life.  *  * 

"An  early  entrance  into  civil  improvement,  and  fifty  years'  service  of 
our  country,  with  an  uncommon  activity  and  dispatch  in  business,  had 
familiarized  the  whole  rota  of  duty  in  every  office  and  department,  ante 
cedent  and  preparatory  to  the  great  glory  of  your  Excellency's  life,  the 
last  eight  years'  administration  at  the  head  of  this  commonwealth :  an 
administration  which  has  rendered  you  the  Pater  Patrice,  the  Father  of 
your  Country,  and  our  dulce  decus  atque  tutamen. 

"  We  adore  the  God  of  our  Fathers,  the  God  and  father  of  the  spirits  of 
all  flesh,  that  he  hath  raised  you  up  for  such  a  time  as  this ;  and  that  he 
hath  put  into  your  breast  a  wisdom  which  I  cannot  describe  without 
adulation — a  patriotism  and  intrepid  resolution,  a  noble  and  independent 
spirit,  an  unconquerable  love  of  Liberty,  Religion,  and  our  Country, 
and  that  grace  by  which  you  have  been  carried  through  the  arduous 
labors  of  an  high  office,  with  a  dignity  and  glory  never  before  acquired 
by  an  American  Governor.  Our  enemies  revere  the  names  of  Trumbull 
and  Washington.  In  honoring  the  State  and  councils  of  Connecticut, 
you,  illustrious  Sire,  have  honored  yourself  to  all  the  confederate  Sister 


1783.  CHAP.    XLIX. — TKUMBULL.  583 

States,  to  the  Congress,  to  the  Gallic  Empire,  to  Europe,  and  to  the  world, 
to  the  present  and  distant  ages.  And  should  you  now  lay  down  your 
office,  and  retire  from  public  life,  we  trust  you  may  take  this  people  to 
record,  in  the  language  in  which  that  holy  patriot,  the  pious  Samuel,  ad 
dressed  Israel,  and  say  unto  us — /  am  old,  and  gray-headed — and  I  have 
walked  before  you  from  my  childhood  unto  this  day.  Behold  here  I  am, 
witness  against  me  before  the  Lord: — whose  ox  have  I  taken?  or  whose 
ass  have  I  taken  ?  or  whom  have  I  defrauded  f  whom  have  I  oppressed  ? 
or  of  whose  hand  have  1  received  any  bribe,  to  blind  mine  eyes  therewith  ? 
and  I  will  restore  it  to  you  again.  And  they  said  thou  hast  not  de 
frauded  nor  oppressed  us,  neither  hast  thou  taken  aught  of  any  man's 
hand.  And  he  said  unto  them,  the  Lord  is  witness  against  you,  and  his 
anointed  is  witness  this  day,  that  ye  have  not  found  ought  in  my  hand. 
And  they  answered,  he  is  witness.'1''* 

The  Proclamation  for  the  Cessation  of  Hostilities  to  which 
allusion  has  been  made — according  to  one  of  its  provisions, 
and  as  requested  by  Secretary  Livingston — was  to  be  made 
public  by  "  all  Governors  and  others,  the  Executive  Powers 
of  these  United  States  respectively,  to  the  end  that  the  same 
might  be  duly  observed  within  the  respective  jurisdictions." 
Trumbull,  therefore,  early  in  May  transmitted  the  document 
to  the  Secretary  of  Connecticut,  with  directions  to  the  Sheriff 
of  Hartford  County  duly  to  publish  the  same,  with  appropri 
ate  ceremonies,  in  the  metropolis  of  the  State — which  accord 
ingly  was  done. 

On  a  Memorable  "Wednesday — at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing — his  own  Guards,  and  the  Artillery  Company  of  Hart 
ford,  fully  armed  and  equipped — in  uniform  rendered  spe 
cially  neat  and  glittering  for  the  occasion — paraded  in  front 
of  the  Capitol — and  from  the  summit  of  a  high  platform 
erected  for  the  purpose — before  a  large  crowd  of  spectators — 
the  Secretary  of  State,  venerable  George  "Wyllys,  the  Author- 

*  "  May  you  receive  a  reward,"  he  concludes,  "  from  the  supreme  Governor  of 
the  Universe ;  which  will  be  a  reward  of  grace.  For  although  your  Excellency 
might  adopt  the  words  of  that  illustrious  governor,  NehemiaJi,  and  say,  think 
upon  me,  my  God,  for  good,  according  to  all  that  I  have  done  for  this  people,  yet 
your  ultimate  hope  for  immortality  will  be  founded  in  a  more  glorious  merit  than 
that  achieved  by  mortals,  in  the  most  illustrious  scenes  of  public  usefulness. 
May  the  momentary  remnant  of  your  days  be  crowned  with  a  placid  tranquillity. 
And,  when  you  shall  have  finished  your  work  on  earth,  may  you  be  received  to 
the  rewards  of  the  just,  and  shine  in  the  general  assembly  of  the  first  born, 
through  eternal  ages.  Amen." 


584:  CHAP.    XLIX.— TKUMBULL.  1783. 

ities  of  Hartford,  and  very  many  of  the  clergy,  figuring 
among  them — the  Sheriff  proclaimed  the  welcome  tidings — 
while  "every  bosom,"  says  a  cotemporaneous  account, 
"  glowed  with  joy,  and  uttered  their  expressive  plaudit  in 
loud  huzzas."  The  troops  present  then  formed  into  pla 
toons,  and  from  the  midst  of  their  hollow  squares  poured  out 
upon  the  whole  surrounding  region  the  voice  of  their  cannon 
and  their  musketry. 

"  May  God  Almighty,"  pronounced  the  Sheriff — "  ever  be 
the  guardian  and  protector  of  the  just  rights  and  liberties  of 
the  United  States  of  America !  " 

"  May  good  order  and  government,"  he  pronounced  again, 
after  an  interval  allowed  for  another  discharge  of  guns  and 
field-pieces — "  useful  learning  and  true  piety,  by  divine  favor 
be  maintained  and  flourish  throughout  the  United  States  of 
America,  until  time  shall  be  no  more  I  " 

"  May  the  great  blessing  of  health,"  he  pronounced  in  con 
clusion,  after  another  discharge  from  the  troops — "plenty, 
and  peace,  from  the  Father  of  mercies,  be  the  happy  portion 
of  the  United  States  to  the  latest  generation  I  " 

Again  guns  shook  the  air.  Huzzas  were  repeated.  And 
then  the  whole  assemblage,  formed  into  an  imposing  proces 
sion,  marched  to  the  Meeting  House  of  the  town — from 
whence — after  an  appropriate  Psalm  and  Anthem  had  been 
sung,  and  an  Oration,  adapted  to  the  occasion,  had  been 
delivered  by  the  Honorable  Chauncey  Goodrich — it  filed  off 
to  participate  in  a  bounteous  dinner — which,  says  the  Hart 
ford  Courant  of  the  day,  "  was  served  at  two  o'clock,  and 
the  afternoon  was  spent  with  every  demonstration  of  sociabil 
ity,  and  a  grateful  remembrance  of  those  who  had,  under  the 
divine  auspices,  wrought  the  happy  deliverance  of  America." 
An  illumination  of  the  public  buildings,  and  of  many  houses 
in  town,  in  the  evening,  and  a  display  of  fireworks,  round 
ed  off  the  proceedings  of  the  day  "  to  the  perfect  satisfaction  of 
all."*  Celebrations  in  numerous  other  towns  and  villages  in 

*  After  the  celebration  at  night,  an  accident,  of  some  importance,  occurred, 
which  is  thus  narrated  by  the  Hartford  Courant  :— 

"  At  about  half  after  eleven  the  same  night,  the  town  was  alarmed  by  the  dis 
covery  of  fire  on  the  top  of  the  State  House  near  the  Lanthorn,  but  by  the  favor 


1783.  CHAP.     XLIX. — TRUMBULL.  585 

Connecticut,  similar  in  most  respects  to  this  in  the  metropo 
lis,  marked  the  general  joy  of  the  people  upon  the  cessation 
of  arms.  The  charge  in  the  Proclamation  "to  forbear  all 
acts  of  hostility,  either  by  sea  or  land,  against  his  Britannic 
Majesty  or  his  subjects,"  was  nowhere  received  with  greater 
thankfulness,  and  nowhere  better  observed,  than  here  in  a 
State  whose  blood  and  whose  treasure — more  it  is  believed, 
in  proportion  to  its  population  and  its  means,  than  those  of 
any  other  State  in  the  Union — had  been  drained  and  expend 
ed  in  the  great  American  Battle  for  Freedom. 

Trumbull,  therefore,  it  is  manifest  from  the  state  of  things 
now  described,  had  nothing  to  do,  the  present  period,  which 
wore  the  aspect  of  preparation  for  another  military  campaign. 
Possibly,  as  it  seemed  at  the  beginning  of  the  year — from  the 
extravagant  demands  of  France  and  Spain — from  a  hope  in 
the  one  Power  of  securing  greater  acquisitions  in  the  East, 
and  in  the  other  of  adding  to  her  territorial  strength  in  the 
"West  Indies,  and  upon  the  Mediterranean — or  from  the  insin 
cerity,  perhaps,  of  the  English  Cabinet — obstacles  might 
arise  to  a  general  peace.  But  the  appearance  of  these  soon 
vanished.  The  Provisional  Treaty  of  November  did  not 
dazzle  to  lead  astray,  but  proved  itself  a  prelude  to  general 
repose — and  soon — early  in  January  even — such  was  the  uni 
versal  confidence  that  peace  would  be  re-established  between 
all  the  belligerent  Powers,  that  Congress  resolved  it  would 
be  inexpedient  to  determine  upon  any  plan,  or  to  make  any 
expensive  preparations,  for  another  campaign.  The  federal 
troops  then  in  service,  without  any  further  additions  from 

of  heaven,  and  the  manly  exertions  of  the  inhabitants,  aided  by  gentlemen  from 
a  distance,  to  whom  many  thanks  are  due,  it  was  finally  extinguished.  The  next 
morning  many  public  spirited  gentlemen  generously  contributed,  and  by  the  ad 
vice  of  the  Honorable  County  Court  convened,  directed  an  immediate  repair  of 
the  building  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Honorable  Assembly,  soon  to  be  con 
vened,  until  their  further  direction  may  be  had.  Upon  the  strictest  enquiry 
made  of  this  unhappy  event,  it  appears  that  great  care  was  taken  to  prevent  it — 
that  more  than  an  hour  after  every  exhibition  had  ceased  and  all  had  retired,  Capt. 
George  Smith,  the  overseer,  carefully  examined  every  part  of  the  house  and  se 
cured  the  same.  After  all,  every  candid  mind  will  admit  that  demonstrations  of 
joy  and  gratitude  upon  such  great  occasions,  are  practiced  and  approved  by  all 
Christian  people,  though  at  the  same  time  Providence  may  direct  unforeseen 
events  contrary  to  human  expectation  and  the  most  careful  attempts  to  avoid 
them." 


586  CHAP.    XLIX. — TKUMBULL.  1783. 

the  States,  were,  in  their  opinion,  ample  for  all  existing  pur- 


So  Trumbull  had  no  more  soldiers  to  bring  into  the  field — 
no  fresh  guards  and  garrisons  to  establish  upon  the  sea-coast 
of  the  State — no  more  of  the  material  of  war  to  provide. 
Just  at  the  opening  of  the  year,  it  is  true — to  guard  the 
western  frontier  of  Connecticut  against  any  possible  incur 
sions  from  little  wandering  British  parties  from  New  York — 
it  was  ordered  that  a  new  blockhouse,  "  if  expedient,"  should 
be  erected  on  Byram  River.  But  no  occasion  seems  to  have 
arisen  which  required  its  construction. 

And  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  too,  trade  with  the  ene 
my,  still  declared  to  be  illicit,  continued  to  call  for  Trum- 
bull's  circumspection.  But  the  zeal  and  activity  of  Major 
Tallmadge  of  Connecticut — whom  General  Washington  had 
placed,  with  the  infantry  of  Sheldon's  legion,  on  the  south 
ern  borders  of  Connecticut,  "  for  the  purpose  of  interrupting 
on  that  side  the  trade  with  New  York  " — soon  relieved  the 
Governor  almost  entirely  of  responsibility  in  this  direc 
tion — a  responsibility  which,  so  far  as  he  was  himself  con 
cerned,  was  still  farther  relieved  by  a  Proclamation  from  his 
pen,  late  in  April,  which  terminated  the  restraints,  between 
Connecticut  and  the  enemy,  as  regards  the  passing  of  neat 
cattle,  and  the  transportation  of  beef  and  provisions  of  every 
kind.*  The  acts  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  down  to  their  close  in  the 
month  of  October,  no  longer  in  fact  breathe  the  notes  of  mili 
tary  preparation  at  all.  On  the  other  hand,  they  embrace 
transactions,  which,  so  far  as  the  war  with  England  is  con 
cerned,  look  exclusively  to  the  termination  of  that  contest. 

These  transactions,  soon  as  the  spring  opened,  gave  Trum- 
bull  occupation  quite  the  reverse  of  that  which  in  preced 
ing  years  had  monopolized  his  attention,  and  which  was  far 
more  grateful.  In  preparation  to  retread  the  flowery  paths 

*  "  The  enemy's  armed  vessels  in  the  Sound  were  carrying  on  and  protect 
ing  an  illicit  trade  with  the  inhabitants  along  the  coast.  A  privateer  of  this 
description,  mounting  eleven  large  carriage-guns  and  four  swivels,  was  boarded 
by  a  party  sent  by  Major  Tallmadge  in  a  fast  sailing  vessel,  and  after  a  short  but 
sharp  conflict  was  captured.  Major  Tallmadge  represented  the  enterprise  as  con 
ducted  with  great  courage  and  gallantry  on  the  part  of  the  assailants." — Sparks. 


1783.  CHAP.    XLIX. — TKUMBULL.  587 

of  peace,  lie  had  now  to  take  off  from  Connecticut  the  helm 
et,  and  unbend  the  bow  of  war.  Through  various  agents, 
appointed  either  by  the  State,  or  by  himself  and  his  Council, 
he  had  to  secure  her  remaining  military  stores,  her  arms,  her 
ordnance,  her  camp  equipage,  her  camp  utensils,  her  cloth 
ing,  her  beef,  pork,  salt,  flour,  and  other  provisions,  scattered 
as  they  lay  in  the  hands  of  numerous  receivers  in  different 
garrisons  and  towns.  These  he  had  to  see  stored  at  particu 
lar  points.  For  the  disposition  of  many  of  them  at  private 
sale,  or  at  public  vendue,  he  had  also  to  provide. 

Accordingly  we  find  him — now  in  April  preparing  for  the 
evacuation  and  dismantling  of  the  posts  at  and  about  Stam 
ford,  and  appointing  Lieutenant  Colonel  Canfield,  with  ten  or 
twelve  men,  to  secure  and  guard  the  public  property  there 
"until  the  confirmation  of  peace  should  arrive" — now  order 
ing  the  sale  of  broken  cannon  at  New  London — and  now  as 
signing  persons  to  protect  from  embezzlement  the  ordnance 
and  munitions  of  war  at  Stonington.  Now,  in  June,  we  find 
him  commissioning  Ebenezer  Ledyard  "to  take  care  of  the 
Guard  House  at  Groton,"  with  liberty  to  the  supervisor — 
strange  dissimilitude  of  use  indeed,  in  contrast  with  that 
which  but  two  years  before  had  spattered  and  grained  its 
floor  and  walls  with  blood — to  employ  it  "for  a  school-house'''1 — 
and  "  to  hire  out  the  Barracks  on  the  Hill "  for  such  rents  as 
could  be  obtained.  In  similar  employment  at  other  points — 
in  that  also,  almost  constantly,  of  settling  the  thousand  ac 
counts  of  the  war,  upon  memorials,  and  otherwise — in  urg 
ing  national  measures  for  paying  the  national  debt,  and  for 
the  restoration  of  public  credit — and  in  quieting  the  popular 
discontent  which  these  measures  occasioned — the  Governor 
of  Connecticut  spent  his  time  until,  in  September,  news  of 
the  Katifications  at  last  of  a  General  Peace  reached  our  land — 
and  Congress — announcing  by  a  formal  Proclamation  that 
this  Peace  would  be  "permanent  and  honorable,"  and  that 
"the  glorious  period"  had  indeed  arrived,  when  "our  national 
sovereignty  and  independence  were  established  " — gave  to  the 
Army  of  the  United  States,  which  had  been  by  furlough  grad 
ually  disbanding  through  the  summer,  a  final  and  absolute 
discharge  "from  and  after  the  third  of  November  next!" 


588  CHAP.    XLIX. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

"That  superintending  Wisdom,  Sir,"  wrote  Governor  Trumbull  at 
this  period  from  Lebanon,  October  fifth,  to  Henry  Laurens — "which  gov 
erns  human  affairs,  has  brought  to  a  happy  termination  our  arduous  con 
test.  It  has  brought  these  United  States  to  be  named  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  as  a  free,  independent,  and  sovereign  people.  The  same  in 
dulgent  Providence  has  given  you  and  me  the  privilege  of  citizenship  in 
this  newly  rising  empire.  Suffer  me  to  congratulate  you  on  this  great 
event — an  event  which,  at  the  same  time  that  it  astonishes  almost  the 
world,  has  been  accomplished  even  beyond  our  own  expectations.  So 
great  a  Revolution  undoubtedly  is  the  work  of  Heaven,  and  as  such, 
claims  our  utmost  gratitude  and  love  to  the  Supreme  Disposer  of  all 
events. 

"  The  conspicuous  part  you,  Sir,  have  acted  in  this  great  Drama,  with 
the  peculiar  sufferings  you  have  experienced  through  the  course  of  vari 
ous  scenes — the  imprisonment  of  your  person — and  what  in  your  situa 
tion  as  a  parent,  is  infinitely  more  trying,  the  loss  of  an  invaluable  son — 
have  justly  drawn  upon  you  the  patriotic  attention  of  your  fellow  citi 
zens,  and  demand  their  deepest  veneration  and  acknowledgments.  I 
offer  you  my  thanks  and  condolence,  Sir,  with  the  warmth  of  a  grateful 
and  tender  heart,  which  has  experienced  feelings  not  very  dissimilar  to 
yours — a  heart  big  with  gratitude  and  love  for  the  glorious  prospects  now 
before  us. 

"  May  the  same  kind  hand  which  has  been  hitherto  so  propitious  to  our 
country,  establish  her  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  that  Peace,  Independence, 
and  National  Glory,  the  foundations  of  which  have  been  so  happily  and 
nobly  laid !  " 

"  It  is  with  heartfelt  pleasure  and  satisfaction,"  wrote  the  Governor  to 
John  Adams,  on  the  same  day  with  this  letter  to  Laurens — "that  I  im 
prove  so  good  an  opportunity  as  that  of  my  son's  going  to  London,  to 
congratulate  you  on  the  happy  return  of  Peace,  and  the  glorious  estab 
lishment  of  the  Independence  and  Sovereignty  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  The  conspicuous  part  which  you  have  acted  in  the  procure 
ment  of  this  great  event,  justly  endears  you  to  all  the  virtuous  citizens 
of  our  rising  empire,  and  demands  the  warmest  acknowledgments  of 
every  American.  I  offer  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  Sir,  my  best 
thanks,  and  wish  you  to  accept  them  with  all  that  cordiality  with  which 
my  sincerest  gratitude  dictates  them. 

"  So  great  a  Revolution  as  ours,  doubtless  ranks  high  in  the  scale  of 
human  events,  and  when  we  view  it  effected  in  so  short  a  period  com 
pared  with  its  magnitude,  and  consider  the  apparent  incompetency  of 
American  power  to  the  great  undertaking,  and  reflect  on  the  many,  very 
many  embarrassments  and  peculiarity  of  circumstances  under  which  we 
have  struggled,  it  must  be  acknowledged  the  work  of  superior  Agency, 
and  claims  our  utmost  gratitude  and  love  to  the  Supreme  Disposer  of  all 
events.  May  the  same  Almighty  Wisdom  which  has  hitherto  so  con 
spicuously  directed  our  councils,  still  continue  its  gracious  superintend- 


1783. 


CHAP.    XLIX. — TRUMBULL.  589 


ence,  that  we  may  be  led  to  make  a  happy  use  of  the  precious  opportu 
nity  committed  to  our  improvement — that  the  superstructure  committed 
to  our  building,  may  be  reared  with  the  same  glory  and  splendor  in 
which  its  foundations  have  been  laid.  Some  unhappy  ruffles  in  the 
minds  of  the  people,  with  some  other  disagreeable  circumstances,  for  the 
present  moment  cast  a  shade  on  the  bright  aspect  before  us — but  the 
same  confident  faith  which  has  supported  me  through  various  trying 
scenes  in  the  course  of  the  War,  still  supports  my  mind,  and  gives  me  an 
unfailing  hope  that  we  shall  yet  surmount  the  present  unfavorable 
prospects." 

Sentiments  congratulatory  on  the  Peace,  similar  to  those 
which  he  expresses  to  Lauren s  and  to  Adams,  were  addressed 
by  Trumbull  to  numerous  other  correspondents  both  at  home 
and  abroad — and  abroad  particularly  to  Edmund  Burke,* 
and  Dr.  Price,  David  Hartley,  Eichard  Jackson,  and  Baron 
Capellan.  Few  of  his  letters,  however,  on  this  subject,  are 
in  our  hands — but  we  have  no  doubt  that  they  all  breathed 
the  same  spirit  of  patriotic  joy  with  those  from  which  we 
have  already  quoted — the  same  calm,  yet  profound  sense  of 
deliverance  from  danger — the  same  grateful  ascription  of  the 
American  triumph  to  the  special  guiding  hand  of  Provi 
dence — the  same  heartfelt  yet  anxious  hope  for  the  future 
exalted  welfare  of  his  country,  and  the  same  unfaltering  reli 
ance  on  the  gracious  interposition  of  the  Almighty  hand  to 
mould  its  destinies  for  the  best. 

One  trait  of  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  at  the  period 
now  under  consideration,  deserves  special  mention  here — for 
it  was  one  truly  noble.  We  refer  to  the  fact,  that,  though 
America  had  every  reason  to  indulge  in  the  language  of  tri 
umph — though,  as  a  victor  in  the  grand  Olympic  game  for 
Independence — her  glory  having  taken  root,  and  unfolded 
itself — she  would  have  been  justified  in  putting  on  the  trap 
pings  of  pride — yet  not  an  ostentatious  word  escaped  the 
lips  of  Trumbull,  or  betrayed  itself  in  his  correspondence. 
"While — more  profoundly  than  most  men  did,  or  could — he 
felt  the  success  of  that  cause  to  which  he  had  so  long  and  so 
untiringly  devoted  himself,  and  justly  gloried  in  the  realiza 
tion  of  his  past  prophecies  with  regard  to  the  event  of  the 

*  "  I  had  the  honor  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  termination  of  the  late  war  in 
May  last."— Trumbull  to  Bwlce,  Oct.  1, 1783. 
50 


590  CHAP.    XLIX. — TKUMBULL.  1783. 

contest — yet  no  impassioned  exultation  marred  the  wise  com 
posure  of  his  spirits — beaming  though  his  country  stood  in 
the  full  radiance  of  victory.  Not  a  feeling  of  gratified  re 
venge,  not  one  spark  of  malice,  had  a  place  in  his  bosom. 

On  the  other  hand,  his  was  the  exalted  wish  and  effort  to 
smother  the  angry  passions  which  War  had  engendered — to 
pour  the  oil  pf  peace  into  all  the  wounds  of  the  past — and 
make  the  relations  between  the  two  long  contesting  coun 
tries — though  no  longer  united  under  a  common  sovereign — 
amicable,  intimate,  and  cordial.  He  no  longer  now  knew 

"  that  Englishman  alive, 
With  whom  his  soul  was  any  jot  at  odds." 

And  so  he  strove  earnestly  for  reciprocal  conciliation  and 
harmony — labored  to  reconstitute,  and  draw  now  more 
closely  than  ever — on  the  footing  of  a  mutual  and  manly  in 
dependence — the  bands  of  social,  literary,  and  commercial 
intercourse. 

"That  superintending  Providence,"  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Price,  December 
first — "which  influences  the  affairs  of  men,  has  severed  that  intimate  tie 
which  once,  so  happily  for  both,  connected  the  people  of  this  country 
with  those  of  your  Island,  under  one  common  sovereign,  and  has  given 
to  these  United  States  an  independent  rank  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  Shall  this  event  produce  a  total  disunion  between  us?  I  trust 
not.  Forbid  it  policy!  Forbid  it  wisdom!  Although  the  relation  of 
fellow  subjects  is  dissolved,  other  bonds  will  unite  us.  Similarity  of 
manners,  character,  and  disposition,  natural  consanguinity,  mutual  inter 
ests  and  wants,  supported  and  interchanged  by  commerce,  must  yet  con 
nect  us.  Resentments,  however,  and  a  sense  of  injuries,  must  have  time 
to  subside — and  the  most  conciliatory  policy  must  be  applied  to  heal  the 
wounds  which  have  been  too  liberally  given." 

"  The  unhappy  contest  between  your  nation  and  the  United  States 
being  terminated,"  wrote  Trumbull  again  to  David  Hartley,  the  same  day 
with  his  letter  to  Dr.  Price — "  and  the  die  of  separation  being  cast,  it  re 
mains  for  both  to  study  an  accommodating  spirit  of  conciliation ;  that 
the  mutual  affection  and  interests  of  the  two  people,  cemented  by  other 
ties  than  those  which  heretofore  cemented  us,  may  be  secured  on  a  hap 
py  and  lasting  foundation." 

In  such  manner,  now  that  war  was  over,  did  Trumbull 
plead  for  solid  harmony  with  Great  Britain — and  in  no  letter 


1783.  CHAP.    XLIX. — TRUMBULL.  591 

more  strikingly  than  in  one  we  are  now  about  to  introduce. 
It  is  a  letter  which,  October  first,  he  addressed  to  his  old  cor 
respondent  and  friend  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  to  whom,  at 
the  outset  of  the  Eevolution,  as  the  Eeader  has  seen* — and 
particularly  in  reply  to  Dartmouth's  official  admonition  to 
the  Governors  of  America  against  sending  deputies  to  a  Gen 
eral  Congress — Trumbull  had  often  written,  pleading  for  his 
country,  and  warning  against  the  consequences  of  ministerial 
measures.  To  this  correspondence  Trumbull  refers  in  what 
follows,  and  keenly  yet  courteously  claims,  that,  had  the 
truths  which  he  "  frankly  made  known  "  at  the  beginning  of 
the  contest  been  regarded,  England  and  America  would  still 
have  remained  "in  a  mutual  happy  connection."  But  the 
die  of  separation  being  cast,  there  ought  now  to  be,  he  urges, 
a  return  of  cordial  intercourse  between  the  two  countries — 
and  particularly  on  the  part  of  England,  honorable  repara 
tion  for  injuries,  especially  those  which  she  has  inflicted  upon 
any  of  her  former  officers  in  America,  whom  she  dismissed 
from  lucrative  employments  because  of  their  honest  attach 
ment  to  the  American  cause. 

In  this  connection  he  dwells  on  the  case  of  the  Honorable 
John  Temple — a  gentleman  of  high  ability  and  reputation — 
who  to  the  posts  of  Lieutenant-Governor  in  one  of  the  form 
er  Provinces  of  America,  and  of  a  Councillor  at  the  Board 
of  five  other  Provinces,  had  added  the  office  of  Surveyor 
General  of  the  Koyal  Eevenue  in  America,  and  afterwards 
of  Surveyor  General  of  the  Customs  in  England — and  who, 
on  account  of  his  attachment  to  the  United  States,  had  been 
thrown  out  from  all  employment  under  the  Crown.  For  his 
reinstatement  in  office,  and  compensation,  Trumbull  pleads 
with  all  the  warmth  of  private  friendship,  and  with  the  sin 
cerity  of  one  who  fully  believes  that  his  restoration  to  royal 
favor  would  powerfully  tend  towards  renewing  that  "  good 
humour  "  between  the  two  countries,  for  which  he  expresses 
himself  so  cordially  solicitous. 

"  It  may  somewhat  surprise  your  Lordship,"  he  proceeds — "  to  receive 
a  letter  from  a  Governor  of  one  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  at 

*  See  page  170. 


592  CHAP.    XLIX. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

a  time  too  when  your  Lordship  has  ceased  to  hold  a  ministerial  office, 
which  formerly  gave  me  occasion  to  write  officially  to  you.  I  however 
flatter  myself  that  you  will  not  take  it  amiss,  my  thus  trespassing  a  few 
minutes  on  your  time. 

"Your  Lordship  will  recollect  that  I  had  the  honor  of  writing  fre 
quently  to  you  at  the  beginning  of  those  troubles  which  brought  on  a 
war  between  Great  Britain  and  this  country ;  and  that  I  took  the  liberty, 
as  I  thought  it  my  duty,  to  offer  my  sentiments  with  freedom  upon  the 
occasion. 

"The  letter  of in  particular,  I  had  great  faith  would  have  done 

some  good  in  setting  aside  the  false  representations  which  had  from  time 
to  time  been  made  against  this  country.  That  letter,  my  Lord,  was  dic 
tated  by  a  faithful,  honest  heart,  unless  I  am  deceived  in  it.  How  far  I 
foretold  what  would  be  the  event  of  Britain's  persevering  in  her  plan, 
your  Lordship  is  as  well  able  to  judge  as  any  other  person.  Had  the 
truths  I  then  frankly  made  known  to  your  Lordship  for  the  mutual  good 
of  both  countries,  been  attended  to,  what  blood  and  treasure  might  have 
been  saved  on  both  sides !  What  friendship  and  affection  have  been 
preserved ! — and  the  two  countries  have  remained  long  in  a  mutual  hap 
py  connection !  But  the  die  is  cast.  It  is  therefore  of  no  purpose  to 
look  back  further  than  to  make-  past  errors  subservient,  as  they  some 
times  may  be  made,  to  wiser  and  better  conduct  in  the  future. 

u  As  it  appears  to  be  now  the  sincere  wish  and  desire  of  the  Ministry 
and  People  of  England  to  recover  as  far  as  may  be  the  friendship  and 
commerce  of  this  country,  may  I  suggest  to  your  Lordship,  that  every 
act  of  justice  and  reparation  for  injuries,  where  they  shall  evidently  ap 
pear  to  have  been  done,  will  tend  not  a  little  to  further  those  wishes;  and 
in  particular,  suffer  me  to  mention  the  singular  case  of  Mr.  Temple.  He 
and  Dr.  Franklin  are  the  only  Crown  Officers  of  Rank  who  were  dis 
missed  from  any  lucrative  and  honorable  employment  for  their  attach 
ment  to  this  their  native  country,  or  rather  for  their  firmness  in  not  fall 
ing  in  with  all  the  other  Crown  Officers  in  the  misrepresentations  which 
so  fatally  deceived  your  nation.  Dr.  Franklin  has  been  employed,  and 
amply  honored  and  rewarded  by  his  country,  and  would  not  accept,  if 
offered,  any  reparation.  Mr.  Temple  is  therefore,  as  I  said,  singular  in 
his  sufferings.  The  British  Ministry  have  repeatedly  acknowledged  that 
he  was,  as  a  Crown  Officer,  both  able  and  faithful  in  office,  but  that  his 
attachment  to  his  country  rendered  it  necessary  to  remove  him  from  the 
several  employments  he  sustained.  Experience  dearly  bought  must  have 
convinced  that  same  Ministry,  Mr.  Temple's  sentiments  and  represent 
ations  concerning  this  country  were  founded  in  truth,  while  those  of  his 
enemies,  who  sought  his  overthrow,  were  founded  in  fatal  falsehood. 

"  Should  Mr.  Temple  (who  writes  me  he  is  about  going  to  England,) 
meet  with  honest  and  honorable  reparation  for  his  past  sufferings,  it 
would  be  pleasing  to  his  friends  and  connections,  (who  are  neither  few 


1783.  CHAP.    XLIX. — TRUMBULL.  693 

nor  insignificant  in  these  States,)  and  would  no  doubt  tend  to  create 
good  humor  between  the  countries.  He  was  Lieutenant  Governor  of  one 
of  these  Provinces,  had  a  seat  at  the  Council  Board  in  five  other  Prov 
inces,  was  Surveyor  General  of  the  Royal  Revenue  in  America,  and  af 
terwards  Surveyor  General  of  the  Customs  in  England.  He  was  also  a 
Commissioner  part  of  the  time  that  incendiary,  wicked  Board  acted  in 
this  country — in  all  which  stations  he  acquitted  himself,  as  I  have 
always  heard,  with  honor  and  reputation  in  the  eyes  of  the  Minis 
try  ;  except  that  he  was,  as  they  are  taught  to  think,  improperly  friendly 
to  this  country.  He  could  have  had  no  views  in  being  friendly  to  this 
country  but  what  he  must  have  thought  for  the  general  good,  for  he 
could  have  expected  nothing,  in  emolument,  from  this  country,  equal  to 
what  he  enjoyed  under  the  Crown — for  it  is  not  the  intention  of  these 
States  that  great  emoluments  shall  accrue  to  any,  be  their  stations  what 
they  may. 

"  I  have  written  this  letter  not  more  to  serve  Mr.  Temple  (if  peradven- 
ture  it  may  be  of  service  to  him,)  than  to  show  your  Lordship  that  I  also 
cordially  wish  for  a  sincere  and  lasting  return  of  intercourse,  friendship, 
and  commerce  between  the  two  countries,  and  therefore  have  taken  the 
liberty  to  suggest  the  line  of  conduct  most  likely  to  produce  the  same. 

"  My  son,  who,  in  the  cool  hour  of  reflection,  I  dare  say,  it  will  be 
thought  was  cruelly  imprisoned  and  ill-treated  in  England,  will  have  the 
honor  of  delivering  this  letter  to  your  Lordship.  He  goes  to  England  to 
improve  his  natural  turn  to  the  Pencil,  which  his  countryman,  the  cele 
brated  artist  Mr.  West,  considers  as  equal  to  any  of  the  present  day. 

"  I  have  not  even  the  least  pretension  to  ask  any  favors  of  your  Lord 
ship,  but  should  my  son  meet  with  any  degree  of  spontaneous  counte 
nance  or  protection  from  your  Lordship,  I  should  think  myself  very  much 
obliged,  and  should  be  happy  to  render  your  Lordship  any  services  that 
may  possibly  be  in  my  power  on  this  side  the  water.  I  am  with  great 
respect  &Q. 

"P.  S.  As  through  a  multiplicity  of  business  the  letter  I  wrote  your 

Lordship  on  the may  be  lost,  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  enclose 

you  a  copy,  only  that  you  may  see  the  sentiments  I  entertained  at  that 
period,  and  how  precisely  affairs  have  turned  out  as  I  wrote  your  Lord 
ship  I  was  persuaded  they  would  turn  out." 

60* 


CHAPTER    L. 
1783. 

THE  new  policy  of  Congress  for  funding  the  national  debt,  and  restoring 
public  credit.  Commutation  money  for  the  officers  of  the  army  a  part 
of  it  Public  opinion  on  this  subject  divided.  Trumbull  upon  it 
"brought  into  collision  -with  a  majority  of  his  constituents.  The  rea 
soning  of  the  opponents  of  this  policy — particularly  against  commuta 
tion.  Their  public  action  thereupon,  and  the  public  ferment.  Rea 
soning  of  Gov.  Trumbull  and  others  in  favor  of  this  policy.  He  com 
mends  the  whole  national  system  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Con 
necticut,  and  urges  them,  by  taxation,  to  provide  for  the  establish 
ment  of  public  credit,  and  do  justice  to  creditors.  The  People  jealous 
of  a  Federal  Government  with  powers  within  itself  competent  for  its 
own  support.  Trumbull  in  favor  of  such  agovernment.  The  National 
Arm,  in  his  view,  ought  to  be  strengthened. 

PEACE  brought  with  it  a  new  and  eventful  policy  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States — which,  strangely  agitating  the 
country  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  no  part  of  it  more 
than  New  England,  gave  to  the  Governor  of  Connecticut, 
during  the  present  year,  peculiar  anxiety,  and  not  a  little  per 
sonal  trouble.  We  refer  to  the  policy  of  Congress  for  fund 
ing  the  national  debt,  and  for  the  restoration  and  support  of 
public  credit.  Forty-two  millions  of  dollars,  the  amount  of 
this  debt,  with  an  annual  interest  of  about  two  and  a  half 
millions — about  one-quarter  of  which  was  to  be  raised  by  a 
duty  on  imports,  and  the  residue  in  such  manner  as  the 
States  themselves  should  judge  most  convenient — were  to  be 
provided  for  out  of  the  resources  of  the  country.  It  was  a 
startling  sum,  as  it  seemed  to  the  people  generally — specially 
burdensome  now  that  they  were  just  emerging,  stricken  and 
impoverished  in  purse,  from  a  long  and  painful  war — and  in 
cluded  an  appropriation — that  of  five  millions  of  dollars, 
commutation  money  for  the  officers  of  the  army — which  to 
great  numbers  appeared  entirely  unjust,  unconstitutional,  and 
oppressive. 

Congress  has  no  power  to  make  such  an  appropriation, 
under  the  Confederation,  or  otherwise — reasoned  large  num.- 


1783.  CHAP.    L. — TKUMBULL.  595 

bers  of  the  inhabitants  of  Connecticut.  And  we  shall  state 
their  reasoning  somewhat  fully,  because  Trumbull  was 
brought  upon  this  matter — for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  and 
decidedly — in  collision  with  the  opinion  of  a  majority  of  his 
constituents — and  with  quiet  courtesy,  and  profound  good 
sense,  outfaced  the  public  clamor. 

The  appropriation,  continued  its  opponents,  introduces  that 
evil  system  of  pensions — European  and  monarchical — against 
which  the  country  has  just  fought  and  bled.  It  is  entirely 
inconsistent  with  that  equality  which  ought  to  exist  in  free 
and  republican  States — for  it  is  calculated  to  exalt  some  citi 
zens  in  wealth  and  grandeur,  to  the  injury  and  oppression  of 
others.  It  is  therefore  subversive  of  the  first  principles  of 
liberty.  We  want  no  such  badges  of  British  tyranny  in  our 
midst  as  these  pensions.  They  are  detestable.  And  how 
would  our  officers  look  accepting  a  pay  "  contributed  to  by 
the  widows  and  orphans  even  of  those  soldiers  who  have  bled 
and  died  by  their  sides — voted  in  every  House  of  Assembly 
as  the  drones  and  incumbrances  of  society — pointed  at  by 
boys  and  girls  with  the  remark — there  goes  a  man  who  every 
year  robs  me  of  my  pittance !  "  Strange,  when  the  infancy 
and  poverty  of  the  country  is  taken  into  consideration — a 
country  loaded  down  already  with  taxes,  and  involved  in 
debt — strange  that  Congress  should  at  this  time  assume  obli 
gations  so  novel  and  unnecessary  as  this  commutation  debt 
of  five  millions  of  dollars !  * 

And  then  the  poor  soldier  is  utterly  neglected  in  the  plan.' 
Who,  pray,  has  performed  the  duty  and  drudgery  of  the 
army  ?  Is  it  the  officer  or  the  soldier  ?  Who  has  been  the 

*  Such  was  the  aversion  to  half-pay  in  Connecticut,  that  the  General  Assembly, 
the  year  preceding  that  with  which  we  are  now  engaged,  in  1782,  even  when  it 
vested  Congress  with  power  to  levy  certain  duties  in  the  State,  clogged  the  grant 
with  the  condition  that  the  monies  raised  by  impost  should  be  applied  to  the 
Eevolutionary  debt,  and  "not  for  half-pay,  or  the  payment  of  any  pensioner  or 
pensioners."  Massachusetts,  late  as  July  eleventh,  1783,  addressed  Congress, 
refusing  to  grant  the  power  of  levying  duties  at  all,  because  of  the  system  of 
half-pay  and  commutation.  She  entitled  the  grants  and  allowances  which  Con 
gress  had  thought  proper  to  make  both  to  the  civil  and  military  officers,  "  extra 
ordinary,"  and  "  extremely  opposite  and  irritating,"  she  said,  "  to  the  principles 
and  feelings  which  the  people  of  some  eastern  States,  and  of  this  in  particular, 
inherit  from  their  ancestry." 


596  CHAP.     L. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

gentleman  and  who  the  servant  ?  The  plan  neglects  too  the 
militia  of  the  States,  which,  as  well  as  Continental  troops, 
has  been  called  to  face  danger  and  death  on  the  field  of  bat 
tle.  It  pays  no  regard  either  to  many  thousands  of  citizens, 
who,  though  not  in  the  ranks  of  war,  have  yet  suffered  for 
their  country — great  numbers  of  whom,  in  fact,  have  lost 
their  all  in  the  contest,  and  escaped  but  with  their  lives.  If 
losses  are  to  be  indemnified,  all  ought  to  participate.  Are 
the  revenues  of  the  country  to  be  heaped  on  officers  alone  ? 
If  they  have  obtained  independence  for  their  land,  still  the 
soldier,  the  militia,  and  the  citizen,  have  each  obtained  inde 
pendence  for  the  officer  in  return,  and  all  will  equally  share 
it.  The  stated  wages  of  these  officers  are  a  full  and  adequate 
reward  for  their  services,  and  have  been  liquidated  by  Com 
mittees  appointed  for  the  purpose.  Why  then  give  them 
gratuities  ?  See  how  at  ease  they  look — most  of  them — at 
the  present  time !  Their  countenances  are  "fairer  and  fatter" 
now  than  before  the  war.  Would  that  their  hearts  were  so 
too — then  the  dispute  would  be  ended  at  once  I 

And  they  have  not  acted  equitably  in  securing  their  com 
mutation.  They  extorted  the  recommendation  of  it  from 
General  Washington,  in  a  season  of  infinite  peril  to  the  coun 
try,  by  misrepresentations,  craft,  and  tumults.  Some  Mem 
bers  of  Congress — who  too  are  feasting  their  imaginations 
with  the  prospect  of  future  pensions  for  themselves — and 
many  public  creditors  also — have  conspired  with  them  to 
fasten  the  alarming  measure  on  the  country.  Confederacies 
are  forming,  we  fear,  which,  unless  immediately  checked,  will 
prove  the  destruction  of  American  liberty.  Members  of 
Congress  do  not  account  as  they  should  to  their  constituents. 
There  are  individuals  among  us  who  have  grown  too  lusty 
by  being  fed  on  too  much  power.  There  are  harpies  in  our 
midst,  "with  whetted  beaks  and  piercing  eyes,"  who  watch 
incessantly  to  prey  on  the  revenues  of  the  country.  The 
country  in  fact  seems  about  plunging  into  a  gulf.  The  glory 
of  an  eight  years'  war,  in  which  we  have  faced  death  a  thou 
sand  times,  seems  about  "to  sink  into  shame  and  ignominy." 
Officers  stand  ready  to  tarnish  the  fame  of  all  their  exploits. 
It  is  high  time  then  now  "for  that  patriotic  fire  which  has 


1783.  CHAP.     L. — TRUMBULL.  597 

so  often  blazed  forth,  to  the  confusion  of  our  adversaries,  to 
flash  again  with  redoubled  violence!"  Let  us  have  then 
the  speedy  and  effectual  interposition  of  towns  to  avert  the 
impending  catastrophe !  Can  any  one,  they  exclaimed,  think 
us  "such  dastards  as  tamely  to  submit  to  bear  oppression 
from  individuals  among  ourselves— court  favorites,  pension 
ers,  and  placemen  that  would  be — tenfold  greater  than  ever 
was  imposed  by  foreigners?"  Let  us  remonstrate — let  us 
petition — let  us  work,  day  and  night,  against  the  insupport 
able  measure ! 

And  so  great  portions  of  the  people  did — in  Town  Meet 
ings,  as  at  Hartford,  Farmington,  Southington,  Canaan,  and 
Torrington — and  in  Conventions,  as  in  September  of  twenty- 
eight  towns  at  Middletown.  They  sent  forth  volleys  of  re 
solves.  They  petitioned.  Essays  on  the  great  grievance  rilled 
the  papers  of  the  day.  Half-pay  and  commutation — togeth 
er,  to  some  extent,  with  the  proposed  duties  on  imports — 
which,  on  account  of  the  supposed  inequality  of  their  opera 
tion,  and  the  fear  that  they  might  be  applied  towards  the 
payment  of  perpetual  annuities,  or  exorbitant  salaries  to 
civil  officers,  or  render  Congress  too  independent  of  the 
people,  were  objectionable  to  some — formed  the  burden  of 
their  conversation.  Their  minds  were  in  a  ferment  the 
whole  year. 

And  to  this  ferment  Governor  Trumbull — aided  by  many 
other  leading  men  in  Connecticut — gentlemen  of  ability  and 
of  broad  national  views — opposed  the  whole  weight  of  his 
talents  and  his  influence.  He  led  the  way  in  throwing 
broadcast  over  the  State,  views  of  the  policy  adopted  by 
Congress — and  especially  of  the  Commutation  Scheme — that 
were  widely  different  far  from  those  which  prevailed  among 
the  people  at  large,  and  which  had  exasperated  many  of  them 
into  the  opposition  we  have  described. 

He  was  himself  satisfied  that  the  powers  of  the  National 
Council,  under  the  Confederation,  so  far  from  deserving  to  be 
the  object  of  watchful  jealousy  and  of  restraint,  were  in  fact 
too  feeble,  and  needed  enlargement — and  that  without  better 
support  than  Congress  was  then  receiving,  the  Federal  Arm 
would  soon  become  paralyzed,  and  the  country  be  disgraced. 


598  CHAP.    L. — TEUMBULL.  1783. 

He  was  deeply  convinced  too,  on  every  principle  of  justice 
and  of  honor,  that  adequate  and  permanent  means  ought  to 
be  established — nationally  and  not  state-wise — for  the  pur 
pose  of  paying  all  the  expenses  of  the  ^Revolutionary  Strug 
gle,  and  satisfying  every  public  creditor.  And  he  became,  in 
consequence,  a  strenuous  advocate  for  funding  the  whole 
public  debt  on  solid  Continental  Securities — admitted  the 
commutation  money  awarded  to  officers  as  a  part  of  this 
public  debt — and  cordially  assented  to  impost  duties  for 
the  use  of  the  United  States.  In  short,  in  every  respect 
as  regards  the  war — the  army — the  common  defence  and 
general  welfare — and  the  powers  of  Congress  to  make 
ample  provision  for  all  these  objects — he  was  a  National, 
and  not  a  State  politician.  He  looked  to  the  Sovereignty 
of  the  Union,  and  not  to  that  of  Thirteen  Independent 
Jurisdictions. 

As  regards  half-pay,  or  its  equivalent,  commutation,  he 
had  no  doubt  of  the  power  of  Congress  to  grant  it.  He 
feared  no  untoward  effect  from  it  on  the  liberty  of  the  coun 
try — and  considered  the  nation,  now  that  it  was  granted,  as 
under  the  most  solemn  obligation  to  provide  for  it.  With 
Congress,  he  looked  to  the  circumstances  in  which  it  origin 
ated — to  that  critical  period  in  1778  when  the  finances  of  the 
country  were  dreadfully  embarrassed — the  troops  sadly  dis 
tressed — the  officers  discontented — and  resignations  so  gen 
eral  as  to  threaten  the  dissolution  of  the  army.  To  save  a 
corps  on  whose  military  experience  the  public  safety  then,  in 
the  judgment  of  the  Commander-in-chief  "greatly  depended," 
half-pay  had  been  granted  to  the  officers — and  experience 
had  shown  that  it  had  most  essentially  "contributed  to  the 
stability  of  the  army,  to  its  perfection  in  discipline,  to  the 
vigor  and  decision  of  its  operations,  and  to  those  brilliant 
successes  which  hastened  the  blessings  of  a  safe  and  honor 
able  peace." 

For  this  half-pay  now,  commutation  was  the  equivalent. 
It  had  been  fixed  on  just  and  established  principles — and  a 
breach  of  the  national  faith — now  pledged  to  it  completely 
and  irredeemably — would,  in  the  judgment  of  Trumbull, 
have  been  the  grossest  perfidy.  The  officers  of  the  army 


1*783.  CHAP.    L. — TRUMBULL.  599 

had  fully  complied  with  the  conditions  of  the  grant — had 
performed  the  services  required — and  Congress  had  no  right 
to  alter  or  repeal  the  contract  without  their  consent.  It  was 
not  they,  in  fact,  who  had  solicited  for  half-pay.  Washing 
ton  had  solicited  for  them — Washington,  who — feeling  as  a 
patriot  and  a  general  should  feel  who  had  an  empire  to 
preserve  with  but  a  handful  of  men — had  recommended  it 
as  the  only  means  of  preventing  a  total  dereliction  of  the 
service. 

And  were  not  these  officers  themselves  a  most  meritorious 
and  illustrious  band  of  citizens?  Trumbull  believed  that 
they  certainly  were.  In  his  view,  they  had  patiently  borne 
the  privation  of  their  stipends  at  a  time  when  the  public  dis 
tress  disabled  the  country  from  furnishing  them  with  support. 
They  had  not  as  yet,  in  truth,  received  but  one-fourth  part 
of  their  stipulations — while  the  common  soldiers  in  the  Con 
tinental  Line — through  bounties,  in  multitudes  of  instances, 
of  seventy,  eighty,  and  in  some  cases  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  pounds,  in  specie,  for  three  years'  service,  in  addition 
to  the  regular  pay  and  clothing  which  they  drew — and 
through  another  bounty  also  of  eighty  dollars,  to  which  they 
had  been  declared  entitled  at  the  expiration  of  the  war — had 
received  far  higher  compensation  than  their  officers.  Com 
mutation,  in  fact,  only  placed  the  latter  on  an  equal  footing, 
as  to  emoluments,  with  the  former.  And  then  the  whole 
course  of  the  war  had  scarce  furnished  an  instance  of  deser 
tion  among  the  officers.  They  had  shown  an  unwavering 
attachment  to  the  cause  of  liberty.  They  had  fought  most 
bravely.  Commutation,  in  truth,  was  not  only  a  part  of  their 
hire,  but  the  price  even  of  their  blood,  and  of  the  independ 
ence  of  America.  And  now  they  asked  only  for  enough  to 
enable  them  to  retire  from  the  field  of  victory  and  glory, 
with  some  show  of  decency  and  support,  into  the  bosom  of 
peace  and  private  citizenship. 

The  militia,  and  citizens  of  the  States  who  had  specially 
suffered  from  the  enemy,  if  entitled  to  remuneration,  would 
receive  it  from  their  own  General  Assemblies,  to  which,  natu 
rally  and  properly,  they  should  look  for  the  purpose.  Not 
so  the  Continental  Officers.  State  commutation  in  their  be- 


600  CHAP.    L. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

half— from  the  unwillingness  in  some  jurisdictions  to  grant 
it— and  from  the  inequality  with  which  it  would  be  be 
stowed — would  breed  discontents,  it  was  justly  feared,  and 
injuriously  divert  the  resources  of  the  States  from  the  com 
mon  treasury  of  the  nation.  The  officers  must  look  to  Con 
gress,  therefore,  for  their  own  relief. 

And  this  relief — how  much  of  a  burthen  was  it,  after  all, 
on  the  property  of  Connecticut  ?  But  trifling  indeed,  in  the 
opinion  of  Trumbull.  But  twenty  pence  on  the  pound  for 
the  proportion  of  this  State — to  be  exacted  after  a  short 
time.*  And  but  about  half  a  farthing  on  the  pound  per 
annum  in  the  way  of  interest — and  interest  alone  at  present 
was  to  be  demanded  I  How  trivial  then  the  tax !  And  then 
in  a  few  years  none  of  it — it  might  happen — would  be  re 
quired  from  the  State.  The  revenue  from  commerce,  in  a 
condition  of  peace,  would  naturally  increase  rapidly,  and  add 
to  the  funds  of  the  nation.  Vacant  territory  belonging  to 
the  country  would  gradually  add  largely  to  these  funds. 
Requisitions,  therefore,  upon  States,  for  commutation,  or 
for  any  other  portions  of  the  public  debt,  would  rapidly 
grow  less  and  less,  and,  in  time,  probably,  wholly  disappear. 
How  unreasonable,  how  unwise  then,  the  opposition  to 
commutation  1 

Such  were  the  views  which  Trumbull,  in  common  with  a 
large  number  of  influential  citizens,  entertained  on  the  great 
disputed  public  policy  of  the  period  on  which  we  now 
dwell.f 

Accordingly  we  find  him  in  May,  in  his  Speech  at  that 
time  to  the  General  Assembly,  commending  the  whole 
national  system  to  their  attention,  and  calling  upon  them  to 
take  all  suitable  measures  "for  the  establishment  of  public 

*  The  amount  of  the  commutation  debt  for  Connecticut  was  calculated  at  $416,- 
6664— its  proportion  of  the  entire  national  debt  at  $3,500,000. 

tlf  Congress  have  a  right  to  alter  the  contract  for  commutation  with  the 
officers,  says  an  earnest  writer  in  the  Hartford  Courant  of  the  day — August  26th, 
1783 — "  adieu  to  all  public  faith.  Holland  and  France  have  no  security  for  their 
money.  Holland  and  France  may  go  to  Nova  Zembla  or  Otaheite  for  the  money 
we  owe  them.  The  holders  of  Loan  Office  Certificates  and  other  public  securi 
ties  have  nothing  to  depend  on  but  the  whim  of  Congress  and  their  constitu 
ents — and  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  us  all  I  " 


1783.  CHAP.    L. — TRUMBULL.  601 

credit."  The  sum  called  for  by  Congress  at  that  period,  he 
stated,  would  require  from  Connecticut  a  tax  of  six  and  a 
half  pence  on  the  pound.  "It  is  necessary,"  he  added, 
"that  our  creditors  should  be  treated  with  justice,  and 
for  that  end  provision  made  to  pay  the  annual  interest  on 
the  sums  respectively  due" — and  for  this  justice,  and 
this  provision  of  interest,  at  every  opportunity,  and  wher 
ever  his  influence  could  extend,  Trumbull  pleaded  with 
steady  zeal. 

It  took  a  long  time,  however,  to  satisfy  a  majority  of  the 
people  fully  on  these  points,  and  to  eradicate  the  jealousy 
which  they  entertained  towards  the  Confederation.  This 
jealousy  did  not  vanish  in  Connecticut — as  was  the  case  in 
most  of  the  States  of  the  Union — until  the  Confederation, 
falling  in  pieces  from  its  own  intrinsic  weakness,  totally  failed 
as  an  effectual  instrument  of  government,  and — "  the  steps  of 
its  decline  numbered  and  finished  " — was  supplanted  by  a  new 
Constitution — that  under  which  our  country  has  risen  to  its 
present  glorious  eminence.  A  Federal  Government,  with 
powers  within  itself  competent  for  its  own  support — acting 
independently  of  the  States,  and  compulsively  upon  the 
States,  and  upon  individuals  within  the  States — with  reve 
nues  of  its  own — with  officers  of  its  own,  scattered  many  of 
them  within  each  of  the  Thirteen  Sovereignties,  and  irre 
sponsible  save  to  Congress — and  with  numerous  pensioners 
of  its  own — was  still,  to  the  minds  of  many,  an  anomaly,  and 
a  solecism  in  republican  rule. 

We  shall  see  all  this  more  particularly  in  the  course  of  pro 
ceedings  to  which  we  shall  direct  the  Reader's  attention  in  the 
next  chapter — proceedings  that  present  Governor  Trumbull 
in  the  light  in  which  the  Father  of  his  Country  was  presented, 
when,  at  a  later  period,  he  issued  his  noble  Valedictory  Ad 
dress*  on  declining  to  be  considered  any  longer  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency — in  the  light  of  a  patriot  bidding  adieu  to 

*  Washington's  admirable  Circular,  June  eighth,  1783,  to  the  Governors  of  all 
the  States,  on  disbanding  the  army,  was  of  the  same  general  character.  Trum 
bull  replied  to  it,  but  the  reply  we  have  not  at  hand.  By  direction  of  his  Coun 
cil,  he  procured  one  hundred  copies  to  be  printed,  together  with  the  Address  of 
Congress  to  the  States  of  April  twenty-sixth. 
51 


602  CHAP.    L. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

public  life  and  to  his  friends — leaving  "  his  affections  and  his 
anxieties  for  their  welfare  behind  him  " — and  making  "  a  last 
effort  to  impress  on  his  countrymen  those  great  political 
truths  which  had  been  the  guides  of  his  administration,  and 
could  alone,  in  his  opinion,  form  a  sure  and  solid  basis  for  the 
happiness,  the  independence,  and  the  liberty  of  the  United 
States." 


CHAPTER    LI. 
1783. 

GOVERNOR  TBUMBULL  now  an  old  man — has  "been  in  the  public  serv 
ice  over  half  a  century — and  determines  to  retire.  He  gives  notice  of 
his  intention  to  the  General  Assembly,  in  October,  in  a  Farewell  Ad 
dress  which  he  entitles  his  "Last  Advisory  Legacy."  The  document. 
Comment.  Report  and  Resolutions  thereupon.  Explanation  of  the 
jealousy  in  Connecticut  of  the  powers  and  engagements  of  Con 
gress.  Extensive  sympathy,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  senti 
ments  of  Trumbull's  Farewell  Address.  Washington's  opinion  of 
it,  and  his  frienship  for  Trumbull.  They  harmonized  in  their  po 
litical  creed. 

GOVERNOR  TRUMBULL  was  now  seventy-three  years  of 
age — a  venerable  old  man.  He  had  been  in  the  public  serv 
ice  nearly  fifty-one  years — over  half  a  century.  He  had 
been  employed  almost  without  interruption  the  whole  time. 
A  war  of  eight  years'  duration  had  given  him  peculiar  cares, 
and  the  deepest  anxieties.  Compensated  as  these  cares  and 
anxieties  now  were  by  peace,  and  by  glorious  prospects  of 
national  tranquillity  and  independence,  he  felt  it  both  as  a  de 
sire  and  a  duty  to  retire  from  the  busy  concerns  of  public 
life — that  he  might  spend  the  evening  of  his  days  in  repose, 
and  in  preparation  for  a  future,  happier  state  of  existence. 
He  therefore  formally  signified  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut,  at  its  October  Session,  his  purpose  of  declining 
all  further  public  service  after  May  of  the  next  ensuing 
year — at  which  time  his  existing  gubernatorial  term  would 
expire. 

His  Address  at  this  time  he  well  entitles  his  "Last  Advis 
ory  Legacy " — for  such  in  truth  it  is.  After  felicitating  the 
people  on  the  existing  "auspicious  moment"  of  their  coun 
try's  happiness — thanking  them  for  the  support  they  have 
ever  afforded  to  himself — and  invoking  the  Divine  Guidance 
for  their  future  counsels  and  government — he  proceeds  to 
give  them  his  parting  advice. 


604  CHAP.     LI. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

He  conjures  them  to  maintain  inviolate  the  happy  Consti 
tution  of  Connecticut,  and  to  strengthen  and  support  the 
Federal  Union.  He  dwells  on  the  great  importance  of  a  na 
tional  Congress,  and  does  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  that,  as 
at  present  constituted,  its  powers  are  not  adequate  to  the  pur 
poses  of  the  general  sovereignty.  And  he  goes  on  to  reason 
most  ably  in  favor  of  their  proper  enlargement,  and  against 
that  excessive,  mistaken  jealousy  of  a  federal  government 
with  competent  authority,  which  was  so  prevalent  in  his  day. 
He  counsels  the  strictest  attention  to  all  the  sacred  rules  of 
justice  and  equity,  by  a  faithful  fulfillment  of  every  public  as 
well  as  private  engagement.  He  advises  the  practice  of  vir 
tue  in  all  its  lovely  forms,  as  the  surest  and  best  foundation 
for  national  as  well  as  private  felicity.  He  pleads  for  the 
dismissal  of  all  prejudices — for  the  study  of  peace  and  har 
mony — for  an  orderly  regard  for  government  and  the  laws — 
for  a  due  confidence  in  public  officers — and  for  the  careful 
observance,  under  all  circumstances,  of  the  sure  and  faithful 
axiom  that  "virtue  exalteth  a  nation,  but  that  sin  and  evil 
workings  are  the  destruction  of  a  people."  Again  commend 
ing  the  General  Assembly,  and  the  good  people  of  Connecti 
cut,  with  earnestness,  to  the  blessing  and  protection  of  the 
great  Counsellor  and  Director  on  high,  he  concludes  with 
bidding  them  "  a  long  and  a  happy  adieu." 

The  Address,  throughout,  is  indeed  a  specimen  of  deep 
political  sagacity,  of  independent  judgment,  of  lofty  reason 
ing,  and  of  high-toned,  fervent,  honest  advice.  As  such — in 
the  language  of  an  author  who  has  given  us,  in  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery,  a  brief  sketch  of  the  subject  of  our  Me 
moir — "we  commend  it  to  the  sons  of  Connecticut,  that  it 
may  be  rescued  from  oblivion,  and  have  its  place  among  the 
wise  and  patriotic  counsel  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Common 
wealth."*  It  proceeds  as  follows : — 

"  To  the  Honorable  the  Council  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General 

Court  convened,  Oct.,  1783. 
"GENTLEMEN: — 

"  A  few  days  will  bring  me  to  the  anniversary  of  my  birth ;  seventy- 

*  "It  is  a  patriarchal  document,"  adds  the  Author  to  whom  reference  is  made 
in  the  text—"  worthy  of  the  admiration  of  the  lovers  of  their  country." 


1783.  CHAP.    LI. — TRUMBULL.  605 

three  years  of  my  life  will  then  be  completed ;  and  next  May,  fifty-one 
years  will  have  passed  since  I  was  first  honored  with  the  confidence  of 
the  people  in  a  public  character.  During  this  period,  in  different  capaci 
ties,  it  has  been  my  lot  to  be  called  to  public  service,  almost  without  in 
terruption.  Fourteen  years  I  have  had  the  honor  to  fill  the  chief  seat  of 
government.  With  what  carefulness,  with  what  zeal  and  attention  to 
your  welfare,  I  have  discharged  the  duties  of  my  several  stations,  some 
few  of  you,  of  equal  age  with  myself,  can  witness  for  me  from  the  be 
ginning.  During  the  latter  period,  none  of  you  are  ignorant  of  the  man 
ner  in  which  my  public  life  has  been  occupied.  The  watchfuUeares  and 
solicitudes  of  an  eight  years'  distressing  and  unusual  war,  have  also  fallen 
to  my  share,  and  have  employed  many  anxious  moments  of  my  latest 
time ;  which  have  been  cheerfully  devoted  to  the  service  of  my  country. 
Happy  am  I  to  find,  that  all  these  cares,  anxieties,  and  solicitudes,  are 
compensated  by  the  noblest  prospect  which  now  opens  to  my  fellow-citi 
zens,  of  a  happy  establishment  (if  we  are  but  wise  to  improve  the  precious 
opportunity,)  in  peace,  tranquillity,  and  national  independence.  With 
sincere  and  lively  gratitude  to  Almighty  God,  our  Great  Protector  and 
Deliverer,  and  with  most  hearty  congratulations  to  all  our  citizens,  I  fe 
licitate  you,  gentlemen,  the  other  freemen,  and  all  the  good  people  of  the 
State,  in  this  glorious  prospect. 

"Impressed  with  these  sentiments  of  gratitude  and  felicitation — re 
viewing  the  long  course  of  years,  in  which,  through  various  events,  I 
have  had  the  pleasure  to  serve  the  State — contemplating,  with  pleasing 
wonder  and  satisfaction,  at  the  close  of  an  arduous  contest,  the  noble  and 
enlarged  scenes  which  now  present  themselves  to  my  country's  view — 
and  reflecting  at  the  same  time  on  my  advanced  stage  of  life — a  life  worn 
out  almost  in  the  constant  cares  of  office — I  think  it  my  duty  to  retire 
from  the  busy  concerns  of  public  affairs ;  that  at  the  evening  of  my  days, 
I  may  sweeten  their  decline,  by  devoting  myself  with  less  avocation,  and 
more  attention,  to  the  duties  of  religion,  the  service  of  my  God,  and  prep 
aration  for  a  future  happier  state  of  existence ;  in  which  pleasing  em 
ployment,  I  shall  not  cease  to  remember  my  country,  and  to  make  it  my 
ardent  prayer  that  heaven  will  not  fail  to  bless  her  with  its  choicest 
favors. 

"  At  this  auspicious  moment,  therefore,  of  my  country's  happiness — 
when  she  has  just  reached  the  goal  of  her  wishes,  and  obtained  the  ob 
ject  for  which  she  has  so  long  contended,  and  so  nobly  struggled,  I  have 
to  request  the  favor  from  you,  gentlemen,  and  through  you,  from  all  the 
freemen  of  the  State,  that,  after  May  next,  I  may  be  excused  from  any 
further  service  in  public  life ;  and  that,  from  this  time,  I  may  no  longer 
be  considered  as  an  object  of  your  suffrages  for  any  public  employment 
in  the  State.  The  reasonableness  of  my  request,  I  am  persuaded,  will 
be  questioned  by  no  one.  The  length  of  time  I  have  devoted  to  their 
service,  with  my  declining  state  of  vigor  and  activity,  will,  I  please 


606  CHAP.    LI. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

myself,  form  for  me  a  sufficient  and  unfailing  excuse  with  my  fellow- 
citizens. 

44  At  this  parting  address,  you  will  suffer  me,  gentlemen,  to  thank 
you,  and  all  the  worthy  members  of  preceding  assemblies,  with  whom  I 
have  had  the  honor  to  act,  for  all  that  assistance,  counsel,  aid,  and  sup 
port,  which  I  have  ever  experienced  during  my  administration  of  gov 
ernment  ;  and  in  the  warmth  of  gratitude  to  assure  you,  that,  till  my 
latest  moments,  all  your  kindness  to  me  shall  be  remembered ; — and  that 
my  constant  prayer  shall  be  employed  with  Heaven,  to  invoke  the  Divine 
Guidance  and  protection  in  your  future  councils  and  government 

"Age  and  experience  dictate  to  me — and  the  zeal  with  which  I  have 
been  known  to  serve  the  public  through  a  long  course  of  years,  will,  I 
trust,  recommend  to  the  attention  of  the  people,  some  few  thoughts 
which  I  shall  offer  to  their  consideration  on  this  occasion,  as  my  last  ad 
visory  legacy. 

u  I  would  in  the  first  place  entreat  my  countrymen,  as  they  value  their 
own  internal  welfare,  and  the  good  of  posterity,  that  they  maintain  invio 
late,  by  a  strict  adherence  to  its  original  principles,  the  happy  constitu 
tion  under  which  we  have  so  long  subsisted  as  a  corporation ;  that  for 
the  purposes  of  national  happiness  and  glory,  they  will  support  and 
strengthen  the  federal  union  by  every  constitutional  means  in  their  power. 
The  existence  of  a  Congress,  vested  with  powers  competent  to  the  great 
national  purposes  for  which  that  body  was  instituted,  is  essential  to  our 
national  security,  establishment,  and  independence.  Whether  Congress 
is  already  vested  with  such  powers,  is  a  question,  worthy,  in  my  opinion, 
of  the  most  serious,  candid,  and  dispassionate  consideration  of  this  legis 
lature,  and  those  of  all  the  other  confederated  States.  For  my  own  part, 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  that,  in  my  opinion,  that  body  is  not  pos 
sessed  of  those  powers  which  are  absolutely  necessary  to  the  best  man 
agement  and  direction  of  the  general  weal,  or  the  fulfilment  of  our  own 
expectations.  This  defect  in  our  federal  constitution  I  have  already  la 
mented  as  the  cause  of  many  inconveniences  which  we  have  experienced ; 
and  unless  wisely  remedied,  will,  I  foresee,  be  productive  of  evils,  disas 
trous,  if  not  fatal  to  our  future  union  and  confederation.  In  my  idea,  a 
Congress  invested  with  full  and  sufficient  authorities,  is  as  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  great  purposes  of  our  confederated  union,  as  our  legisla 
ture  is  for  the  support  of  our  internal  order,  regulation,  and  government  in 
the  State.  Both  bodies  should  be  intrusted  with  powers  fully  sufficient 
to  answer  the  designs  of  their  several  institutions.  These  powers  should 
be  distinct,  they  should  be  clearly  defined,  ascertained,  and  understood. 
They  should  be  carefully  adhered  to ;  they  should  be  watched  over  with  a 
wakeful  and  distinguishing  attention  of  the  people.  But  this  watchfulness 
is  far  different  from  that  excess  of  jealousy,  which,  from  a  mistaken  fear  of 
abuse,  withholds  the  necessary  powers,  and  denies  the  means  which  are  es 
sential  to  the  end  expected.  Just  as  ridiculous  is  this  latter  disposition,  as 


1783.  CHAP.    LI. — TRUMBULL.  607 

would  be  the  practice  of  a  farmer,  who  should  deprive  his  laboring  man  of 
the  tools  necessary  for  his  business,  lest  he  should  hurt  himself,  or  injure 
his  employer,  and  yet  expects  his  work  to  be  accomplished.  This  kind  of 
excessive  jealousy  is,  in  my  view,  too  prevalent  at  this  day ;  and  will,  I 
fear,  if  not  abated,  prove  a  principal  means  of  preventing  the  enjoyment 
of  our  national  independence  and  glory,  in  that  extent  and  perfection 
which  the  aspect  of  our  affairs  (were  we  to  be  so  wise,)  so  pleasingly 
promises  to  us.  My  Countrymen!  suffer  me  to  ask,  who  are  the  objects 
of  this  jealousy  ?  Who,  my  fellow-citizens,  are  the  men  we  have  to  fear  ? 
Not  strangers  who  have  no  connection  with  our  welfare! — no,  they  are 
men  of  our  own  choice,  from  among  ourselves; — a  choice  (if  we  are 
faithful  to  ourselves,)  dictated  by  the  most  perfect  freedom  of  election ; 
and  that  election  repeated  as  often  as  you  could  wish,  or  is  consistent  with 
the  good  of  the  people.  They  are  our  brethren — acting  for  themselves  as 
well  as  for  us — and  sharers  with  us  in  all  the  general  burthens  and  bene 
fits.  They  are  men,  who  from  interest,  affection,  and  every  social  tie, 
have  the  same  attachment  to  our  constitution  and  government  as  our 
selves.  Why  therefore  should  we  fear  them  with  this  unreasonable  jeal 
ousy  ?  In  our  present  temper  of  mind,  are  we  not  rather  to  fear  our 
selves? — to  fear  the  propriety  of  our  own  elections? — or  rather  to  fear, 
that  from  this  excess  of  jealousy  and  mistrust,  each  are  cautious  of  his 
neighbor's  love  of  power,  and  fearing  lest  if  he  be  trusted,  he  would 
misuse  it,  we  should  lose  all  confidence  and  government,  and  everything 
lend  to  anarchy  and  confusion  ? — from  whose  horrid  womb,  should  we 
plunge  into  it,  will  spring  a  government  that  may  justly  make  us  all  to 
tremble. 

"I  would  also  beg,  that,  for  the  support  of  national  faith  and  honor,  as 
well  as  domestic  tranquillity,  they  would  pay  the  strictest  attention  to  all 
the  sacred  rules  of  justice  and  equity,  by  a  faithful  observance  and  ful 
fillment  of  all  public  as  well  as  private  engagements.  Public  expenses 
are  unavoidable : — and  those  of  the  late  war,  although  they  fall  far  short 
of  what  might  have  been  expected,  when  compared  with  the  magnitude 
of  the  object  for  which  we  have  contended,  the  length  of  the  contest, 
with  our  unprepared  situation  and  peculiarity  of  circumstances,  yet 
could  not  fail  to  be  great ; — but  great  as  they  may  appear  to  be,  when, 
for  the  defence  of  our  invaluable  rights  and  liberties,  the  support  of  our 
government,  and  our  national  existence,  they  have  been  incurred  and  al 
lowed  by  those  to  whom,  by  your  own  choice,  you  have  delegated  the 
power,  and  assigned  the  duty,  of  watching  over  the  common  weal,  and 
guarding  your  interests,  their  public  engagements  are  as  binding  on  the 
people,  as  your  own  private  contracts ;  and  are  to  be  discharged  with 
the  same  good  faith  and  punctuality. 

"I  most  earnestly  request  my  fellow-citizens,  that  they  revere  and 
practice  virtue  in  all  its  lovely  forms — this  being  the  surest  and  best  es 
tablishment  of  national,  as  well  as  private  felicity  and  prosperity — That, 


608  CHAP.    LI. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

dismissing  as  well  all  local  and  confined  prejudices,  as  unreasonable  and 
excessive  jealousies  and  suspicions,  they  study  peace  and  harmony  with 
each  other,  and  with  the  several  parts  of  the  confederated  Republic — 
That  they  pay  an  orderly  and  respectful  regard  to  the  laws  and  regula 
tions  of  government ;  and  that,  making  a  judicious  use  of  that  freedom 
and  frequency  of  election,  which  is  the  great  security  and  palladium  of 
their  rights,  they  will  place  confidence  ii\  the  public  officers,  and  submit 
their  public  concerns,  with  cheerfulness  and  readiness,  to  the  decisions 
and  determinations  of  Congress  and  their  own  Legislatures;  whose  col 
lected  and  united  wisdom  the  people  will  find  to  be  a  much  more  sure 
dependence  than  the  uncertain  voice  of  popular  clamor,  which  most  fre 
quently,  is  excited  and  blown  about  by  the  artful  and  designing  part  of 
the  community,  to  effect  particular  and  oftentimes  sinister  purposes.  At 
such  times,  the  steady  good  sense  of  the  virtuous  public,,  wisely  exercised 
in  a  judicious  choice  of  their  representatives,  and  a  punctual  observance 
of  their  collected  counsels,  is  the  surest  guide  to  national  interest,  happi 
ness,  and  security. 

"Finally,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  exhort  you  to  love  one  another:  let 
each  one  study  the  good  of  his  neighbor  and  of  the  community,  as  his 
own : — hate  strifes,  contentions,  jealousies,  envy,  avarice,  and  every  evil 
work,  and  ground  yourselves  in  this  faithful  and  sure  axiom,  that  virtue 
exalteth  a  nation,  but  that  sin  and  evil  workings  are  the  destruction  of  a 
people. 

"  I  commend  you,  gentlemen,  and  the  good  people  of  the  State,  with 
earnestness  and  ardour,  to  the  blessing,  the  protection,  the  counsel,  and 
direction  of  the  great  Counsellor  and  Director ;  whose  wisdom  and  pow 
er  is  sufficient  to  establish  you  as  a  great  and  happy  people  ;  and  wish 
ing  you  the  favour  of  this  divine  benediction,  in  my  public  character — I 
bid  you  a  long — a  happy  adieu. 

"  I  am,  gentlemen, 

"  your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 
"JoNTH  TRUMBULL." 

Such  was  the  Farewell  Address,  which — in  contemplation 
of  soon  leaving  public  life  forever — the  venerable  Governor 
of  Connecticut,  with  grateful  sensibility,  and  a  profound  de 
sire  of  doing  good,  addressed  to  the  Constituency  he  had  so 
long  and  ably  served.  On  being  read  to  the  General  Assem 
bly,  it  was  referred  by  this  Body  to  a  Committee,  at  the  head 
of  which  was  placed  Oliver  Wolcott.  And  this  Committee, 
after  due  consideration,  reported  it  as  their  opinion — "  that 
the  long  and  faithful  services  of  his  Excellency  Governor 
Trumbull,  and  more  especially  his  great  attention  and  dili 
gence  during  the  late  successful  war,"  merited  "  the  highest 


1783.  CHAP.     LI.— TRUMBULL.  609 

approbation  and  sincere  gratitude"  of  Connecticut — that 
"the  sentiments"  which  the  Address  expressed  "relative  to 
the  great  principles  of  virtue,  and  benevolence,  and  subor 
dination  to  law" — constituting,  as  they  did,  "the  only  solid 
basis  upon  which  social  happiness  can  be  established" — 
would  "  always  deserve  the  constant  attention  and  practice  of 
the  people  of  this  State  " — and  that  they  "  therefore  "  recom 
mended  the  adoption  by  the  General  Assembly  of  certain 
Resolutions  which  they  had  framed  in  consonance  with  their 
Report. 

The  Report  and  Resolutions  were  first  brought  before  the 
Lower  House.  This  House — reflecting,  as  it  did,  that  popu 
lar  sentiment  of  the  State  which  was  adverse,  as  has  been 
described,  to  the  views  of  the  Governor  both  with  regard  to 
the  necessity  of  enlarging  the  powers  of  Congress,  and  with 
regard  to  the  half-pay  and  commutation  granted  to  the  offi 
cers  of  the  army — hesitated  upon  the  acceptance  of  the  Re 
port  and  Resolutions  in  the  form  in  which  they  were  at  first 
submitted.  They  hesitated — not  because  of  the  slightest  un 
willingness  fully  to  endorse  all  that  was  said  respecting  the 
public  administration  of  his  Excellency,  and  his  exalted  serv 
ices  in  behalf  of  his  State  and  country — but  from  fear  lest 
by  adopting  the  Resolutions  they  "  should  seem  to  convey  to 
the  people  an  idea  of  their  concurring  with  the  political  sen 
timents  contained  in  the  Address."  As  the  easiest  way, 
therefore,  of  relieving  themselves  from  such  responsibility, 
and  at  the  same  time  of  avoiding — what  there  is  no  doubt  a 
large  majority  of  them  wished  to  avoid — the  rudeness  of  re 
fusing  absolutely  to  recognize  and  appreciate  the  merit  of 
their  Chief  Magistrate — they  voted  to  refer  the  Report  and 
Resolutions  over  to  the  next  General  Assembly. 

But  the  Senate  dissented — and  a  Committee  of  Conference 
being  appointed,  it  was  agreed  that  the  portion  of  the  Reso 
lutions  which  it  was  thought  committed  the  Legislature  to  a 
full  endorsement  of  the  Governor's  views  upon  a  National 
Government,  and  its  powers  and  duties,  should  be  stricken 
out* — which  being  done,  the  Resolutions,  as  amended,  were 

*  The  following  is  the  passage  which  was  stricken  out:  "  And  that  the  Secre 
tary  request  of  his  Excellency  a  Copy  of  said  Address,  that  it  might  be  published, 


610  CHAP.    LI. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

passed  with  great  cordiality  and  unanimity — and  here  they 
are! 

"Whereas  his  Excellency  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Esquire,  Governor  and 
Commander-in-chief  in  and  over  the  State  of  Connecticut,  has  signified 
in  an  address  to  the  General  Assembly,  to  be  communicated  to  their  con 
stituents,  his  desire  that  he  might  not,  considering  his  advanced  Age,  be 
considered  by  the  freemen  of  this  State  as  an  object  of  their  choice  at 
the  next  general  election ;  as  the  Governor  has  declared  his  wish  to  re 
tire,  after  the  expiration  of  his  present  appointment,  from  the  cares  and 
business  of  government : 

"Resolved  by  this  Assembly,  That  they  consider  it  as  their  duty  in 
behalf  of  their  constituents,  to  express  in  terms  of  the  most  sincere  grati 
tude,  the  highest  respect  for  his  Excellency  Governor  Trumbull,  for  the 
great  and  eminent  services  he  has  rendered  this  State  during  his  long 
and  prosperous  administration ;  more  especially  for  that  display  of  wis 
dom,  justice,  fortitude,  and  magnanimity,  joined  with  the  most  unremit 
ting  attention  and  perseverance,  which  he  has  manifested  during  the  late 
successful  though  distressing  war ;  which  must  place  the  chief  magis 
trate  of  this  State  in  the  rank  of  those  great  and  worthy  patriots,  who 
have  eminently  distinguished  themselves  as  the  defenders  of  the  rights 
of  mankind. 

"And  that  this  Assembly  consider  it  a  most  gracious  dispensation  of 
Divine  Providence,  that  a  life  of  so  much  usefulness  has  been  prolonged 
to  such  an  advanced  age,  with  an  unimpaired  vigor  and  activity  of  mind. 

"But  if  the  freemen  of  this  State  shall  think  proper  to  comply  with 
his  Excellency's  request,  it  will  be  the  wish  of  this  Assembly,  that  his 
successor  in  office  may  possess  those  eminent  public  and  private  virtues, 
which  give  so  much  lustre  to  the  character  of  him  who  has  in  the  most 
honorable  manner  so  long  presided  over  this  State. 

"It  is  further  Resolved — That  the  Secretary  present  to  Governor 
Trumbull  an  authentic  copy  of  this  act,  as  a  testimonial  of  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  the  Legislature  of  this  State.  And  the  Secretary  is  further 
directed,  that,  as  soon  as  he  shall  be  furnished  with  such  copy,  he  cause 
the  same  to  be  printed,  together  with  this  act." 

Ample  homage  here — in  these  ^Resolutions — the  Eeader 
will  have  observed,  to  the  merits  of  the  patriot  whom  we 
commemorate — heartfelt  congratulation  upon  his  blooming 

which  the  Assembly  are  especially  desirous  of,  as  they  consider  those  important 
principles  of  Justice,  Benevolence,  and  Subordination  to  law,  therein  inculcated, 
as  constituting  the  only  solid  basis  upon  which  social  happiness  can  be  estab 
lished,  and  therefore  deserving  the  serious  attention  of  the  good  people  of  this 
State." 


1783.  CHAP.     LI. — TRUMBULL.  611 

old  age — and  warm  hope  that  his  mantle  of  lustre  might  fall 
upon  a  worthy  successor !  But  the  Assembly  would  not  en 
dorse  his  political  views.  This  course,  after  all,  will  not  ap 
pear  strange,  when  the  Eeader  reflects — not  only  on  the  fact 
of  an  existing  difference  of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  public 
policy  of  the  country,  and  the  constitution  of  a  National  Gov 
ernment — but  that,  as  a  general  thing,  this  difference  of  opin 
ion  was  honestly  entertained,  and  pervaded  every  State  of  the 
Union. 

Long — as  Colonies — the  provinces  of  America  had  been 
engaged  in  struggles  against  the  superintending,  overbearing 
authority  of  the  Crown.  Long — as  States — they  had  poured 
out  blood  and  treasure  in  resisting  this  authority.  Naturally, 
therefore,  they  felt  a  dread  of  all  external  sway,  and  of  any 
legislation  which  did  not  originate  exclusively  in  their  own 
domestic  Assemblies.  The  Confederation  itself,  as  is  famil 
iar  to  all,  was  tediously  delayed  more  from  this  cause  than 
from  any  other.  "What  would  be  the  effects  of  a  union  of 
the  States,  says  Judge  Story — "upon  their  domestic  peace, 
their  territorial  interests,  their  external  commerce,  their  po 
litical  security,  or  their  civil  liberty,  were  points  to  them 
wholly  of  a  speculative  character,  in  regard  to  which  various 
opinions  might  be  entertained,  and  various,  and  even  oppo 
site  conjectures  formed  upon  grounds,  apparently,  of  equal 
plausibility.  Honest  and  enlightened  men,"  adds  the  Judge, 
"might  well  divide  on  such  matters." 

Connecticut  now,  more  peculiarly  than  most  States  of  the 
Union — from  the  comparative  freedom  of  her  primitive  Con 
stitution  of  1639 — from  that  also  of  her  Charter — itself,  save 
in  the  recognition  of  allegiance  to  the  Crown,  almost  a  per 
fect  instrument  of  independent  self-government — from  the 
great  equality  and  ample  protection  of  the  rights  both  of  per 
son  and  of  property  which  had  always  prevailed  within 
her  borders — and  the  absence  of  all  invidious  social  dis 
tinctions — was  naturally  jealous,  perhaps  excessively  so,  at 
times,  of  the  powers  and  engagements  of  Congress.  A 
few  in  her  midst,  it  is  probable,  as  in  other  States,  may  have 
been  "wicked  enough" — as  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Junior,  in  a 
letter  at  the  time,  represented  to  General  Washington — to 


612  CHAP.     LI. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

hope  that,  by  means  of  a  clamor  against  half-pay  and  commu 
tation,  they  might  "be  able  to  rid  themselves  of  the  whole 
public  debt,  by  introducing  so  much  confusion  and  disorder 
into  public  measures  as  should  eventually  produce  a  general 
abolition  of  the  whole  " — and  upon  the  basis  of  this  clamor, 
misleading  some  portions  of  tbe  community,  may  have  "rode 
into  confidence" — and  into  the  Legislature — and  there  have 
aided  in  that  evisceration  of  the  Kesolutions  relating  to 
Trumbull  which  we  have  already  described.* 

But  in  the  main,  the  opposition  of  the  people  of  Connec 
ticut  to  the  political  views  of  his  Excellency,  was  frank,  sin 
cere,  and  courteous.  They  remembered  and  loved  their  own 
State  liberty  too  well  to  be  willing  ever  to  part  with  it 
rashly — never  without  premeditation  that  should  be  long  and 
careful,  and  reasons  solid  as  the  mountain  ranges  which 
ribbed  their  territory.  A  little  longer  experience  under  the 
Confederation — now  that  peace  had  come  to  test  in  new  forms 
its  capacity  as  an  instrument  of  government — was  needed  to 
dispel  their  cautious  jealousy,  and  awaken  and  ripen  their 
convictions  in  favor  of  those  changes  which  Trumbull  had 
so  wisely  suggested. 

That  experience  soon  came — and  with  it  the  corroboration 
of  all  their  Patriot- Adviser  had  said  to  them  on  the  great 
matter  of  National  Sovereignty.  And  they  turned  back  to 
admire  and  reverence  that  wisdom,  and  that  foresight,  which, 
in  the  delusion  of  the  hour,  they  had  mistaken  for  erroneous 
judgment  and  baseless  prophecy.  As  day  by  day  the  Con 
federation  betrayed  its  weakness — its  utter  want  of  all  coerc 
ive  power — and  as  the  delinquencies  of  the  States,  step  by 
step,  were  maturing  "  to  an  extreme  which  at  length  arrested 

*  "  You  will  pardon  me,  Sir,  for  troubling  you  with  this  gloomy  tale,"  wrote 
Jonathan  Trumbull,  Junior,  to  General  Washington,  Nov.  10th,  1783,  in  the  let 
ter  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  text.  "  For  myself  I  have  not  lost  my  con 
fidence  in  the  final  issue  of  our  political  establishment,  and  your  Excellency's 
firmness  and  resolution  I  know  to  be  superior  to  any  desponding  ideas.  I  give  it 
to  you  as  the  present  temper  of  the  people  only,  which  is  for  a  time  misled 
by  the  artful,  interested,  and  contracted  views  of  the  designing  part  of  the  com 
munity,  too  many  of  whom,  mounted  upon  the  hobby-horse  of  the  day,  have  rode 
into  confidence,  yet  must  take  a  turn  soon,  overcome  by  the  superior  good  sense 
of  the  virtuous  part  of  the  public,  some  of  whom  already  begin  to  perceive  the 
delusion." 


1783.  CHAP.     LI. — TKUMBULL.  613 

all  the  wheels  of  the  national  government,  and  brought  them 
to  an  awful  stand " — Connecticut  perceived  that  the  instru 
ment  which  nominally  bound  the  States  together,  was  one 
whose  chief  authority,  designed  for  the  operations  of  war, 
lay  quite  dormant  in  time  of  peace.  She  perceived  that  it 
had  not  in  truth  a  single  solid  attribute  of  power — and  that 
Congress  was  in  fact  "but  a  delusive  and  shadowy  sovereign 
ty,  with  but  little  more  than  the  empty  pageantry  of  office." 
She  began,  therefore,  at  once  to  look  about  for  a  remedy — 
and  found  it  finally  in  that  very  augmentation  of  federal 
power  which  her  own  Chief  Magistrate  had  so  anxiously  in 
culcated  in  his  Farewell  Address.  As  the  cords  of  the  Con 
federation,  one  by  one,  snapped  asunder,  she  heard  the  re 
port — and  note  by  note  she  missed  the  music  of  the  Union — 
until  at  last,  to  her  infinite  joy,  it  was  restored,  and  firmly 
re-established  in  the  full,  indissoluble  harmonies  of  the  Con 
stitution. 

But  Trumbull,  the  Header  should  be  informed — though  he 
met  with  the  opposition  we  have  now  described — was  yet  not 
without  extensive  and  abundant  sympathy  in  his  political 
sentiments,  at  the  very  time  when  he  gave  them  circulation 
in  his  Address — not  only  in  his  own  State,  but  elsewhere,  more 
or  less,  throughout  the  United  States,  and  in  foreign  lands. 
Such  men  as  Sherman,  Dyer,  the  Wolcotts,  the  Huntingtons, 
Kichard  Law,  Oliver  Ellsworth,*  Adams,  Bowdoin,  Jay, 
Hamilton,  the  Morrises,  the  Livingstons,  the  Pinkneys,  the 
Rutledges,  the  Middletons — in  short,  all  the  distinguished 
worthies  who  were  afterwards  the  founders  of  our  Constitu 
tion — but  more  than  all  the  immortal  Washington — felt  and 
thought  upon  the  Union  and  its  organization  just  as  Trum 
bull  did.  So  in  Holland  felt  and  thought  also  his  noble 
friend  Baron  Capellan — and  in  England,  among  others,  that 
illustrious  republican  Tractarian,  his  own  particular  cor- 

*  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Eichard  Law,  Samuel  Huntington,  and  Oliver  Wolcott, 
resigned  their  seats  in  Congress  at  the  same  session  in  which  Trumbull  resigned 
the  gubernatorial  chair — and  their  resignations  were  accepted.  The  principal  rea 
son  they  assigned  was,  that,  by  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  after  March  next 
ensuing,  they  could  not  sit  in  Congress,  and  that  it  would  be  a  needless  expense 
and  trouble  for  them  to  take  their  seats  for  a  short  space  of  time,  and  then  have 
their  seats  vacant  at  a  time  when  the  Legislature  of  Connecticut  would  not,  in  all 
probability,  be  convened  to  fill  them. 


614  CHAP.    LI.  —  TKUMBULL.  1783. 

respondent — Dr.  Price.*    Let  a  single  example  of  this  sym 
pathy — and  this  example  the  prominent  one — here  suffice. 

"  I  sincerely  thank  you  for  the  copy  of  the  Address  of  Governor  Trum 
bull  to  the  General  Assembly  and  freemen  of  your  State,"  wrote  George 
Washington  from  Mount  Vernon,  January  fifth,  1784,  to  Jonathan  Trum- 
bull,  Junior,  who  had  sent  him  this  Address.  "  The  sentiments  contained 
in  it  are  such  as  would  do  honor  to  a  patriot  of  any  age  or  nation ;  at 
least  they  are  too  coincident  with  my  own,  not  to  meet  with  my  warmest 
approbation.  Be  so  good  as  to  present  my  most  cordial  respects  to  the 
Governor,  and  let  him  know  that  it  is  my  wish,  that  the  mutual  friendship 
and  esteem,  which  have  been  planted  and  fostered  in  the  tumult  of  public 
life,  may  not  wither  and  die  in  the  serenity  of  retirement  Tell  him,  that 
we  should  rather  amuse  the  evening  hours  of  our  life  in  cultivating  the 
tender  plants,  and  bringing  them  to  perfection,  before  they  are  trans 
planted  to  a  happier  clime." 

Sweet  to  the  heart  of  Trumbull  must  have  been  such 
approbation — from  such  a  source!  Himself  and  the  Father 
of  his  Country  harmonized  in  their  political  creed,  as  in  their 
mutual  affection.  So  true  is  it  that 

"  Great  minds  by  instinct  to  each  other  turn, 
Demand  alliance,  and  with  friendship  burn." 

*  Governor  Trumbull,  writing  Dr.  Price,  April  29th,  1785,  says:  "I  have  re 
ceived  and  return  you  my  most  sincere  thanks  for  your  most  agreeable  letter  of 
the  8th  October  last,  with  the  tract  that  you  did  me  the  honor  to  send  with  it. 
My  farewell  address  to  the  General  Assembly  was  done  with  sincere  intentions  to 
promote  the  public  good,  and  it  gives  satisfaction  to  the  mind  to  meet  with  the 
approbation  of  good  men,  and  that  you  especially  agree  with  my  sentiments." 

November  twenty-fifth,  1783,  writing  his  son  John,  who  was  then  in  England, 
the  Governor  says :  "  The  addresses  on  my  resignation  you  will  make  use  of  as 
you  think  proper,  taking  care  to  present  one  to  Mr.  Adams.  In  one  of  them  you 
will  find  added  a  paragraph  which  was  reported  by  a  committee  of  the  Assembly 
as  part  of  their  reply — but  which  was  rejected  by  the  Lower  House,  lest  by  adopt 
ing  it,  they  should  seem  to  convey  to  the  people  an  idea  of  their  concurring  in  the 
political  sentiments  contained  in  the  address — a  specimen  of  that  cautious  jealousy 
which  at  present  possesses  the  mind  of  the  country." 


CHAPTER     LII. 
1783. 

receives  a  present,  with  an  accompanying  letter,  from  the 
Patriotic  Society  of  Enkhuyzen,  in  Holland,  as  a  testimonial  of  respect 
for  his  distinguished  services.  The  letter — additional  ones  from  San 
Gabriel  Teegelan,  and  Capellan — and  Trumbull's  reply.  His  son,  Col. 
John  Trumbull,  now,  upon  the  restoration  of  peace,  consults  -with  his 
father  as  to  his  future  occupation  for  life.  The  interview  "between 
them  on  this  matter  as  described  by  the  son.  The  son  goes  abroad  to 
perfect  himself  as  a  painter.  The  father's  efforts  to  promote  his  suc 
cess.  He  writes  Burke,  Dr.  Price,  and  others  in  his  behalf.  His  affec^ 
tion  for  him.  His  friendship  and  correspondence  with  Dr.  'Price.  He 
receives  from  the  latter  his  principal  political  pamphlets,  and  takes 
pains  to  republish  and  circulate  one  important  one  among  his  country 
men.  The  susquehannah  Case  engages  his  attention  anew.  It  is  adju 
dicated  at  Trenton — against  Connecticut.  The  disappointment  to 
Trumbull  The  Council  of  Safety  ends  its  labors.  American  soldiers 
return  to  their  homes.  Washington  resigns  his  commission.  The  last 
military  scene  of  the  Revolution  is  closed.  Trumbull  proclaims  his 
last  Thanksgiving. 

OUK  last  Chapter  recorded  a  testimonial  of  respect  and 
gratitude  to  Governor  Trumbull,  which,  upon  occasion  of  his 
Kesignation- Address,  flowed  to  him,  in  his  own  home,  from 
the  Sovereignty  of  the  State  over  which  he  had  so  long  pre 
sided.  We  have  now  to  record  another,  which,  the  present 
year,  he  received  from  abroad — from  no  such  lofty  source, 
however,  as  in  the  world's  eye,  might  have  rendered  the  tes 
timonial  resplendent — but  from  the  remote,  humble  trading 
mart  of  Enkhuyzen  in  Holland,  on  the  shore  of  the  Zuyder 
Zee — there  where  a  little  nest  of  patient,  industrious  Dutch 
men — on  the  farthest  eastern  promontory  of  that  land,  walled 
in  from  Ocean's  stormy  power — pursued  their  laborious  occu 
pation  as  fishermen,  and  aided  to  stock  the  markets  of  the 
world  with  the  famous  Dutch  herring — pickled,  smoked,  and 
dried. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  city — animated  with  the  love  of 
liberty,  and  bent  upon  enjoying  its  sweets — had  organized 
an  association — entitled  the  Patriotic  Society  of  Enkhuyzen — • 


616  CHAP.    LII. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

for  the  purpose  of  promoting  their  favorite  object.  To  it 
they  had  attached  many  Hollanders  of  note  and  influence, 
and,  among  others — from  his  seat  at  Zwolle,  just  across  the 
Zuyder  Zee — their  own,  and  Trumbull's  distinguished  friend, 
the  Baron  Yan  Capellan.  They  had  watched  with  deepest 
interest  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  American  [Revolution. 
They  knew  the  great  men  in  America  who  stood  at  its  head. 
They  were  anxious  at  the  same  time  to  open  a  market  for  the 
great  staple  of  their  city  in  the  rising  Kepublic  of  the  New 
"World.  Accordingly — upon  the  suggestion  of  Baron  Capel 
lan — to  express  at  once  their  sj^mpathy  with  the  cause  for 
which  America  had  suffered — to  testify,  as  they  said,  their 
"great  respect  for  the  excellent  Helpers  and  Edifiers  of  a 
Kepublic  so  similar"  to  their  own — and  to  inquire  as  to  the 
chances  for  a  consumption  of  their  celebrated  commodity  in 
the  United  States — in  November,  1782,  they  sent  over  to 
General  Washington,  President  Hancock,  William  Living 
ston,  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  and  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Gov 
ernor  of  Connecticut,  several  kegs  of  their  Enkhuyzen  her 
ring.  Those  intended  for  Trumbull — six  kegs — reached  him, 
through  Messrs.  Barclay,  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  fall  of 
1783 — with  the  following  accompanying  letter  from  the  do 
nors  in  Holland.* 

"  HIGH-BORN  SIR. 

"  We,  with  the  other  inhabitants  of  this  heretofore  independent  de 
clared  Republic — at  present  more  and  more  animated  with  the  desires  of 
our  old  liberties — may  glory  in  having  contributed  to  the  just  independ 
ence  of  long  unjustly  oppressed  North  America,  by  petitions  to  our  Rep 
resentatives  the  Regency  of  this  city — an  event  [the  independence 
spoken  of]  at  which  the  sincerest  part  of  the  Netherlands  is  rejoiced,  and 
[which]  in  our  opinion  [is]  salutary  for  both  the  Republics,  and  in  partic 
ular  for  this  our  Herring  City,  where  the  consumption  of  that  noble  sea 
produce  is  the  capital  branch  of  trade,  which  we  flatter  ourselves  will  be 
enlarged  by  the  new  opening  made  by  you. 

"  Out  of  these  happy  circumstances  and  flattering  prospects,  a  Patri- 

*  The  letter  was  translated  for  the  Governor  by  Mr.  Erkelens— the  same  gentle 
man  of  whom  we  have  had  occasion  to  speak  before,  in  connection  with  his  Ex 
cellency,  and  with  loans  in  Holland.  The  translation  shows  that  Erkelens  was 
but  poorly  acquainted  with  English.  "We  have  therefore  corrected  a  few  of  his 
grammatical  mistakes.  Otherwise,  the  letter,  both  in  language  and  matter,  is  as 
he  rendered  it. 


1783.  CHAP.    LII. — TRUMBULL.  617 

otic  Society  has  appeared  within  this  City,  among  whose  members  we 
may  count  the  excellent,  liberty-loving,  and  immortal  Baron  van  der  Ca- 
pellan  tot  den  poll  — and  this  Society  wishes  nothing  more  sincerely  than 
the  welfare  of  both  the  Republics,  and  therefore  has  nothing  in  view  but 
to  build  on  the  liberty  of  North  America  (since  long  through  the  Voice 
of  Justice  defended  even  in  the  consciences  of  its  enemies,)  a  new  hap 
piness  for  our  Country  at  large,  and  for  our  City  in  particular.  Accord 
ingly — on  the  proposition  of  the  above-mentioned  Baron — as  a  testimony 
of  our  high  respect  for  the  excellent  Helpers  and  Edifiers  of  a  Republic 
so  similar  to  our  own— we  have  taken  the  liberty  to  offer  your  Excellen 
cy,  also  Messieurs  Washington,  Livingston,*  and  Hancock,  a  few  kegs 
of  Enkhuyzen  Herring,  with  prayer  that  the  small  present  may  be  con 
sidered  as  flowing  from  the  pure  intention  and  Hollandic  sincerity  of  its 
Senders,  and  may  be  used  by  your  Excellency  agreeably.  At  the  same 
time  we  take  the  liberty  most  respectfully  to  ask  your  Excellency  to  in 
form  us  by  the  first  opportunity,  not  only  of  the  arrival  of  the  present, 
but  also  whether  our  herring  would  have  consumption  in  your  country, 
which  we  wish — and  if  your  Excellency  should  find  no  difficulty  therein, 
then  we  at  the  same  time  ask  you  to  recommend  us  to  a  good  House,  to 
which  we  may  safely  remit  the  same — when,  in  the  next  season  if  possi 
ble,  we  will  send  a  parcel. 

"  We  wish  that  the  Governor  of  the  World  may  give  your  Excellen 
cy's  precious  person  to  taste  the  fruits  of  your  love  to  your  country  till 
the  happiest  age.  Hoping  that  the  blessing  of  liberty,  of  concord,  and 
prosperity,  may  be  the  lot  of  your  Republic  long  as  the  new  part  of  the 
world  and  the  old  shall  last,t  and  that  our  country,  our  city,  and  our  So 
ciety  may  never  be  deprived  of  your  sincere  affection, 
"  We  are  with  true  respect, 

"  Your  Excellency's  very  humble 
"  And  obedient  servants, 

"  The  Members,  Commissaries,  and 

"  Secretaries  of  the  Patriotic  Society, 
"  A.  H.  DUYVENS,         PETER  ELBENHOUT,  ") 
"BERNARDUS  BLOCK,    J.  DE  JOUGH  SOUGZ,  ^-Secretaries." 
"  PANECUS  DE  WITT,    BRANDER  VELDEN,   J 

"  RlEWARD  RUNIDSEN." 

*  Livingston,  like  Trumbull,  corresponded  with  Baron  Capellan  during  the 
War.  "  We  are  all  in  your  debt,"  wrote  Washington  to  the  former,  Dec.  7th, 
1779 — "  for  what  you  have  done  for  us  in  Holland.  I  would  flatter  myself  from 
the  receipt  of  your  correspondence,  and  the  superior  advantages  which  our  com 
merce  holds  out  to  the  Dutch,  that  we  shall  experience  in  a  little  time  the  most 
favorable  effects  from  this  quarter." 

t  This  clause,  "  long  as  the  new  part  of  the  world  and  the  old  shall  lasb^  is 
translated  by  Erkelens  thus— "so  long  that  the  new  part  of  the  world  with  the  old, 
will  return  to  their  origin  " — the  sense  of  which  seems  to  be  as  we  have  given  it 
in  the  text. 

62* 


618  CHAP.    LII. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

Accompanying  the  letter  now  quoted,  was  another  to 
Trumbull  from  Holland — from  the  gentleman  who  in  behalf 
of  the  Patriotic  Society  transmitted  the  present  to  Philadel 
phia — San  Gabriel  Teegelan — who  describes  himself  as 
known  at  home,  on  account  of  his  passionate  attachment  to 
America,  as  "the  American  Teegelan."  He  informs  the  Gov 
ernor  that  he  has  acted  on  the  instigation,  particularly,  of 
"  the  liberty- loving,  and  right  noble,  and  dear  Baron  Yan  der 
Capellan,"  as  he  styles  the  latter — and  concludes  with  ex 
pressing  the  earnest  hope  that  God  may  bless  the  new  Ee- 
public  of  America  "  to  the  end  of  ages  " — that  he  may  bless 
the  Governor  and  his  people — that  he  may  grant  himself  the 
joy  of  witnessing  "  an  unbroken  connection "  between  the 
two  Eepublics  of  the  United  States  and  Holland,  "  founded 
on  religion,  faith,  and  honor " — and  that  he  may  cause  his 
Excellency,  "  and  all  defenders  and  protectors  of  true  liber 
ties,"  to  taste  for  many  years  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  they 
have  planted. 

To  both  these  communications — as  also  to  another  from 
Capellan  which  came  at  the  same  time — Governor  Trumbull 
made  appropriate  replies.  That  to  the  Patriotic  Society  we 
now  quote.  It  was  as  follows : — 

"LEBANON,  1st  Oct.,  1783. 
"  GENTLEMEN. 

"I  had  lately  the  honor  to  receive,  thro'  Messrs.  Barclay  of  Phila,  six 
kegs  of  herring,  with  the  very  polite  letter  of  your  Patriotic  Society,  and 
of  your  excellent  member  the  Baron  van  der  Capellan  De  Poll  &c.  Per 
mit  me,  Gentlemen,  to  return  you  my  most  unfeigned  thanks  for  this 
honorable  mark  of  your  esteem. 

"  And  while  I  congratulate  you,  Gentlemen,  on  the  happy  termination 
of  the  late  War,  and  the  Establishment  of  the  Freedom  and  Independ 
ence  of  these  United  States,  you  will  give  me  leave  to  assure  you  that  we 
are  gratefully  sensible  how  much  we  are  indebted  for  this  happy  event 
to  the  exertions  of  our  friends  in  Holland  in  general — of  your  City,  and 
most  particularly  of  your  worthy  member  Baron  Van  der  Capellan. 
May  the  Almighty  Disposer  of  events,  who  has  caused  this  great  Revo 
lution,  make  its  consequences  glorious  and  happy  for  our  two  Republics, 
and  for  the  Universe. 

"But  while  we  anticipate  the  great  mutual  benefits  which  will  be  de 
rived  to  both  Countries  from  our  unrestrained  freedom  of  commerce,  I 
fear  that  your  particular  hopes  of  finding  a  new  and  considerable  market 


1783.  CHAP.    LII. — TBUMBULL.  619 

for  your  herring  will  not  be  entirely  answered.  The  very  extensive 
coasts  and  numerous  rivers  of  this  country  swarm  with  fish  of  this  and 
various  kinds — and  tho'  we  know  not  the  method  of  curing  them  in  the 
excellent  manner  yours  are,  yet  they  answer  principally  the  consumption 
of  this  country.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  great  towns  of  Phil% 
N.  York,  Boston,  &c.,  &c.,  may  afford  you  a  market  for  some  quantity, 
though  not  at  present  such  as  you  may  wish. 

"  With  earnest  prayers  for  your  personal  happiness  and  the  prosperity 
of  your  City,  I  have  the  honor  to  subscribe  myself,  &c." 

The  Governor's  letter  to  Capellan  upon  the  occasion  now 
under  consideration,  of  the  same  date  with  that  just  quoted, 
again  handsomely  acknowledges  the  present  he  had  received, 
and  in  the  following  manner  congratulates  Capellan  upon  his 
restoration  to  his  seat  in  the  Assembly  of  Overysell.  The 
writer  speaks  also  of  his  own  public  life,  age,  and  retirement. 

"  Give  me  leave,"  he  proceeds — "  to  offer  you  my  warmest  congratula 
tions  on  an  event  in  which  Americans  have  the  best  reason  to  rejoice, 
since  by  this  triumph  of  justice  over  oppression,  you  are  not  only  restored 
to  your  rights — a  sufficient  cause  of  joy  to  honest  men — but  we  likewise 
see  new  power  placed  in  the  hands  of  one,  of  whose  friendly  disposition 
we  have  long  had  the  fullest  proofs.  At  the  same  time  you  will  be  pleased 
to  accept  my  sincerest  thanks  for  the  essential  services  you  have  rendered 
to  the  cause  of  my  country  and  of  mankind. 

*  *  *  * 

"  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  see  you  in  this  country,  but  I  have  little 
reason  to  expect  it  You  are  at  that  period  of  life  when  our  abilities  to 
serve  our  country  are  at  their  height,  and  happily  for  yours,  your  inclin 
ation  coincides  with  your  duty,  while  my  years  are  far  advanced,  and 
my  public  life  is  already  very  near  its  period.  I  see  my  country  happily 
established  in  liberty  and  peace,  and  the  present  year,  which  is  the  fifty- 
first  from  my  entrance  into  public  offices,  will  close  my  administration, 
and  restore  me  likewise  to  the  ease  and  peace  of  private  life.  But  your 
correspondence  will  not  be  less  valued  by  me  in  retirement,  than  it  was 
while  I  supported  a  public  character ;  and  you  must  give  me  leave  to 
hope  that  I  shall  be  honored  with  your  further  letters,  not  less  frequently 
than  I  have  been  with  your  past. 

"  My  son,  Colonel  John  Trumbull,  will  be  the  bearer  of  this,  at  least  to 
London.  I  hope,  for  his  sake,  that  he  may  see  you  before  his  return  to 
America,  and  you  will  permit  me  to  say  that  I  shall  esteem  every  friendly 
office  rendered  to  him,  as  if  it  were  to  myself." 

His  son,  the  artist,  to  whom  the  Governor  refers  in  the 
closing  paragraph  of  this  letter  to  Capellan — after  his  return 


620  CHAP.    LII. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

from  Europe  in  January,  1782,  had  much  of  the  time  been 
engaged,  with  his  brother  and  a  few  other  gentlemen,  as  con 
fidential  agent,  in  a  contract  for  the  supply  of  the  army — and 
was  at  New  Windsor  on  the  Hudson — near  his  "early  master 
and  friend,"  as  he  styles  General  Washington — superintend 
ing  the  faithful  execution  of  the  contract,  when  the  news  of 
the  signing  of  the  Preliminary  Articles  of  Peace  put  an  end, 
he  says,  "to  all  further  desultory  pursuits,"  and  rendered  it 
necessary  for  him  "  to  determine  upon  a  future  occupation  for 
life."  Under  these  circumstances,  as  usual,  he  consulted  with 
his  father.  The  gentlemen  with  whom  he  had  been  connect 
ed  in  the  army  contract,  urged  him  to  engage  in  a  commer 
cial  establishment.  The  father  pressed  him  to  pursue  the 
study  of  law.  The  son  was  irresistibly  impelled  to  study 
art.  The  two,  therefore,  had  a  long  and  affectionate  debate 
on  the  subject,  which  is  thus  pleasantly  described  by  Colonel 
John  Trurnbull  himself* 

"The  gentlemen  with  whom  I  was  connected  in  the  military  contract 
proposed  a  commercial  establishment,  in  which  they  would  furnish  funds, 
information,  and  advice,  while  I  should  execute  the  business,  and  divide 
with  them  the  profits.  The  proposal  was  fascinating,  but  I  reflected  if 
I  entered  upon  regular  commerce,  I  must  come  in  competition  with  men 
who  had  been  educated  in  the  counting-house,  and  my  ignorance  might 
often  leave  me  at  their  mercy,  and  therefore  I  declined  this  office.  My 
father  again  urged  the  law,  as  the  profession  which  in  a  republic  leads  to 
all  emolument  and  distinction,  and  for  which  my  early  education  had 
well  prepared  me.  My  reply  was,  that  so  far  as  I  understood  the  ques 
tion,  law  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  vices  of  mankind— that  I  had 
already  seen  too  much  of  them  willingly  to  devote  my  life  to  a  profession 
which  would  keep  me  perpetually  involved,  either  in  the  defence  of  inno 
cence  against  fraud  and  injustice,  or  (which  was  much  more  revolting  to 
an  ingenuous  mind,)  to  the  protection  of  guilt  against  just  and  merited 
punishment  In  short,  I  pined  for  the  arts,  again  entered  into  an  elaborate 
defence  of  my  predilection,  and  again  dwelt  upon  the  honors  paid  to  art 
ists  in  the  glorious  days  of  Greece  and  Athens.  My  father  listened  pa 
tiently,  and  when  I  had  finished,  he  complimented  me  upon  the  able 
manner  in  which  I  had  defended  what  to  him  still  appeared  to  be  a  bad 
cause.  *  I  had  confirmed  his  opinion,'  he  said,  '  that  with  proper  study 
I  should  make  a  respectable  lawyer ;  but,'  added  he,  'you  must  give  me 
leave  to  say  that  you  appear  to  have  overlooked,  or  forgotten,  one  very 
important  point  in  your  case.'  'Pray,  Sir,'  I  rejoined,  'what  was 
that?' — 'You  appear  to  forget,  Sir,  that  Connecticut  is  not  Athens  J " — 


1783.  CHAP.    LII. — TRUMBULL.  621 

and  with  this  pithy  remark,  he  bowed  and  withdrew,  and  never  more 
opened  his  lips  upon  the  subject  How  often  have  those  few  impressive 
words  recurred  to  my  memory — ' Connecticut  is  not  Athens!'  The 
decision  was  made  in  favor  of  the  arts.  I  closed  all  other  business,  and 
in  December,  1783,  embarked  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  for 
London." 

It  was  in  contemplation  of  this  his  son's  departure,  that 
the  Governor  conciliated  in  his  behalf  the  attention  of  Baron 
Capellan.  Nor  did  he  stop  here.  Now  that  the  decision  of 
the  son  was  made  in  favor  of  art,  he  did  everything  in  his 
power,  with  all  the  warmth  of  parental  solicitude,  to  pro 
mote  his  success.  To  Edmund  Burke  also  he  penned  a  letter 
in  his  behalf. 

"I  write  this,"  he  said  to  that  illustrious  man — "to  be  put  into  your 
hands  by  my  son,  who  owes  so  much  to  your  benevolent  interposition. 
Give  me  leave,  Sir,  to  repeat  my  acknowledgments  of  your  goodness,  and 
to  recommend  him  to  your  future  protection,  during  his  residence  in 
England,  whither  he  returns  to  pursue  his  favorite  study  of  the  Pencil. 
I  shall  be  happy  if  his  merit  in  that  line  shall  prove  such  as  to  recom 
mend  him  to  the  particular  favor  of  so  good  a  judge  and  patron  of 
genius." 

He  addressed  also  John  Adams  and  Henry  Laurens,  who 
were  then  in  Europe,  on  the  same  matter.  "  My  son,"  he 
wrote  the  former — "who  will  have  the  honor  to  deliver 
this  to  you,  is  the  same  you  saw  in  Europe  two  years  ago, 
and  who,  maugre  all  the  sufferings  and  ill-treatment  he  then 
experienced  from  the  English  nation,  has  still  an  unconquer 
able  passion  to  improve  his  pencil  once  more  under  the  cele 
brated  artists  in  London."  He  addressed  also  Dr.  Price,  Da 
vid  Hartley,  Kichard  Jackson,  and  others,  commending  to 
their  civilities,  their  goodness,  and  their  protection,  that 
youthful  artist,*  who,  if  he  was  not  ordained,  like  Zeuxis,  to 
paint  grapes  which  could  deceive  the  birds — or  like  Parrha- 
sius,  curtains  which  could  mislead  even  a  Zeuxisf — or  like 
Pausias,  Glyceras  fit  to  adorn  a  theatre  of  Eome — was  yet  des 
tined,  like  Apelles,  to  depict  Alexanders  whose  hands  should 

*  He  was  then  twenty-seven  years  old. 

t " Kemove  your  curtain,"  said  Zeuxis  to  Parrhasius,  his  rival — "that  I  may 
see  your  picture" — this  picture  being  only  the  curtain. 


622  CHAP.    LII,— TKUMBULL.  1783. 

hold  vividly  the  thunders  of  war,  and  battle-horses  which 
even  in  picture  might  extort  neighs  from  living  steeds. 

Hardly  had  the  parting  words  been  spoken,  and  the  son 
departed,  ere  the  heart  of  the  parent  yearned  once  more  to 
clasp  his  child,  even  before  the  latter  embarked  from  Ports 
mouth.  "  The  solicitude  of  a  parent,"  he  wrote  him  Novem 
ber  twenty-fifth — uyou  will  expect  would  make  me  anxious 
to  see  you  again  before  I  part  with  mortal  scenes — which 
from  my  advanced  age,  you  know,  must  not  be  far  distant. 
Whether  I  am  to  be  gratified  in  my  fond  wishes,  or  not,  I 
hope  you  will  study  to  secure  to  yourself  that  better  part  be 
yond  this  life  that  may  insure  our  meeting  in  a  happier  state." 
Thus  is  it  obvious,  from  everything  that  appears  of  Governor 
Trumbull  in  his  domestic  relations,  that  the  threads  of  his 
affections  were  fine-spun,  and  that  the  "expedition"  of  his 
love 

"Never  outran  the  pauser  Reason." 

With  Dr.  Price  particularly,  to  whose  attention  he  com 
mended  his  son,  and  to  whom  he  sent  his  Farewell  Address, 
the  relations  of  Trumbull  were  extremely  cordial,  and  his 
correspondence  long  continued.  His  friendship  with  this 
most  able  writer  commenced  in  1776,  at  the  time  when  the 
latter  published  his  famous  Tract  entitled  "Observations  on 
the  nature  of  civil  liberty,  the  principles  of  government,  and 
the  justice  and  policy  of  the  war  with  America"' — a  work 
which,  among  other  flattering  notices  that  it  received,  won  for 
its  author,  from  the  City  of  London,  a  letter  of  special  com 
pliment,  accompanied  with  the  present  of  a  gold  box. 

It  was  indeed  a  most  noble  contribution  to  that  cause  for 
which  the  United  States  were  then  struggling — and  Trum 
bull — to  whom  Dr.  Price  sent  it,  as  he  did  all  his  prin 
cipal  pamphlets — was  delighted  with  the  purity  of  purpose, 
strength  of  reasoning,  and  lofty  republican  spirit,  which  it 
manifested.  It  tried  the  American  question  by  the  funda 
mental  principles  of  liberty,  and  of  the  British  Constitu 
tion — in  respect  of  justice,  the  honor  of  the  kingdom,  the 
policy  and  humanity  of  the  war,  and  the  probability  of  its 
success — and  under  all  these  aspects  irrefutably  decided  the 


1783.  CHAP.   LII. — TRUMBULL.  623 

case  in  favor  of  the  Colonies.*  Trumbull,  therefore,  took 
great  pains  to  circulate  it  among  his  friends.  He  caused  it  to 
be  published  in  the  newspapers  of  Connecticut.  It  was  in 
fact  published  soon  in  nearly  all  the  papers  of  the  United 
States,  and  being  diffused  everywhere,  gloriously  roused,  en 
couraged,  and  fortified  the  hope  and  effort  of  the  whole 
country. 

The  friendship  between  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  and 
Dr.  Price,  was  kept  up  down  to  the  close  of  Trumbull's  life. 
But  about  six  weeks  only  before  his  death,  he  received  and 
answered  a  new  letter  from  the  Doctor,  with  an  accompanying 
pamphlet — whose  excellence  he  did  not  fail  to  appreciate  and 
commend. 

"Your  Tract,"f  he  then  wrote — "I  have  distributed  to  such  as  will  I 
trust  make  a  good  use  of  it.  It  hath  been  printed  in  our  Newspapers, 
and  also  reprinted  at  Hartford — and  will  undoubtedly  prove  very  serv 
iceable.  I  repeatedly  perused  it  with  pleasure,  instruction,  and  profit. 
Your  observations  and  advice  I  think  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  need 
no  apology.  Mr.  Turgot's  letter  is  very  excellent,  much  to  that  good 
minister's  honor,  and  to  be  highly  regarded. 

"  As  the  establishment  of  the  independence  of  these  United  States 
gives  a  new  direction  to  the  civil  affairs  of  the  world,  so  Dr.  Seabury's 
plan,  whereof  my  son  acquainted  me  in  one  of  his  letters,  and  of  which 
I  conclude  you  are  informed,  may  make  a  new  era  in  the  History  of 
Heligion,  to  advance  that  liberality  and  wisdom  which  will  promote  the 
happiness  of  mankind. 

"  In  my  retirement  I  heartily  wish  for  the  literary  correspondence  of 
friends,  among  whom  I  have  the  happiness  to  reckon  you  one  highly 
esteemed." 

Thus  much  here  concerning  some  of  the  Governor's  do 
mestic  relations,  his  private  correspondence,  and  his  friend- 

*  See  note  at  the  end  of  this  Chapter. 

f  The  Tract  referred  to  here,  was  entitled,  "  Observations  on  the  importance  of 
the  American  Revolution,  and  the  means  of  making  it  a  benefit  to  the  world." 
It  was  printed  in  London  in  1784,  and  was  dedicated  as  a  last  testimony  of  the 
good  will  of  the  author,  to  the  free  and  United  States  of  America.  The  letter  of 
Turgot,  Comptroller  General  of  the  Finances  of  France,  to  which  Trumbull  in 
the  above  letter  refers,  was  printed  with  it.  It  was  addressed  from  Paris  to  Dr. 
Price,  and  contained  observations  in  which  the  United  States  were  deeply  con 
cerned.  "  The  eminence  of  Mr.  Turgot's  name  and  character,"  said  Dr.  Price, 
"will  recommend  it  to  their  attention,  and  it  will  do  honor  to  his  memory  among 
all  the  friends  of  public  liberty." 


624  CHAP.    LII. — TRUMBULL.  1783. 

ships.  Little  else  remained  to  engage  his  attention  during 
the  two  closing  months  of  the  present  year,  save  the  great 
Susquehannah  Case,  which  now  at  last — before  a  Board  of 
Commissioners  appointed  through  the  order  of  Congress — 
was  brought  up  for  trial  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey. 

We  have  seen  that  among  the  labors  of  Trumbull  for  the 
year  1782,  was  that  of  preparing  this  case  for  the  adjudica 
tion  to  which  we  refer — he  having  been  particularly  request 
ed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut — in  compliance 
with  a  letter  enclosing  instructions  from  Congress  on  the  sub 
ject — to  collect  and  transmit  to  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Af 
fairs  all  papers  "  evidencing "  the  title  of  the  State  to  the 
lands  in  dispute — and  to  accompany  them  with  such  observa 
tions  thereon  as  he  "  might  think  proper."  The  trial  came 
on  the  twelfth  of  November  of  the  present  year — before  sev 
en  commissioners.*  It  occupied  forty -one  judicial  days,  and 
resulted  in  the  decision,  strangely  unanimous,  that  Connecti 
cut  "had  no  right  to  the  lands  in  controversy" — a  decision, 
which,  as  Trumbull  profoundly  believed — and  as  was  held 
by  the  best  lawyers  both  in  America  and  in  England — was 
against  both  the  law  and  the  equities  of  the  case. 

For  in  defiance  of  the  old  Patent  of  Connecticut — in  the 
very  teeth  of  its  Charter — in  the  face  of  valid  prior  pur 
chases,  by  a  large  Company,  from  the  native  proprietors  of 
the  soil  in  question — and  in  the  face  too  of  a  right  of  posses 
sion  which  was  consummated  by  the  actual  settlements  of  nu 
merous  adventurers,  with  established  government,  and  was 
recognized,  fully  approved,  and  adopted  by  the  Legislature 
of  this  State — it  surrendered  to  Pennsylvania  a  tract  of  coun 
try  to  which  she  could  plead  no  claim  but  a  patent  granted  to 
William  Penn,  nineteen  years  after  the  date  of  the  Charter  of 
Connecticut,  and  purchases  from  the  Indians,  which — in  her 
own  "  Kepresentation "  of  her  case  before  the  Commission 
ers — she  does  not  assert  were  validated  by  any  deeds  until 
nearly  eighty-two  years  after  the  agents  of  the  rival  Susque- 

*  They  were  Hon.  William  Whipple  of  New  Hampshire,  Hon.  Welcome  Ar 
nold  of  Rhode  Island,  Hon.  David  Brearly  and  Wm.  Churchill  Houston  of  New 
Jersey,  Esquires,  Hon.  Cyrus  Griffin,  Joseph  Jones,  Esquires,  and  Thomas  Nel 
son,  of  Virginia. 


1783.  CHAP.    LII. — TRUMBULL.  625 

hannah  Company  had  explored  and  bought  the  soil  of  its 
aboriginal  owners. 

This  decision  was  a  severe  disappointment  to  the  expect 
ation  of  Trumbull — for,  just  ten  years  previously,  he  had 
been  the  pioneer  in  the  legal  explication  and  statement  of  the 
Case,  and  his  own  views  had  been  soundly  endorsed  by  the 
judgment  of  the  most  accomplished  jurists  in  England — the 
King's  Attorney  General,  and  the  King's  Solicitor  General, 
included.  But  the  Articles  of  Confederation  had  referred  all 
disputes  between  two  or  more  States  concerning  boundary 
and  jurisdiction,  in  the  last  resort,  to  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled — and  to  Congress  the  appeal  had  been 
made.  Its  fiat  had  gone  forth,  and  to  it  Trumbull,  as  a  good 
citizen — not  approving,  not  convinced — submitted. 

But  the  third  day  only  after  the  trial  commenced  at  Tren 
ton — in  the  assertion  and  maintenance  of  the  rights  and  title 
of  Connecticut — he  had  renewedly  issued  a  Proclamation, 
strictly  forbidding  any  settlement  upon  the  Territory  in  ques 
tion,  without  due  license  first  obtained  from  Connecticut  au 
thority.  It  was  the  last  of  his  tireless  efforts  in  vindication 
of  the  claim  of  his  native  State  to  the  sweet  Yale  of  Wyo 
ming.  Mournfully  dark,  yet  not  unexpected  to  him,  were 
the  days  which  followed  the  decision  of  the  National  Com 
missioners — days,  with  the  restless,  rival  settlers,  of  strife  still 
bitter,  of  pillage,  and  of  bloodshed.  He  did  not  live,  how 
ever,  to  see  the  painful  scene  terminated  by  the  compromis 
ing  and  confirming  laws  of  Pennsylvania — laws  which,  at 
length,  left  to  the  adventurers  from  Connecticut  a  fair  por 
tion  of  the  fields  which  both  their  bravery  and  their  toil  had 
won,  and  restored  to  a  country  that  had  long  been  riven 
with  contentions,  and  crimsoned  with  blood,  the  blessings  of 
peace. 

This  destiny  of  Wyoming — its  adjudication  into  the  hands 
of  a  rival  claimant — was  the  only  event,  with  Trumbull,  to 
sadden  the  closing  of  the  year  which  we  have  now  surveyed. 
Everything  else  in  public  proceedings — softened  by  the  hues 
of  established  Peace — wore  a  sunny  aspect,  and  heralded  the 
approach  of  solid  prosperity  for  the  country.  There  was  no 

more  of  war,  or  of  war's  alarms.     That  Council  of  Safety,  over 
53 


626  CHAP.    LII. — TKUMBULL.  1783 

which  for  so  long  and  agitating  a  period  the  Governor  had 
presided — at  whose  sessions — memorable  example  of  punc 
tuality  indeed — in  sunshine  or  in  storm — from  June  the 
fourth,  1775,  nearly  to  the  beginning  of  November  1783 — he 
had  himself  been  personally  present,  as  appears  from  a  mem 
orandum  in  his  own  handwriting,*  no  less  than  nine  hundred 
and  thirteen  days — ended  its  toilsome,  but  most  patriotic  la 
bors,  in  the  City  of  Newhaven,  when  the  sun  of  October  the 
twenty-eighth  was  declining  to  its  setting,  f 

Everywhere  over  the  State  war-worn  veterans,  no  more  to 
draw  "  the  offensive  blade,"  were  now  returning  to  the  sweet 
communion  of  their  homes.  Matrons  and  maidens  were 
there  to  welcome  them  whose  hearts,  bounded  with  joy  at 
thought  that  they  were  no  longer  to  drive  the  spinning-wheel, 
and  ply  the  needle,  for  husbands  and  fathers,  sons  and  broth 
ers,  who  were  to  be  again  devoted  to  the  blood-stained  battle 
field.  And  soon — November  twenty-fifth — filing  from  their 
last  hold  on  the  American  seaboard — that  hold  which  so  per 
ilously  for  Connecticut  especially,  they  had  so  long  main 
tained — the  British  troops  evacuated  New  York.  "  With  a 
heart  full  of  love  and  gratitude,"  Washington  took  leave  of 
his  comrades  in  arms — and  Tuesday,  December  the  twenty- 
third — -just  when  the  sun,  in  glorious  typification  of  the 
event,  had  reached  its  zenith — the  Father  of  his  Country — 
having  finished  the  work  assigned  him — before  the  Eepre- 
sentatives  of  the  Sovereignty  of  the  Union  at  Annapolis,  re 
signed  his  Commission — and,  "followed  by  the  enthusiastic 
love,  esteem,  and  admiration  of  his  countrymen,"  retired  to 
his  quiet,  beautiful  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac. 

The  last  military  scene  of  the  American  Revolution  was  noiv 
closed!  Now  the  sword  was  to  be  turned  to  the  pruning 

*  This  memorandum  shows  that  in  1775  he  was  present  at  the  Council  twenty- 
five  times — in  1776,  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight — in  1777,  two  hundred  and 
nine — in  1778,  one  hundred  and  five — in  1779,  eighty-four — in  1780,  one  hundred 
and  thirty-four — in  1781,  one  hundred  and  two — in  1782,  eighty  four — and  in 
1783,  forty-two  times. 

fits  closing  entries  relate  to  the  liquidation  and  settlement  of  military  accounts, 
and  the  collection  and  disposition  of  military  stores — the  very  last  being  a  Eeso- 
lution  instructing  Horatio  Welles  of  Windham  County  to  collect  all  the  provis 
ions,  cloth,  and  materials  of  war  in  Windham  County  for  the  Continental  Line, 
and  sell  and  dispose  of  the  same  to  the  best  advantage  for  the  State. 


1783.  CHAP.    LII. — TRUMBULL.  627 

hook — iron  to  instruments  of  agriculture  and  manufactures, 
to  the  plough,  the  spade,  the  weaving  machine,  the  chisel,  and 
the  axe — tent-cloth  to  the  white  sails  of  commerce — the  ox  to 
the  furrow — the  horse  to  the  wain  loaded  for  quiet  marts— 
and  man  everywhere,  in  the  virgin  Eepublic  of  the  New 
World,  to  the  occupations,  the  enjoyments,  and  the  security 
of  peace. 

With  a  more  exalted  sense  than  upon  any  occasion  before, 
of  the  blessings  by  which  his  country  was  surrounded,  did 
Trumbull,  the  present  year — in  view  of  its  crowning  suc 
cess — in  consideration  that  hostilities  had  entirely  ceased,  and 
the  citizens  of  America  were  left  "  in  the  undisputed  posses 
sion  of  their  liberty,  independence,  and  of  the  fruits  of  their 
land,  and  in  the  free  participation  of  the  treasures  of  the 
sea" — call  upon  the  people  of  Connecticut,  on  the  second 
Thursday  of  December,  to  celebrate  again,  with  grateful  hearts 
and  united  voices,  the  praises  of  the  supreme  and  all-bounti 
ful  Benefactor !  It  was  the  last  of  his  Thanksgiving  Procla 
mations.  How  opportune ! 

NOTE   REFERRED   TO    ON   PAGE   623. 

With  Dr.  Price  there  was  not  a  word  in  the  whole  compass  of  language,  as  he 
said,  which  expresses  so  much  of  what  is  important,  excellent,  sound,  and  inval 
uable,  as  the  word  Liberty — and  that  State  in  which  there  was  not  a  body  of  men 
representing  the  people  to  constitute  an  essential  part  of  the  Legislature,  was  in 
slavery — which  he  defied  any  one  to  express  in  stronger  language  than  Great 
Britain  had  expressed  it  in  her  claim  to  bind  the  Colonies  "in  all  cases  whatso 
ever."  No  one  community,  in  his  view,  could,  in  justice  or  in  reason,  have  any 
power  over  the  property  or  legislation  of  any  other  community  that  was  not  in 
corporated  with  it  by  a  just  and  adequate  representation. 

The  contest  with  America,  he  held,  was  a  contest  for  power  only,  originating 
in  "  the  pride  and  lust  of  dominion,  in  blind  resentment,  and  the  desire  of  re 
venge."  He  claimed  that  the  Colonists,  when  asked  as  Freemen,  had  seldom 
ever  discovered  any  reluctance  in  giving  to  the  parent  country,  but  in  obedience 
to  a  demand  with  the  bayonet  at  their  breasts,  would  give  nothing  but  blood — 
that  they  were  descendants  of  men  who  never  would  have  emigrated  on  any  such 
condition  as  that  the  people  from  whom  they  withdrew  should  be  forever  masters 
of  their  property,  and  have  power  to  subject  them  to  any  modes  of  government  they 
pleased — that  every  mind  would  instinctively  revolt  at  the  idea  that  a  vast  continent 
should  hold  all  that  was  most  valuable  to  it  at  the  discretion  of  a  handful  of  men 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic — that  it  was  a  vital  mistake  to  suppose  the  Colo 
nists  weak  or  without  high  moral  and  intellectual  worth — that  they  had  names 
among  them  which  would  "  not  stoop  to  any  names  among  the  philosophers  and 
politicians"  of  England,  and  that  the  United  States  in  time  would  become  a 
mighty  empire,  "equal  or  superior"  to  Great  Britain  "in  all  the  arts  and  accom 
plishments  which  give  dignity  and  happiness  to  human  life." 


628  CHAP.    LII. — TEUMBULL.  1783. 

He  affirmed  that  England  was  the  aggressor  in  the  war,  and  so  imperiled  by  it, 
as  that,  if  she  persisted,  ruin  would  be  her  inevitable  lot — that  there  was  no 
chance  of  her  succeeding  in  it — that  for  her  to  expect  triumph  was  "  a  folly  so 
great  that  language  does  not  afford  a  name  for  it " — that  it  ought  to  be  her  wish, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  at  least  one  free  country  should  be  left  on  earth  to  which 
even  Britons  might  fly  when  venality,  luxury,  and  vice,  had  completed,  as  they 
then  seemed  to  be  doing,  the  ruin  of  liberty  at  home — and  finally,  that  England 
must  retrace  all  her  steps — meet  the  Colonies  on  the  ground  which  the  latter 
had  taken  in  their  last  Petition  to  the  King — suspend  hostilities — and  repeal 
every  act  which  had  distressed  the  new  and  struggling  cis- Atlantic  world. 


C  HAP  TE  R    LI  II. 
1784—1785. 

TRUMBTTLL  superintends  the  collection  and  liquidation  of  military  ac 
counts.  Under  instructions  from  the  General  Assembly,  he  urges  Con 
gress  to  add  the  expense  of  defending  the  sea-coast  and  western  frontier 
of  Connecticut  to, the  debt  of  the  Continent.  Reasons  for  this  appli 
cation.  The  question  of  granting  the  Impost  Power  to  Congress  is 
warmly  agitated  in  Connecticut.  Commutation,  taxation,  and  the  Or 
der  of  the  Cincinnati  become  mingled  up  with  it.  Excitement  intense. 
A  Petition  to  Congress  against  Commutation,  and  the  Impost  Power, 
emanates  fiom  the  Lower  House  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  a  Con 
vention  at  Middletown  addresses  the  people  on  what  it  styles  the  pub 
lic  grievances.  The  reasoning  of  the  objectors.  A  factious  uneasiness, 
consequently,  among  the  people  of  the  State.  Trumbull's  course  at 
this  crisis.  Testimony  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall  respecting  it.  He  dis 
closes  his  fears  for  the  public  order  and  safety  in  a  letter  to  General 
Washington.  The  letter.  Washington's  reply.  He  labors  assiduously 
to  allay  the  political  storm.  His  arguments  on  the  side  of  law, 
order,  good  faith,  and  good  government.  By  whom  aided.  Looked 
to  as  the  only  pilot,  he  is  urged,  notwithstanding  his  resignation,  to 
continue  in  his  post  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  State.  He  persists, 
however,  in  his  purpose  of  retirement  from,  public  life,  and  Matthew 
Griswold  is  chosen  in  his  place.  The  Address  to  Trumbull  from  Dr. 
Joseph  Huntington's  Election  Sermon  in  May.  The  public  policy  for 
which  Trumbull  has  labored,  achieves  at  last  a  signal  triumph.  The 
popular  ferment  subsides.  Commutation  comes  to  be  thought  a 
harmless  measure  of  justice.  Connecticut  grants  Congress  the  Impost 
Power.  Trumbull's  high  satisfaction. 

NINETEEN  months  and  a  half  more,  ere  the  patriot  we 
commemorate  was  called  to  take 

" His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death!  " 

Months  they  were  to  him,  all  save  the  first  four,  of  grateful 
retirement  from  every  public  care,  and  of  soothing  medita 
tion,  in  the  quiet  of  his  own.  home  at  Lebanon.  Life  no 
longer  disturbed  him  with  the  anxieties  of  war,  or  weari 
somely  strained  upon  his  activities  for  the  public  service. 
63* 


630  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

He  had  bidden  a  lasting  "farewell  to  the  plumed  troop." 
He  had  left  forever  the  field  of  civil  labors.  He  had  surrend 
ered  himself,  chiefly — and  in  conformity  with  the  wish  which 
in  his  Farewell  Address  he  so  anxiously  expressed — to  that 
preparation  of  which  his  whole  life  in  truth  had  been  a  glo 
rious  example,  but  which,  in  the  declension  of  age,  conies 
beating  at  the  heart  with  louder  notes  of  warning  than  at  all 
other  periods  of  human  existence — the  solemn  preparation 
for  eternity. 

Such  is  the  leading  picture  of  Trumbull  in  his  occupation 
during  that  closing  epoch  of  his  life  which  we  now  have 
reached — save,  as  we  have  suggested,  during  its  few  first 
months.  These  were  months  in  which  he  still  bore  the  bur 
den  of  civil  rule — still,  down  to  May,  1784,  acted  as  Chief 
Magistrate  of  Connecticut.  The  period  was  marked  by  some 
important  proceedings  relating  to  the  accounts  of  the  war 
that  had  just  been  terminated,  and  by  a  continuation  of  that 
civil  feud  upon  the  subject  of  commutation,  and  the  powers 
of  Congress,  which  we  have  already  had  occasion  in  part  to 
describe.  "With  each  of  these  matters,  Trumbull — both  by 
virtue  of  his  position,  and  the  eminent  interest  he  felt  in  se 
curing  harmony  for  his  State,  and  for  his  country — was 
closely  connected. 

As  regards  military  accounts — besides  continuing,  as  dur 
ing  much  of  the  year  which  had  just  elapsed,  carefully  to 
superintend  their  collection  and  verification — Trumbull,  at  a 
session  of  the  General  Assembly  in  January — the  last  over 
which  he  ofncially  presided — was  charged  with  the  duty  of 
addressing  Congress,  in  behalf  of  the  State,  for  the  important 
purpose  of  inducing  this  Body  to  take  a  certain  portion  of 
the  debt  of  Connecticut,  incurred  during  the  Kevolutionary 
Struggle,  and  add  it  to  the  debt  of  the  Continent.  This  por 
tion  consisted  of  money  that  had  been  expended  by  this 
State  in  supporting  guards  upon  her  sea-coast  and  western 
frontier,  and  particularly  in  defending  New  London  and 
Horseneck.  It  was  an  expense,  she  claimed,  which  ought  in 
justice  to  be  borne  by  the  United  States.  There  was  the 
same  propriety  that  the  defence  of  her  southern  line  of  terri 
tory  should  be  made  a  common  charge  against  the  Continent 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  631 

as  there  was  that  the  defence  of  the  western  frontiers  of  the 
united  country  should  be  made  so.  Other  States  had  been 
careful  to  procure  Eesolutions  from  Congress,  which  assumed 
the  expense  of  protecting  their  own  respective  territories. 
Why  should  not  Connecticut  then — a  State  which  had  been 
distressed  by  the  enemy  far  more  than  most  others — a  State 
with  a  long  sweep  of  water  and  land  frontier — in  whose  pres 
ervation  from  the  possession  and  power  of  the  enemy  the 
whole  country,  almost  as  much  as  herself,  was  deeply  inter 
ested — why  should  she  not  receive  the  same  consideration  as 
other  portions  of  the  Union  ? 

Such  were  the  views  and  arguments,  which,  upon  this 
subject  Trumbull,  with  his  accustomed  good  sense  and  zeal, 
pressed  upon  the  attention  of  Congress.  It  was  hard,  he 
added,  that  a  State,  which  was  actually  in  advance  to  the 
Union  on  accounts  existing  and  unsettled  between  them, 
should  yet  be  called  upon — this  fact  unregarded — and  ex 
hausted  and  burthened  too,  as  she  then  was,  almost  insup- 
portably,  by  taxation — to  furnish  farther  and  full  contribu 
tions  in  money  upon  national  requisitions. 

But  the  appeal  was  not — as  in  most  cases  urged  on  Con 
gress  by  Trumbull — successful.  The  Grand  Committee  of 
the  Union  observed  in  reply — first,  that  almost  every  State, 
on  the  score  of  war  expenses,  thought  itself  in  advance — and 
secondly,  that  it  was  "the  constant  wish"  of  Congress  to  have 
the  accounts  between  the  States  and  the  Continent  settled — 
the  contributions  of  each  ascertained — and  the  balances,  if 
any  should  appear  in  favor  of  the  States,  credited  to  them  in 
requisitions  to  be  thereafter  made — and  here  the  matter  seems 
to  have  ended.  "We  can  find  no  notice  of  any  adjustment 
subsequently,  by  which  the  large  and  disproportionate  ex 
pense  of  Connecticut  in  defending  a  long  exposed  line,  whose 
security  was  peculiarly  the  common  interest  of  the  Union, 
was  ever  remunerated — at  least  in  the  manner  it  should  have 
been.  The  United  States  in  fact,  on  this  score,  are,  we  think, 
a  debtor  to  Connecticut  to  this  day. 

The  particular  reason  assigned  at  the  time,  by  the  people 
at  large,  for  the  neglect  of  Congress  to  comply  with  the 
request  of  Connecticut,  was  that  this  Body  desired,  by  post- 


632  CHAP.    LIII.— TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

poning  the  claim,  to  secure  from  this  State  a  full  and  unre 
stricted  grant  of  the  Impost  Power — a  power  which  for  great 
national  purposes,  it  was  then  seeking  to  obtain  from  every 
State  in  the  Union — and  which,  withheld  absolutely  by  some 
portions  of  the  Union,  had  been  reconsidered  and  withdrawn 
from  Congress  by  others. 

In  the  view  of  sound  leading  statesmen  of  the  day — and 
among  these  particularly  of  Trumbull — this  Power  was  the 
only  expedient  which  could  establish  the  credit  and  dignity 
of  the  Federal  Union — and  as  a  tax,  the  impost  was  the 
surest,  most  equitable,  least  expensive,  and  least  burthensome 
of  any  that  could  be  applied.  At  two  different  sessions  of 
the  General  Assembly,  the  question  of  granting  it  had  been 
warmly  agitated — and,  through  the  votes,  principally,  of  farm 
ers  and  mechanics,  who  supposed  the  impost  would  throw  a 
disproportionate  burthen  on  themselves,  it  had  been  rejected. 
Commutation  again  became  mingled  with  it — and  with  this  the 
question  again  concerning  the  powers  and  duties  of  Congress — 
and  with  all  these  points  a  new  one  in  reference  to  the  existing 
system  of  taxation  in  the  State,  which,  it  was  now  claimed,  was 
unequal  and  unjust — and  still  another  new  one  in  reference  to 
the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati — which,  it  was  strongly  asserted, 
established  a  peerage  in  the  land,  and  was  entirely  inconsistent 
with  that  equality  which  ought  to  prevail  in  a  republic. 

These  matters  now  shook  the  State,  politically,  from  one 
end  to  the  other  more  fiercely  than  it  had  ever  been  shaken 
before,  and  excitement  was  intense.  That  Middletown  Con 
vention,  to  which  we  have  heretofore  referred  as  having 
originated  in  the  popular  aversion  to  commutation,  continued 
its  sessions  from  time  to  time  by  adjournment — and  though 
burlesqued  and  attacked  in  every  form* — yet  it  had  strength 
and  influence  enough  so  to  affect  the  Lower  House  of  the 

*  It  made  unwearied  efforts,  it  was  charged,  to  change  the  Legislature,  and  re 
tard  the  impost  act,  and  breed  faction  and  tumult  all  over  the  State.  It  was  pro 
duced,  it  was  said,  in  a  fit  of  passionate  zeal  for  the  public  good,  which  was  en 
kindled  and  inflamed  by  a  few  men  who  meant  to  ride  into  office  upon  the  mo 
mentary  fury  of  the  populace — men  who,  if  they  had  the  power,  would  have 
subverted  that  very  Constitution  to  which  they  were  themselves  indebted  for 
the  security  of  their  own  persons  and  property,  and  would  have  even  gibbeted 
those  who  had  directed  the  Councils  of  the  Nation,  and  bled  in  defence  of 
American  liberties. 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  633 

General  Assembly  as  to  procure  from  this  Body — without, 
however,  the  concurrence  either  of  the  Upper  House,  or  of 
the  Governor — a  Petition  to  Congress  remonstrating  against 
the  powers  and  policy  of  this  Body — and  particularly  against 
Commutation  and  the  Impost — which  petition  met  the  fate  it 
justly  merited — that  of  proving  altogether  fruitless. 

About  the  same  time — in  March,  1784 — this  convention 
issued  an  address  to  the  "good  people"  of  Connecticut,  as  it 
styled  them — recapitulating  their  grievances,  and  stirring  up 
the  public  mind  to  discontent.  Individuals — some  of  them 
men  of  worth  and  sincerity,  who  labored  under  misappre 
hensions  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  a  federal  government — 
but  most  of  them,  old  tones  and  others,  who  were  instinct 
ively  averse  to  all  republican  rule — these,  aided  by  another 
class  of  citizens  still  more  numerous — those  who  uniformly 
clamor  against  all  taxes  and  public  debts,  and  who,  "from 
motives  of  bankruptcy  or  avarice,  are  ready  to  oppose  any 
authority  that  should  require  them  to  act  honestly" — second 
ed  the  sentiments  of  the  address. 

The  domestic  debt  of  the  State  is  now  one  million  of  dol 
lars,  they  said.  Much  more  than  this  amount  is  her  share  of 
the  national  debt.  Our  State  and  Federal  charges  extend  at 
present  to  one  dollar  on  the  pound — an  enormous  sum — 
which  for  two  years  past,  it  is  true,  Connecticut  has  paid — 
but  now  her  resources  are  not  equal  to  the  burthen.  Our 
method  of  taxation  is  most  vicious.  And  here  the  objectors 
were  perfectly  right.  Lands,  without  reference  to  their  qual 
ity,  they  said,  are  all  rated  alike.  Some  are  good — some  are 
poor — but  they  all  alike  are  compelled  to  bear  the  same 
tax — a  fact  which,  in  some  instances,  takes  from  the  holder 
of  poor  lands  the  whole  value  of  his  property* — oppressing 
him,  while  at  the  same  time  the  proprietor  of  good  lands  is 
increased  in  wealth.  This  oppression  is  fast  driving  citizens 
out  from  our  borders.  They  are  selling  off  their  property, 
and  emigrating  to  other  States,  where  real  estate  and  polls 
are  not  so  heavily  mortgaged — and  many  of  our  mechanics 
and  young  men  are  forsaking  former  occupations,  and  taking 
to  the  seas. 

*  Some  lands  in  the  State,  at  this  time,  sold  as  low  as  five  shillings  per  acre. 


634  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

And  then  as  regards  the  impost — continued  the  objectors. 
Giving  this  up  into  the  hands  of  Congress  leaves  the  State 
creditors  completely  in  the  lurch — leaves  the  "darling  col 
lectors  "  of  Congress  amenable  only  to  that  Body — under  or 
dinances  for  carrying  the  impost  into  execution,  just  such  as 
it,  in  its  own  mere  discretion,  may  choose  to  frame — author 
izing  among  other  things,  against  liberty,  searches  into  pri 
vate  dwellings. 

And  then  the  impost,  when  collected,  may  all  be  applied 
by  the  irresponsible  authority  of  the  Union  towards  paying 
that  dangerous  claim  of  commutation.  When  half-pay  was 
first  proposed,  did  not  a  Committee  of  the  General  Assembly 
take  up  the  matter  of  compensation  with  a  Committee  of  the 
officers  of  the  Connecticut  Line,  and  adjust  it  upon  the  basis 
of  their  original  contract — and  so,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all 
the  parties  concerned,  absorb  all  claim  for  half-pay,  and  con 
sequently  for  commutation,  its  equivalent?  Congress  is  fast 
becoming  a  usurper.  Let  us  then  withhold  from  this  Body 
all  grants  until  justice  is  obtained  by  a  redress  of  public 
grievances ! 

Look  too  at  the  Members  of  this  Body.  See  them  stipu 
lating  to  pay  to  one  portion  of  their  servants,  annually, 
eleven  thousand  dollars  each — to  another,  six  thousand — and 
to  many  others  in  the  same  extravagant  proportion — while 
trains  of  secretaries,  clerks,  and  attendants,  figure  around 
them  "  in  all  the  pomp  and  parade  of  European  manners  and 
habits!" 

And  see  that  new  and  strange  order  of  the  Cincinnati — • 
rising  under  the  very  eye  of  Congress — with  its  tacit  con 
sent — and  consisting  of  men  who  claim  to  be  the  only  Sav 
iours  of  the  Eepublic — who  aspire  to  nobility — who  are  to 
wear  the  badges  of  peerage — and  be  paid  from  the  purse  of 
the  people — a  purse  claimed  to  be  at  the  exclusive  disposal 
of  that  very  Body  which  has  just  made  them  the  gratuity ! 
"  Shall  we,"  exclaimed  the  objectors  'here — "  after  vanquish 
ing  the  old  Lion,  submit  to  a  whelp  of  the  same  breed,  and 
give  him  the  range  of  our  dearly-purchased  folds  ?  " 

Much  more  in  the  same  spirit,  and  with  ceaseless  activity, 
did  the  opponents  of  Congress,  of  commutation,  of  the  im- 


1784— 1785.  CHAP.    LIU. — TRTJMBULL.  635 

post,  and  provision  for  the  public  debt,  urge  upon  the  people 
of  Connecticut,  to  rouse,  disturb,  and  sour  them.  And  too 
well  for  awhile — in  the  spring  particularly  of  1784 — did  they 
succeed — as  did  similar  disturbers  in  almost  every  other 
State.*  It  had  been  foretold  by  the  foes  of  America,  that, 
after  the  war  was  over,  and  independence  gained,  the  people 
would  be  without  order,  law,  and  government — that  they 
would  be  split  into  parties — that  jealousies  would  spring  up 
between  the  States — that  the  Confederation  would  be  power 
less  for  the  management  of  their  discordant  interests — and 
that  taxes  would  produce  factious  uneasiness,  and  even  insur 
rections.  All  this,  to  an  alarming  extent,  seemed  to  be  real 
izing  now  in  Connecticut — or  at  least  preparing  rapidly  for 
development.  In  part  deluded  by  their  own  ignorance  of 
principles,  and  in  part  by  the  arts  of  a  few  designing  men, 

*  The  following  passages  from  Dr.  Joseph  Huntington's  Election  Sermon  in 
the  spring  of  1784,  refer  strikingly  to  the  prevailing  disturbances,  and  are  worthy 
of  attention. 

"  But  there  is  one  abominable  vice,"  he  says,  "  that  is  so  pernicious  to  us  every 
day,  and  so  immediately  threatens  us  with  dissolution  and  anarchy,  that  I  must 
bear  my  testimony  more  largely  against  it. 

"  It  is  that  unreasonable,  raging  spirit  of  jealousy  pointed  against  all  in  power, 
especially  against  those  in  the  most  burdensome  and  important  trusts.  Jealousy 
is  the  rage  and  distraction  of  men,  as  well  in  civil  as  in  domestic  life.  We  ex 
pend  much  to  maintain  authority,  as  indeed  they  ought  to  have  an  honorable 
support ;  and  would  we  only  let  them  do  us  all  the  good  in  their  hearts,  and  in 
their  power  under  God,  they  would  repay  us  a  thousand  fold.  But  what  can  the 
good  patriots  do  ?  First  we  must  be  jealous  of  them,  next  we  certainly  think 
them  wicked,  and  then  we  destroy  their  influence  and  their  good  names  to 
gether.  Thus  we  lose  our  benefit  and  our  cost  of  supporting  them.  We  bind 
them  hand  and  foot,  and  are  like  a  man  who  should  hire  a  number  of  the  best 
workmen,  at  a  great  expense,  to  build  him  a  house,  and  as  soon  as  they  began  to 
operate  with  all  their  skill  and  fidelity,  should  load  them  with  chains — pay  might 
continue,  but  the  work  must  miserably  proceed. 

"  Let  our  rulers  as  well  as  others,  be  weighed  in  an  even  balance  ;  jealousy 
makes  the  balance  very  uneven.  Let  us  judge  of  those  in  power  as  well  as  of 
other  men,  with  all  that  charity  which  the  Apostle  describes,  and  which,  with 
out  solid  reason,  "  fhlnkeih  no  evil.'11 

"  I  am  as  much  engaged  for  liberty,  in  the  utmost  extent  of  it,  as  any  man  on 
earth.  I  would  have  all  in  power  elective  by,  and  accountable  to  the  people ; 
and  if  in  any  case  criminal,  on  fair  trial,  let  them  not  be  spared,  But  this  hy 
dra  of  jealousy  and  evil  surmise,  is  not  liberty,  it  is  tyranny,  it  is  confusion,  it  is 
death.  Proud,  selfish,  wicked  men  take  the  advantage  of  it ;  but  they  must  first 
remove  those  worthy  men  that  hold  them ;  they  make  or  propagate  a  thousand 
lies,  to  stir  up  the  jealousy  of  the  people,  inrage  the  multitude,  and  clear  the  seats 
of  honor  for  themselves.  And  when  such  brambles  get  in  power,  '  a  fire  soon 
comes  out  of  the  bramble,  and  devours  the  cedars  of  Lebanon.' " 


636  CHAP.    LIII. — TKUMBULL.  1784—1185. 

the  people  "  imputed  the  evils  which  they  suffered  to  wrong 
causes,  and  pursued  measures  for  redress  that  served  but  to 
aggravate  their  distress." 

At  this  crisis,  says  Chief  Justice  Marshall — "  the  venera 
ble  Trumbull,  who  had  been  annually  elected  the  Governor 
of  Connecticut  from  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  and 
who  in  that  capacity  had  rendered  great  service  to  the  cause 
of  united  America;  who,  like  Washington,  had  supported 
the  burden  of  office  throughout  a  hazardous  contest,  and  like 
"Washington,  had  determined  to  withdraw  from  the  cares  of 
a  public  station  when  that  contest  should  be  terminated,  in  a 
letter*  communicating  to  his  friend  and  compatriot  the  reso 
lution  he  had  taken,  thus  disclosed  the  fears  which  the  dispo 
sitions  manifested  by  many  of  his  countrymen  inspired." 

"The  fruits  of  our  peace  and  independence  do  not,  at  present,  wear  so 
promising  an  appearance  as  I  had  fondly  painted  to  my  mind.  The  jeal 
ousies,  the  prejudices,  and  turbulence  of  the  people,  at  times,  almost 
stagger  my  confidence  in  our  political  establishment,  and  almost  occasion 
me  to  think  that  they  will  show  themselves  unworthy  the  noble  prize  for 
which  we  have  contended,  and  which,  I  had  pleased  myself,  was  so  near 
our  enjoyment.  But  again,  I  check  this  rising  impatience,  and  console 
myself  under  the  present  prospect,  with  the  consideration  that  the  same 
beneficent  and  wise  Providence  which  has  done  so  much  for  this  country, 
will  not  eventually  leave  us  to  ruin  our  own  happiness,  to  become  the 
sport  of  chance,  or  the  scoff  of  an  admiring  world ;  but  that  great  things 
are  still  in  store  for  this  people,  which  time,  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
Great  Director,  will  produce  in  its  best  season." 

"It  is  indeed  a  pleasure,"  said  General  Washington  in  reply — "from 
the  walks  of  private  life  to  view  in  retrospect  the  difficulties  through 
which  we  have  waded  and  the  happy  haven  into  which  our  ship  has  been 
brought.  Is  it  possible  that  after  this  it  should  founder  ?  Will  not  the 
all-wise  and  all-powerful  Director  of  human  events  preserve  it  ?  I  think 
he  will.  He  may  however,  for  some  wise  purpose  of  his  own,  suffer  our 
indiscretions  and  folly  to  place  our  national  character  low  in  the  political 
scale — and  this,  unless  more  wisdom  and  less  prejudice  take  the  lead  in 
our  government,  will  most  certainly  happen." 

Notwithstanding  then  an  aspect  of  public  affairs  so  un 
promising  as  almost  to  "stagger"  Trumbull's  confidence  in 
the  political  establishment  of  his  country — he  yet,  we  see, 

*  Dated  "Lebanon,  20th  April,  1784." 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  637 

trusted  in  God  that  America  would  not  be  suffered  to  ruin 
her  own  happiness,  and  to  become  either  "  the  sport  of  chance, 
or  the  scoff"  of  the  world — but  that  "great  things"  were  still 
in  store  for  her,  to  be  reaped  all  in  the  "best  season."*  With 
the  Upper  House  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  with  a  large 
number  of  influential  citizens  in  Connecticut — previous  to 
the  particular  crisis  on  which  we  now  dwell,  and  at  times 
when  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  Lower  House  were  opposed  to 
the  federal  policy — he  remained  firm  in  the  views  which  we 
have  heretofore  found  him  advocating,  and  did  all  in  his 
power  to  convince  his  fellow-citizens  of  the  importance  of 
supporting  national  faith  and  national  credit,  according  to 
the  measures  prescribed  by  Congress.  And  now  that  the  po 
litical  storm  was  up  in  its  greatest  wrath,  he  labored  more 
than  ever  to  allay  it — not  only  to  save  the  State  from  its 
alarming  internal  convulsions,  but  also  to  bring  it  out, 
through  its  own  convictions  of  reason  and  duty,  and  with 
zeal,  into  a  harmonious  co-operation  with  other  States  for  the 
establishment  and  support  of  a  competent,  wise,  and  energetic 
General  Government. 

To  him  the  very  idea  of  a  supreme  authority,  vested  with 
powers  to  make  peace  and  war — to  raise  armies — appoint  for 
eign  ministers — form  alliances — make  contracts — emit  and 
borrow  monies — and  transact  all  matters  that  relate  to  the 
common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  a  nation — without 
power  to  determine  what  sums  of  money  are  necessary  to 
defray  the  charges,  and  without  ability  to  enforce  their  pay 
ment — was  a  "political  absurdity  that  in  practice  would  anni 
hilate  any  government  upon  earth." 

No  such  jealousies  of  this  Body  as  prevailed,  ought,  in  his 
judgment,  ever  to  exist.  Congress  concealed  nothing  from 
the  public  eye.  Its  doors  were  always  open.  Its  journals 
were  published  to  the  world.  Its  measures  were  open  to  the 
scrutiny  of  every  individual.  Its  account  of  the  appropria- 

*  "  Though  a  transient  gloom  o'ercast  his  mind — 
Yet  still,  on  Providence  reclined, 

The  patriot  fond  believed, 
That  Power  benign  too  much  had  done, 
To  leave  an  Empire's  task — begun — 
Imperfectly  achieved." 
54 


638  CHAP.    LIII. — TKUMBTJLL.  1784—1785 

tion  of  public  monies  was  transmitted  every  six  months  to 
every  State,  for  examination.  It  could  not,  by  virtue  of  any 
prerogative,  encroach  upon  the  rights,  or  curtail  the  privi 
leges  of  a  single  State — and  the  people  themselves,  through 
the  frequent  election  of  its  members,  and  the  collision  of 
contending  interests  and  parties,  enjoyed  a  perfect  security 
against  any  possible  usurpations  from  that  source,  and  a 
guarantee  that  no  scheme  for  the  subversion  of  popular  rights 
could  ever  be  accomplished — hardly  even  concocted.  Why 
then,  urged  Trumbull  at  every  opportunity — amplifying  and 
fortifying  the  sentiments  of  his  Farewell  Address — why  then 
this  unfounded  fear,  and  captious  abuse  of  the  National  As 
sembly?  "Within  the  limits  prescribed  by  our  Federal 
Union,  it  must  be  sovereign — and  until  it  is  enabled  to  exert 
its  powers,  we  can  never  exist  as  a  nation — we  shall  be  a  ship 
without  a  helm — a  machine  without  springs,  and  without 
connection." 

To  Trumbull's  view  also,  unless  the  system  proposed  by 
Congress  in  April,  1783 — which  included  the  measures  that 
were  now  so  much  exciting  the  public  mind — was  adopted, 
ruin  awaited  the  States.  National  degradation  would  inevi 
tably  follow.  The  system,  in  his  opinion,  was  in  exact  con 
formity  with  the  powers  granted  even  in  the  Confedera 
tion.  Commutation  stood  not  only  on  the  broad  basis  of 
this  Instrument,  but  also  on  the  particular  confirmation 
of  every  State  in  the  Union — nay  farther,  on  the  particular 
consent  of  every  town  in  Connecticut,  as  well  as  on  that 
of  towns  elsewhere.  And  as  for  the  Continental  Impost, 
that  too,  in  his  view,  was  a  constitutional,  sound,  and  just 
measure. 

Here  was  Connecticut,  he  reasoned — consuming  annually 
about  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  worth  of 
imported  goods,  one-seventh  part  only  of  which  she  imported 
herself.  The  residue  was  all  furnished  through  Massachu 
setts,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  York — the  two  former  of 
which  States  already  had  a  local  impost  for  the  benefit  of 
their  own  respective  treasuries,  that  was  continually  draining 
Connecticut  for  the  exclusive  advantage  of  adjoining  sover 
eignties.  New  York  might  soon  come  into  the  same  system. 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  639 

She  certainly  would,  unless  the  Impost  Power  was  granted  to 
Congress.  In  such  a  case — upon  the  basis  of  the  existing 
consumption — Connecticut  would  then  be  paying  no  less  a 
sum  than  fifty  thousand  pounds,  annually,  to  three  surround 
ing  States,  for  importing  in  her  stead.  She  would  thus  be 
enriching  her  neighbors  at  her  own  expense.  What  folly — 
thought  Trumbull — what  impoverishment  of  herself!  A 
Continental  impost  would  prevent  all  this — would  aid  to 
wards  discharging  the  public  debt  in  an  equitable  manner, 
out  of  a  treasury  common  to  the  nation — would  equalize  a 
great  public  benefit  to  every  State.  Connecticut,  therefore, 
was  every  way  interested  to  grant  it  to  Congress.  Her  own 
local  creditors  could  not  suffer  by  such  a  grant.  It  was  a 
point  of  accurate  calculation,  that,  were  she  to  employ  the 
power  herself,  for  her  own  ^benefit,  she  would  not  receive  by 
it,  at  the  utmost,  more  than  three  thousand  pounds — a  sum 
that  would  not  pay  her  creditors  more  than  one-twentieth  of 
their  annual  interest. 

As  regards  other  objections,  the  Governor  was  prepared, 
and  took  pains  to  meet  all  these.  Those  salaries — claimed  to 
be  so  enormous — of  eleven  thousand  dollars — to  whom,  he 
asked,  were  they  paid  ?  To  the  Ambassadors  of  the  country 
at  foreign  Courts,  he  answered — most  of  whom  had  found 
their  pay  in  fact  so  insufficient  that  they  had  sought  a  recall 
from  their  stations.  That  compensation  of  six  thousand  dol 
lars  to  federal  officers  at  home — upon  whom  was  this  be 
stowed  ?  Upon  but  one  public  functionary  in  the  land,  he 
replied — and  this  one  that  able  and  faithful  Superintendent 
of  Finance — Mr.  Morris — to  whom  the  country  had  been  in 
debted  for  an  annual  saving  in  its  expenses  of  two  and  a  half 
millions  of  dollars,  and  who,  from  the  very  nature  of  his  po 
sition,  was  subjected  to  extraordinary  expense.  The  pay  to 
secretaries,  clerks,  and  attendants  on  Congress !  It  was  mod 
erate,  he  urged,  and  bestowed  upon  men  who  aped  no  for 
eign  fashions,  but  who  were  at  heart  good  republicans. 

That  Order  of  the  Cincinnati,  "  wearing  the  badges  of 
peerage,  and  to  be  paid  from  the  purse  of  the  people ! "  Was 
it  not  formed  merely  for  social  and  benevolent  purposes — 
asked  Trumbull.  It  made  no  claims  on  the  purse  of  the  na- 


640  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

tion,  lie  proceeded  to  say — it  never  had  any  intention  of  do 
ing  so.  Why  envy  a  man  a  medal,  and  a  riband,  purchased 
at  his  own  expense?  Why  not  as  well  envy  "the  trowel  and 
apron  of  the  mason,  the  cockade  of  a  soldier,  or  the  gown  of 
a  clergyman  ?  "  And  what  had  Congress  ever  done  towards 
instituting  this  Order  ?  Nothing.  On  the  other  hand,  one 
of  its  earliest  measures  was  to  abolish  and  preclude  every 
title  of  nobility,  as  utterly  repugnant  to  the  genius  of  our 
institutions.  Had  not  the  people  lately  seen  this  Body,  by  a 
public  resolve,  refuse  to  nominate  persons  to  be  elected 
Knights  of  the  "  Order  of  Divine  Providence,"  as  proposed 
by  Secretary  Chevalier  de  Heintz — and  for  the  reason  that 
such  a  course  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  the 
Confederation  ?  They  had. 

That  danger  too,  sometimes  alleged,  that  Congress  would 
seize  and  appropriate  for  sectional  uses — for  the  advantage 
particularly  of  the  Southern  States — the  confiscated  and  the 
ceded  land  of  the  country !  There  was  not  the  least  founda 
tion,  in  Trumbull's  opinion,  for  any  such  apprehension  as 
this.  The  confiscated  lands  would  undoubtedly  be  left  to 
the  States,  for  their  own  particular  benefit.  The  ceded  lands 
would  remain  in  the  hands  of  Congress,  for  the  common 
benefit  of  the  Union — to  be  disposed  of  in  part  to  public 
creditors,  in  exchange  for  their  securities — to  be  improved 
generally  for  sinking  the  public  debt — and  to  prove  thereaft 
er  a  rich  and  productive  fund  to  meet  the  growing  expenses 
of  the  country,  and  to  alleviate,  in  every  part  of  it,  the 
burden  of  taxation. 

Such  were  the  views — simple,  solid,  and  unanswerable — 
with  which  the  Governor  of  Connecticut,  in  the  political  fer 
ment  at  which  we  are  now  looking,  strove  to  reclaim  from 
their  errors  those  of  his  fellow-citizens  who  had  wandered, 
and  to  win  them  over  to  the  side  of  law,  order,  good  faith, 
good  government,  and  sound  and  honorable  liberty.  And  in 
this  labor  he  was  nobly  aided  by  his  Council — by  all  the 
merchants  of  the  State — by  all  those  officers  who  had  risked 
their  lives  on  the  battle-fields  of  the  Eevolution — and  by  a 
large  dass  of  other  citizens,  the  reflecting,  the  discerning,  and 
the  prudent,  who  could  see  no  way  out  of  existing  difficul- 


1784—1785.  CHAP.     LIII.— TRUMBULL.  641 

ties  but  by  strengthening  the  Union,  and  steadily  pursuing 
the  measures  recommended  by  the  National  Congress. 

To  Trumbull — in  the  very  midst  and  height  of  the  storm 
we  describe,  all  such  persons — and  many  also  even  from 
among  those  who  did  not  fully  accord  with  his  political 
views — looked  as  to  the  only  pilot  who  could  smooth  the 
troubled  waters,  direct  the  Ship  of  State,  and  bring  her  to  a 
haven  of  rest.  And  to  him,  in  this  crisis — notwithstanding 
the  resignation  he  proposed,  and  was  determined  to  carry 
into  effect — they  appealed  for  a  continuation  of  public  service 
in  his  old  and  honored  post  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  State. 
His  name  was  freshly  presented  to  the  people,  as  that  of  one, 
who — the  most  able,  long-tried,  and  faithful  Counsellor  and 
Guide  of  Connecticut,  ought  still  to  be  kept  steadfastly  at 
her  helm.* 

But  he  persisted  in  declining  the  proffered  office — and  the 
people,  therefore,  found  another  candidate  for  the  gubernato 
rial  chair  in  Honorable  Matthew  Griswold — a  gentleman  who 
now  for  thirteen  consecutive  years — side  by  side  with  the 
veteran  Trumbull — of  his  political  faith — like  him  of  tried 
conduct,  high-minded,  and  patriotic — had  occupied  the  post 
of  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  State.  Yet  ere  the  latter  was 
elevated — by  the  choice  of  the  General  Assembly,  as  it  hap 
pened  this  year — to  the  post  of  Chief  Executive — Trumbull 
still  presided  over  the  public  deliberations  of  Connecticut. 
In  this  capacity,  consequently,  he  went  through  the  usual 
Election  parade,  and  listened  to  the  usual  Election  Dis 
course — a  Discourse,  which,  so  far  as  the  personal  Address 
to  his  Excellency  is  concerned — as  being  the  last  ever  di 
rected  to  himself — as  expressing  truthfully  the  public  hom 
age  to  his  character — as  referring  to  the  political  troubles  in 
which  he  had  then  been  recently  involved — and  as  proceed 
ing  from  Dr.  Joseph  Huntington,  the  eminent  divine  of 
Coventry,  and  the  preceptor  of  that  illustrious  Martyr-Spy 
of  the  American  Revolution,  Captain  Nathan  Hale — espe 
cially  deserves  embodiment  in  this  Memoir,  f  It  was  as 
follows : — 

*  See  Note  at  the  end  of  this  Chapter. 

t  The  text  of  the  discourse  was  from  Deuteronomy,  82 :  3. — "  "When  the  Most 


642  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

"  MAY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  EXCELLENCY, 

"We  doubt  not  but  thoughts  of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  God,  and 
his  overruling  hand  in  the  kingdom  of  Providence,  like  those  now  of 
fered,  but  much  better  suggested  in  your  own  mind,  have  been  your  sup 
port  and  consolation  from  the  days  of  youth — more  especially  when 
your  burdens  and  cares  have  been  the  greatest. 

"Very  few  men,  since  the  world  was  made,  ever  lived  so  much  for  the 
public  as  you  have  done.  After  a  liberal  education,  in  early  youth, 
your  Excellency  was  immediately  called  into  public  office,  and  the  bur 
then  of  complicated  public  offices  has  been  your  lot  ever  since.  And 
though  it  has  ever  been  abundantly  manifest,  that  your  Excellency  never 
sought  promotion  or  popular  applause,  but  always  made  truth  and  right 
eousness  your  guide,  as  well  when  you  knew  it  to  be  unpopular,  as  at 
other  times ;  yet  he  who  gave  all  your  rich  endowments  (and  to  his  name 
alone  be  the  praise)  knew  what  to  do  with  you,  in  his  great  love  to  his 
people. 

"  When  our  late  troubles  began,  your  Excellency  was  very  singular ; 
when  to  avoid  perpetual  slavery,  it  became  necessary  to  oppose  the  tyr 
anny  of  Britain,  your  brethren  in  office,  the  other  Governors,  all  forsook 
you,  but  you  did  not  forsake  your  God  and  the  people  you  loved.  Your 
Excellency  stood,  alone,  but  you  stood  firm.  l  The  archers  shot  at  you, 
and  you  was  sorely  grieved  by  the  enemies  of  our  peace ;  but  your  bow 
abode  in  strength,  and  your  hands  were  made  strong  by  the  hands  of  the 
mighty  God  of  Israel.' 

u  It  was  not  for  want  of  the  highest  opinion  of  your  Excellency's  abili 
ties  and  integrity,  that  self-seeking  men  and  enemies  to  liberty  have  la 
bored  to  make  you  trouble ;  but  that  they  knew  you  stood  firm  against 
the  measures  of  all  such,  and  was  the  chief  support  of  our  righteous 
cause,  and  the  liberties  of  your  country.  I  presume  your  Excellency  has 
often  thought  of  those  words  of  the  great  Roman  patriot :  '  Nemo  his 
viginti  annis,  reipublicae  hostis  fuerit,  qui,  non  eodem  tempore,  mihi  quo- 
que  bellum  indixerit.'* 

"  This  is  more  or  less  the  lot  of  all  great  and  good  men,  in  public 
character. 

"  In  leading  us  out  from  a  provincial  into  an  independent  state,  your 
Excellency  had  the  path  to  beat.  You  walked  before  us  in  a  rough  and 
rugged  way ;  but  God  remembered  his  promise,  '  Thy  shoes  shall  be  iron 
and  brass,  and  as  the  day  is  so  shall  thy  strength  be.' 

High  divided  to  the  Nations  their  inheritance,  when  he  separated  the  sons  of 
Adam,  he  set  the  bounds  of  the  people  according  to  the  number  of  the  children 
of  Israel" — and  its  design  was  to  show  "  God  ruling  the  Nations  for  the  most 
glorious  end."  "  In  all  the  great  things,"  done  for  the  American  people  of  late, 
he  claims  and  elucidates,  "  God  has  remembered  us  the  kindness  of  our  youth, 
and  the  love  of  our  espousals,  when  we  went  after  him  in  the  wilderness,  in  a 
land  not  sown.' 
*  Cicero. 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  643 

"  When  the  wrath  of  a  tyrant  king  warred  against  you  as  a  lion,  and 
your  Excellency,  above  all,  was  marked  out  for  a  victim,  you  endured, 
not  fearing  the  wrath  of  the  king,  choosing  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with 
the  people  of  God,  so  dear  to  you,  than  to  enjoy  any  emoluments  how 
great  soever  they  might  have  been,  had  you,  like  many  others,  sought 
the  royal  favour.  So  long  as  the  storms  beat,  the  thunder  roared,  the 
lightnings  glared  around  your  head,  all  the  while  the  tempest  was  so 
black  and  dreadful,  you  sat  steadfast  at  the  helm  without  a  covert.  Your 
Excellency  then,  desired  no  man  to  take  that  seat  at  peril.  But  now  you 
have  rode  out  the  storm  and  conducted  us  into  the  desired  haven  of 
peace,  your  Excellency  has  requested  you  may  retire,  and  another  take 
the  more  peaceful  seat.  On  this  I  have  no  remark  to  make  ;  it  is  wholly 
needless  at  present.  The  whole  nation  will  speak  ;  posterity  will  not  be 
silent. 

"  If  we  have  disobeyed  your  Excellency  this  once,  and  have  not  re 
leased  you,  we  beg  your  pardon ;  and  earnestly  entreat  your  further 
blessings,  in  the  character  you  have  so  long  sustained.  If  the  people 
have  obeyed,  and  have  granted  your  Excellency  retirement,  you  retire, 
Sir,  with  every  possible  honour.  And  may  the  residue  of  your  days  be 
happy,  and  your  immortality  glorious ! 

"  And  when  your  Excellency  shall  be  taken  up  from  us,  to  shine  as  a 
star  of  the  first  magnitude,  in  the  kingdom  of  your  Father,  forever  and 
ever,  your  name  shall  live,  historic  pages  will  shine  with  your  deeds,  and 
generations  unborn  shall  know  you  well, 

"  In  freta  dum  fluvii  current,  dum  montibus  umbrae 
Sustrabunt  convexa,  polus  dum  sidera  pascent; 
Semper  honos,  nomenque  tuum,  laudesque  manebunt."* 

It  is  obvious  from  the  last  paragraph  but  one  of  the  Ad 
dress  now  quoted,  that  the  hope  still  lingered  in  the  minds 
of  some  that  the  General  Assembly  yet  again,  in  spite  of  his 
own  frequently  avowed  purpose  to  the  contrary,  might  place 
Trumbull  in  his  old  seat.  But,  as  already  intimated,  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives  made  another  choice — the  Senate 
concurred — and  Matthew  Griswold  was  duly  installed  Gov 
ernor  of  Connecticut — Samuel  Huntington — one  of  the  for 
mer  Presidents  of  Congress — another  tried  and  approved  pub 
lic  servant,  and  of  similar  sentiments  in  regard  to  public 
affairs — being  placed  in  the  seat  which  the  elevation  of  Gris 
wold  left  to  be  filled  anew. 

That  cause  now,  for  which  we  have  described  Trumbull  as 

*  Virgil. 


644  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

so  long  and  so  earnestly  contending,  achieved  in  these  ap 
pointments — as  it  did  also  in  the  election  of  members  to  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature — a  signal  triumph.  The  popu 
lar  rage  against  the  policy  of  Congress  had  subsided.  The 
Middletown  Convention  had  dwindled  into  insignificance.* 
Factious  leaders  had  usunk  into  contempt  and  hatred  faster 
than  they  emerged  from  obscurity."  Keason  had  resumed  its 
sway  over  the  public  mind.  National  authority  ceased  to 
be  a  dread.  Commutation — that  stalking-horse  so  long  for 
political  ambition — became  to  the  now  unblinded  eye  of  the 
people  a  harmless  measure  of  justice. 

And  Wednesday,  May  the  twentieth — after  a  full,  candid, 
and  manly  discussion,  with  open  doors,  in  the  presence  of 
a  crowd  of  spectators — the  House  of  Eepresentatives — 
through  a  vote  of  ninety-three  yeas  to  forty-two  nays — by 
the  large  majority  of  fifty-one  voices — conceded  to  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States  the  vital,  but  long-questioned 
Power  of  Impost — that  power,  which — now  for  nearly  three- 
quarters  of  a  century — relieving  the  people,  save  in  but  a 
few  rare  instances,  from  the  burden  and  vexation  of  direct 
taxation — has  filled  the  national  exchequer  by  an  easy  and 
almost  imperceptible  process  of  accumulation,  and  thrown 
broadcast  over  the  land  benefits  that  are  signally,  and  forever 
interwoven  with  its  prosperity,  its  happiness,  and  its  glory,  f 
The  Upper  House,  of  course,  at  once  concurred.  Governor 
Griswold  approved.  The  people  rejoiced.  And  no  heart  in 

*  "  Yesterday  sennight,"  says  the  Hartford  Courant  of  date  April  20th,  1784— 
and  we  quote  the  passage  just  to  show  the  manner  in  which  the  Middletown  as 
semblage  was  ridiculed — "about  five  o'clock  P.  M.,  departed  this  life,  in  the 
eighth  month  of  his  age,  Mr.  Holly  Convention,  a  person  of  great  notoriety  in 
this  State.  His  death  was  attended  with  violent  spasms  and  convulsions,  pro 
duced  no  doubt  by  the  vigour  of  a  strong,  fiery  constitution,  struggling  with  the 
new  and  fatal  disorder  called  Reason.  His  remains  will  be  decently  interred  in 
May  next,  and  his  funeral  eulogium  will  be  pronounced  by  the  Government." 

t "  Hartford,  May  25, 1784.  Last  Wednesday  the  important  question  of  grant 
ing  an  impost  agreeably  to  the  recommendation  of  Congress,  was  brought  for 
ward  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives.  The  debates  were  managed  with  manli 
ness  and  candour  suited  to  the  magnitude  of  the  subject — the  doors  were  open  to 
the  anxious  curiosity  of  the  spectators,  and  after  a  full  discussion,  the  yeas  and 
nays  were  required.  Yeas  93 — nays  42 — majority  for  the  impost  51.  Never  did 
people  in  general  feel  more  satisfaction  at  any  public  measure,  than  in  conse 
quence  of  this  &cL"—ffartford  Courant. 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  645 

their  midst — the  heat  and  jealousies  of  a  factious  period  dis 
sipated — the  Continental  Policy,  so  far  as  Connecticut  was 
concerned,  established,  and  unanimity,  vigor,  and  harmony 
imparted  to  federal  operations — no  heart  beat  more  happily 
than  that  of  the  venerable,  wise,  and  Union-loving  Jonathan 
Trumbull. 

KOTE  EEFERRED  TO  ON  PAGE  641. 

The  following  from  a  cotemporaneous  writer  in  a  public  Journal  of  the  day — 
the  Hartford  Courant  of  March  twenty-third,  1783 — eloquently  illustrates  the 
text. 

"While  on  the  subject  of  gratitude" — he  proceeds — "suffer  me  to  add,  that 
there  are  some  few  individuals,  perhaps,  in  every  State,  peculiarly  distinguished 
for  their  eminent  virtues  and  services  to  their  country,  and  eminently  deserving 
gratitude  and  esteem,  and  in  this  State  who  can  be  placed  on  that  list  with  more 
propriety  than  his  Excellency  the  Governor,  versed  in  the  principles  of  policy  and 
government  in  general,  and  formed  on  the  plan  of  the  great  Locke,  Sidney,  &c. 
'  He  was  a  decided  friend  to  republican  governments,  in  opposition  to  high  and 
arbitrary  ideas  of  power,  and  strongly  attached  to  our  happy  constitution,  was 
early  called  upon  to  partake  in  its  councils,  and  exhibit  in  practice  the  beauty  and 
excellency  of  its  principles,  which  he  executed  with  such  success  as  soon  entitled 
him  to  one  of  the  most  honorable  places  in  government — how  he  filled  it  let  those 
best  acquainted  and  his  co-partners  determine.  When  the  misguided  policy  of 
the  people  had  for  a  short  time  removed  him  from  the  place,  one  of  his  most  emi 
nent  associates  said — '  The  people  had  better  left  out  all  the  rest  of  us  than 
him  1 ' 

"  To  his  knowledge  and  instructions  we  are  greatly  indebted  for  the  successful 
issue  of  that  long,  perplexing,  and  expensive  Mason,  or  Mohegan  cause.  His 
firmness  and  patriotism — his  leading  legislative  opposition  had  no  contemptible 
hand  in  relieving  us  from  the  plague  of  the  Stamp  Act.  In  the  dawn  of  the  late 
perilous  war,  his  penetration  and  foresight  induced  him  to  attempt,  and  happily 
to  effect  the  importation  of  large  military  stores,  which,  when  all  the  other  colo 
nies  were  destitute,  were  of  capital  service  to,  if  not  the  salvation  of  the  army  in 
the  first  campaign.  When  hostilities  were  commenced  in  good  earnest,  and  all 
the  other  governments  were  deranged — when  his  only  compeer,  in  a  neighboring 
State,  shrank,  in  the  perilous  hour,  deserted  her  cause,  and  betrayed  his  coun 
try — when  resolution  almost  forsook  the  stoutest  heart,  and  trembling  seized  the 
firmest  arm — you  cannot  forget  the  day,  my  dear  countrymen — in  that  peculiar 
situation,  and  marked  for  chosen  vengeance  had  we  failed,  his  intrepidity  and 
fortitude  hesitated  not  to  declare  decidedly  for  resistance,  and  determined  him  to 
live  and  die  for  his  country,  which  made  and  left  this  the  only  organized  govern 
ment  in  the  union,  and  enabled  it  to  be  superlatively  useful  in  the  beginning  and 
progress  of  the  contest. 

"  The  enemy  feared  him,  and  were  base  enough  to  set  a  price  upon  his  head. 
He  has  not  escaped  envy — and  no  wonder — it  would  be  more  than  the  lot  of  hu 
manity — malicious  and  unfounded  slander  has  attacked  and  pursued  him.  His 
conscious  integrity  and  other  feelings  have  induced  him  to  seek  a  dismission  from 
further  public  services.  But  certain  it  is  that  very  many  would  lose  them  with 
great  reluctance  ;  yet  if  the  rest  can  find  a  man  of  greater  or  equal  merit,  let  them 
join,  and  elect  him  ;  if  otherwise,  will  it  not  be  more  honorable  and  grateful, 
with  one  voice  to  request  the  help  of  that  faithful  servant  a  little  longer,  in  such 


646  CHAP.    LIII. — TRUMBULL.  1*784—1785. 

a  case  ?  It  is  but  conjecture ;  as  he  never  was,  on  the  most  trying  occasions,  deaf 
to  the  call,  he  would  not  resist  the  voice  of  his  country." 

"We  venerate,"  said  another  writer,  very  soon,*  in  reply  to  the  paragraphs 
which  we  have  now  quoted — continuing  their  eulogium,  but  presuming,  and  cor 
rectly,  that  his  Excellency  would  not  again  accept  the  gubernatorial  office,  and 
therefore  that  the  voice  of  the  people  should  centre  upon  some  other  firm  and 
decided  character — "we  venerate  that  illustrious  character,  the  Governor  of  this 
State.  The  wisdom,  fidelity,  and  perseverance  with  which  he  has  served  the 
cause  of  liberty  for  a  length  of  years  that  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  one  man — the 
very  critical  and  trying  periods  which  have  so  often  called  him  to  the  exercise  of 
every  public  virtue — together  with  the  importance  of  the  blessings  he  had  so 
great  a  share  in  conferring  upon  this  extensive  empire — these  will  place  him  in 
the  first  rank  of  American  patriots,  and  enroll  him  among  the  principal  benefac 
tors  of  mankind.  *  *  Yet  I  beg  you  would  attend  a  moment  to  the  nature  of 
the  request  you  would  have  us  make. 

"In  giving  him  our  suffrages,  we  suppose  either  that  he  would  accept  the  ap 
pointment,  or  that  he  would  not.  To  suppose  the  former  is  charging  him  with 
insincerity  in  the  reasons  he  has  given  for  his  resignation,  or  a  certain  indecision 
of  sentiment  on  that  subject ;  because  he  has  excused  himself  in  the  most  ample 
manner,  and  assigned  the  most  honorable  motives.  Shall  we  therefore  conclude 
that  he  concealed  his  real  feelings  in  his  solemn  and  pathetic  address,  or  that  he 
had  not  thoroughly  weighed  the  matter,  and  will  therefore  change  ?  But  to  ap 
point  him  with  an  idea  that  he  will  not  accept,  would  be  trifling  with  our  most 
eacred  obligations  to  our  country,  our  consciences,  and  our  God ;  and  all  for  an 
empty  compliment — nay,  it  would  not  even  amount  to  a  compliment ;  it  is  the 
Bame  as  saying  to  a  friend,  since  I  know  you  will  not  accept  of  my  invitation,  I 
invite  you  to  dinner.  Don't  let  us  then  mistake  a  pretended  compliment  for  grat 
itude,  and  rush  upon  the  dangerous  experiment  of  scattering  and  wasting  our 
votes.  As  an  individual  of  a  community  preserved  in  great  measure  by  the  vir 
tues  of  that  great  man,  I  feel  all  the  obligations  that  you  can  feel ;  yet  I  cannot 
but  think  your  proposed  manner  of  expressing  them  would  be  ill-timed  and 
hazardous.  *  *  Let  us  then  express  our  gratitude  in  another  way,  and  centre 
our  votes  upon  some  other  firm,  decided  character ;  one  who  is  respected  abroad 
and  sufficiently  tried  at  home,  whose  virtues  place  him  above  the  arts  of  intrigue 
and  popularity ;  one  who  seeks  not  the  office,  but  who  honors  it  by  acceptance." 

*  In  the  Courant  of  April  6th,  1784.    He  addresses  the  writer  first  quoted. 


C  HAPTER    LI  V. 
1784—1785. 

TRUMBTJLL,  in  a  letter  to  Washington,  expresses  his  own  anticipations  of 
happiness  in  retirement  from,  public  cares.  Washington's  reply. 
Upon  his  withdrawal  from  office,  the  General  Assembly  appoint  a  Com 
mittee  to  devise  some  suitable  testimonial  of  respect.  They  report 
an  Address  to  his  Excellency,  and  an  escort  upon  his  leaving  Hartford 
for  Lebanon.  The  Address.  A  reply.  His  departure — escorted  by 
the  Governor's  Guards,  a  deputation  from  the  Legislature,  the  High 
Sheriff  of  Hartford  County,  and  numerous  gentlemen  of  distinction. 
His  life  in  retirement.  His  business  as  a  merchant — particularly  hia 
English  debts.  He  memorializes  the  Legislature  upon  the  subject  of 
remuneration  for  his  past  services,  and  presents  some  remarkable  facts 
in  his  own  history.  His  patriotic  sacrifices  appear  in  a  striking  light. 
Remuneration  allowed. 

THE  ferment  through  which  Trumbull  had  now  passed — in 
consequence  partly  of  those  infamous  tales  which  emissaries  of 
the  enemy  and  malcontents  had  circulated  against  him — but 
chiefly  in  consequence  of  his  advocacy  of  commutation  and  of 
a  strong  national  government — had  for  two  years  deprived  him 
of  the  popular  vote  in  the  choice  for  Governor,  and  thrown 
his  election  into  the  hands  of  the  General  Assembly.  Pre 
viously — during  all  his  long  and  toilsome  Administration — 
so  "  exceedingly  apparent,"  says  a  cotemporaneous  account, 
had  been  the  majority  of  voices  in  his  favor — so  unanimously 
was  he  chosen  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  State — that  it 
was  "  a  rare  thing  to  see  a  counting  of  votes."*  But  for  a  lit 
tle  while,  of  late,  ignorance,  "malice,  envy,  despair,  and 
tones,"  had  worked  with  some  success  against  him.  Now, 
however,  by  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly,  he  stood 
before  his  constituents — vindicated.  That  vote  which  gave 
the  Impost  Power  to  the  United  States,  by  so  large  a  majori 
ty,  was  an  overwhelming  vote  of  approbation  which  the 
Freemen  of  Connecticut  stamped  upon  his  political  views. 
It  was  a  heart-cheering  endorsement  of  his  life  and  public 
administration. 

*  Hartford  Courant  of  April  2nd,  1782. 


648  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

Soon,  and  the  Legislature  had  another  opportunity  of 
manifesting  their  confidence  in  their  veteran  Chief — for — the 
days  of  his  public  life,  by  his  own  determination,  now  num 
bered  and  finished — his  labor  done — he  was  to  retire  to  the 
shades  of  private  life.  Of  this  determination — as  an  unalter 
able  one — he  renewedly  made  his  friends  aware  at  the  time 
when  the  State,  as  we  have  described,  in  the  midst  of  its  hot 
political  strife,  was  again  anxiously  looking  up  to  him  in  the 
hope  that  he  would  suffer  himself  to  be  continued  at  the  helm 
of  Government.  And  to  no  one  did  he  express  himself  on 
this  point  more  pleasantly — with  more  of  affection,  and  with 
fonder  anticipation  of  happiness  in  his  contemplated  seclusion 
from  public  cares — than  to  his  old  co-patriot  and  friend, 
General  Washington — as  the  following  passages  from  his 
letter  to  the  latter,  dated  Lebanon,  April  twentieth,  1784, 
manifest : — 

"  Having  had  the  satisfaction,"  he  proceeds,  "  to  accord  with  you  in 
the  sentiment  of  retiring  from  the  busy  cares  of  public  life,  to  the  tran 
quil  scenes  of  private  enjoyment,  I  anticipate,  with  much  pleasure,  the 
reflections  which  such  a  state  will  enable  us  to  make  upon  the  happy 
issue  of  those  anxious  and  perplexing  vicissitudes  through  which,  in  the 
course  of  an  eight  years'  unusual  war,  you  and  I  have  had  the  lot  to  pass, 
and,  in  the  cares  and  solicitudes  of  which,  we  have  borne  no  ignoble  part. 

"I  felicitate  you,  Sir,  with  great  cordiality,  on  your  having  already 
reached  the  goal  of  your  wishes,  and  most  devoutly  invoke  the  Divine 
benediction  on  your  enjoyments  and  pursuits.  A  month  more,  I  trust, 
will  bring  me  to  the  haven  of  retirement ;  in  the  tranquillity  of  which  I 
hope  to  have  leisure  to  attend  to  and  cultivate  those  seeds  of  private 
friendship,  which  have  been  planted  during  the  tumults  of  war,  and  in 
the  cultivation  of  which  I  promise  myself  to  reap  much  pleasure. 

"Indulging  these  prospects,  I  am  induced  to  wish,  and  even  to  hope, 
that  the  correspondence  between  you  and  me,  which  commenced  under 
the  pressure  of  disagreeable  circumstances,  may  not  wholly  cease  when 
we  find  ourselves  in  a  happier  situation.  Although  enveloped  in  the 
shades  of  retirement,  the  busy  mind  cannot  suppress  its  activity,  but  will 
be  seeking  some  employment,  which  will  indeed  be  necessary  to  dispel 
that  languor  which  a  scene  of  inactivity  would  be  apt  to  produce.  Sub 
jects  will  not  be  wanting ;  far  different,  and  more  agreeable,  I  trust, 
than  those  we  have  been  accustomed  to  dwell  upon  ;  and  occasions  may 
present  which  will  serve  to  beguile  a  lingering  hour,  and  afford  some 
pleasing  amusement,  or  instructive  information.  Let  not  the  disparity 
of  age,  or  the  idea  of  a  correspondent  seventy-three  years  advanced  on 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  649 

his  journey  through  life,  chill  your  expectations  from  this  proposal.  I 
promise  you  my  best  endeavours ;  and  when  you  perceive,  as  too  soon, 
alas!  you  may,  that  your  returns  are  not  proportional  to  your  dis 
bursements,  you  have  only  to  cease  your  correspondence ;  I  shall 
submit." 

"  It  was  with  great  pleasure  and  thankfulness,"  wrote  Washington  in 
reply — "  I  received  a  recognisance  of  your  friendship,  in  your  letter  of 
the  20th  of  last  month.  *  *  Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir,  there  is  no 
disparity  in  our  ways  of  thinking  and  acting,  though  there  may  happen 
to  be  a  little  in  the  years  we  have  lived,  which  places  the  advantage  of 
the  correspondence  on  my  side,  as  I  shall  benefit  by  your  experience  and 
observations;  and  no  correspondence  can  be  more  pleasing  than  that 
which  originates  from  similar  sentiments  and  similar  conduct  through 
(though  not  a  long  war,  the  importance  of  it  and  attainments  consid 
ered,)  a  painful  contest.  I  pray  you,  therefore,  to  continue  me  among 
the  number  of  your  friends,  and  to  favor  me  with  such  observations  and 
sentiments  as  may  occur." 

That  "one  month  more,"  to  which  Trumbull  in  his  letter 
to  Washington  last  quoted,  refers — that  was  to  precede  his 
retirement — soon  rolled  away — and  he  was  now  ready  to  de 
part  from  the  Capital  of  the  State  to  his  seat  at  Lebanon. 
At  this  time  the  General  Assembly,  aware  of  his  purpose, 
appointed  a  Committee  to  devise  some  suitable  testimonial  of 
respect.  Sovereign  courtesy — the  love  and  gratitude  of  a 
whole  State — it  was  designed,  should  wait  upon  him,  in  hom 
age,  to  his  home.  The  Committee  reported  an  Address  to 
his  Excellency — and  farther  that  his  own  Company  of  Guards 
should  escort  him  when  he  left  the  town,  and  a  deputation 
from  the  Legislature,  together  with  the  Sheriff  of  Hartford 
County,  and  such  other  gentlemen  as  might  choose  to  join, 
should  accompany  him  to  Lebanon.  The  Eeport  was  at  once 
adopted.  An  Address  was  prepared,  and  a  number  of  Mem 
bers  were  appointed  to  present  it  to  the  ex-Chief  Magistrate. 
It  was  chaste  and  pertinent  throughout — as  the  Reader  shall 
see.  Here  it  is. 

"  Sir.  Your  having  conducted  us,  under  the  smiles  of  a  propitious 
Providence,  through  a  long,  perilous,  and  bloody  war,  to  the  wished-for 
haven  of  rest,  Independence,  and  peace,  having  completed  the  circle  of 
public  duty  marked  out  to  you  by  heaven,  and  being  wearied  with  the 

fatigues  of  a  long  and  arduous  administration,  in  an  advanced  age,  have 
55 


650  CHAP.     LIV. — TKUMBULL.  1784— 1?85. 

voluntarily  taken  your  leave  of  public  service  and  employment,  and  are 
now  about  to  retire  to  the  peaceful  walks  of  private  life. 

"Permit  us,  Sir,  the  Representatives  of  a  grateful  people,  to  assure 
you  that  in  your  retirement  from  public  office,  we  shall  entertain  the 
most  lively  sense  of  your  eminent  services  and  distinguished  merit — and 
that  our  fervent  prayer  is  that  the  Almighty  would  take  you  into  his 
holy  keeping,  make  the  residue  of  your  days  many  and  happy  as  your 
services  have  been  long,  prolong  to  mankind  the  blessing  of  your  wise 
counsels  and  great  example,  and  make  your  exit  out  of  time,  whenever 
it  may  happen,  triumphant  and  peaceful,  and  your  immortality  glorious." 

With  what  emotion  this  Address  was  received,  the  Reader 
must  imagine — for  we  have  no  recorded  picture  of  the  scene 
of  presentation — no  intimations  of  the  Reply,  which  from 
lips  that  must  have  been  tremulous  with  gratitude — from  a 
soul  that  must  have  been  all  alive  and  overflowing  with  the 
memories  of  that  gigantic  and  perilous  Past  in  which  it  had 
so  long  had  its  stormy  yet  ever-guided  home — was  poured 
into  the  ardent  ear  of  the  Legislative  Committee. 

"I  thank  you  most  sincerely,  Gentlemen,"  we  can  readily  conceive 
Trumbull  as  saying — "for  the  kind  and  flattering  Address  which  you 
have  come  to  present  me  with  from  the  General  Assembly  of  our  State. 
It  has  ever  been  my  aim,  it  is  true,  in  that  '  perilous  and  bloody  war ' 
to  which  you  so  feelingly  allude,  to  render  to  a  cause  which  I  have  ever 
believed  to  be  most  just  and  holy,  my  active  services,  my  best  hopes, 
and  my  ardent  prayers  for  its  success.  If  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty 
to  my  State  and  country,  I  have  merited  that  approbation,  which,  in  be 
half  of  the  Representatives  of  the  People,  is  expressed  in  a  manner  so 
complimentary,  I  am  sincerely  gratified,  and  shall  carry  with  me  to  the 
'  peaceful  walks  of  private  life,'  and  to  my  grave,  a  deep  sense  of  your 
favor,  and  of  your  good  wishes  for  my  happiness  in  this  world — which 
to  me,  silvered  as  I  now  am  with  years,  can  be  but  of  short  contin 
uance — and  in  the  world  which  is  to  come. 

"  Suffer  me  again,  through  you,  Gentlemen,  to  felicitate  the  General 
Assembly,  and  the  good  people  of  this  State,  upon  the  glorious  termina 
tion  of  that  struggle,  in  which  so  long,  and  at  such  an  unexampled  expense 
of  blood  and  treasure,  we  have  been  engaged.  Our  noble  cause  at  last 
has  triumphed.  Our  scoffing  foe  lies  prostrate  in  the  dust.  Slowly  and 
painfully — through  paths  that  have  been  crowded  with  perils — the  sun 
oft  hidden  entirely  from  our  view — and  wading,  alas,  at  times  through 
pools  of  human  gore — we  have  ascended  the  steep  and  toilsome  hill  of 
Liberty  and  Independence,  and  now  stand  with  exultation  on  its  sum 
mit.  Heaven  it  is  that  has  brought  us  to  this  '  wished-for  haven  of  rest.' 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  651 

Let  us  not  forget  its  aid !  God  grant  that  we  so  improve  our  freedom, 
as  that  we  may  secure  solid  and  perpetual  prosperity,  and  glorify  his 
great  name ! 

"This  we  shall  do,  Gentlemen,  if,  as  I  cannot  too  often  urge,  with 
humble  reliance  on  the  Divine  guidance  in  all  our  future  counsels  and 
government,  we  maintain  inviolate  that  happy  Constitution  under  which 
we  have  so  long  subsisted  as  a  corporation — if  by  every  constitutional 
means  we  strengthen  the  Federal  Union — if,  by  a  faithful  fulfillment  of 
all  public  as  well  as  private  engagements,  we  sacredly  support  national 
faith  and  honor — if  we  avoid  all  local  jealousies,  and  hate  contentions, 
envy,  avarice,  and  every  evil  work — if  we  study  peace  and  harmony  with 
each  other,  and  with  every  part  of  this  confederated  Republic — if,  re 
vering  and  practising  virtue  in  all  its  lovely  forms,  we  ground  ourselves 
on  that  sure  and  faithful  axiom,  that  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation, 
but  that  sin  and  evil  workings  are  the  destruction  of  a  people.* 

"  I  have,  as  your  Address  suggests,  at  an  advanced  stage  of  life — a 
life  worn  out  almost  with  the  constant  cares  of  office — at  a  moment  most 
auspicious  for  our  country's  happiness,  taken  my  leave  of  public  service. 
It  is  my  wish  to  sweeten  the  evening  of  my  days  with  repose.  I  desire 
to  dedicate  myself  with  more  devotion  than  ever  to  the  service  of  my 
God,  and  to  preparation  for  a  future  happier  state — in  which  employ 
ment  I  shall  never  cease  to  remember  my  country,  and  to  make  it  my 
ardent  prayer  that  Heaven  will  not  fail  to  shower  upon  her  its  choicest 
favors. 

"  I  commend  you,  Gentlemen,  and  the  General  Assembly,  and  the  in 
habitants  of  this  State,  who  have  so  long  honored  me  with  their  confi 
dence  and  support,  to  the  protection  and  blessing  of  that  exalted  Guide, 
whose  is  the  wisdom,  and  whose  the  power,  to  make  you  a  great,  a  pros 
perous,  and  a  joyful  people.  "With  this  benediction — warm  from  a  heart 
which  feels  most  sensibly,  too  sensibly  almost  for  language  to  express,  the 
renewed  testimonial  of  your  respect  to-day,  I  bid  you,  in  my  public  char 
acter,  a  long,  a  happy  Adieu." 

After  this  manner — in  consonance  with  his  habitual  feel 
ings,  his  sentiments,  and  his  courtesy — we  may,  with  but  lit 
tle  tension  of  the  imagination,  conceive  Trumbull  to  have 
addressed  the  Legislative  Deputation  on  the  occasion  we  have 
just  described.  Thus,  naturally — mingling  gratitude  with 
good  advice,  and  piety  with  patriotism,  would  he  season  sage 
remarks  with  sensibility — breathe  out  his  fervid  love  of 
country — and  point  his  finger  to  the  skies. 

The  presentation  over — on  Friday,  the  twenty-first  of  May, 

*  The  sentiments,  and  the  language,  much  of  it,  of  TrumbulPs  Farewell  Ad 
dress — which  see,  page  604. 


652  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

in  accordance  with  the  arrangements  of  the  General  Assem 
bly — waited  upon  by  General  Douglass  and  General  Sage, 
formally,  in  their  behalf,  and  by  a  large  number  also  of  pri 
vate  gentlemen,  all  anxious  to  pay  their  last  testimony  of  re 
spect  to  his  official  character — accompanied  also  by  the  High 
Sheriff  of  Hartford  County,  and  escorted  by  the  Guards — 
the  venerable  Ex-Governor  of  Connecticut  left  Hartford  for 
his  home  at  Lebanon.  The  pleasure  which  had  been  "uni 
versally  expressed  in  attending  upon  his  excellency  while  in 
office,"  says  an  eye-witness  of  the  scene,  in  a  cotemporaneous 
account — "  the  deference  paid  to  his  opinion,  and  the  reluct 
ance  visible  at  his  retirement,  are  full  proofs  that  this  vener 
able  patriot  still  possesses  the  confidence  of  the  State,  and 
that  he  will  ever  live  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Long, 
long  may  he  enjoy  the  peaceful  scenes  of  private  life,  and 
feel  that  tranquillity  and  satisfaction  which  must  flow  from  a 
consciousness  that  he  has  faithfully  discharged  his  duty  to 
his  country  and  his  God ! " 

The  curtain  had  now  fallen  forever,  on  the  last  scene  in  the 
Drama  of  Jonathan  Trumbull's  public  life !  The  cares  of 
the  war-manager — the  law-maker — the  negotiator — the  mag 
istrate — the  judge — the  statesman — were  all  over.  He  was 
at  home — 

"  To  husband  out  life's  taper  to  its  close, 
And  keep  the  flame  from  wasting,  by  repose." 

Yet  not  the  repose,  in  any  degree,  of  inactivity — but  that  of 
freedom  from  all  sovereign,  municipal,  and  exacting  cares — 
for  his  were  energies  that  could  not  slumber,  and  were  not 
capable  of  torpor.  Books,  philosophy,  science,  religion,  his 
lands,  still — more  or  less,  in  degrees  suited  to  the  tranquillity 
of  his  inclinations — occupied  by  turns  his  attention,  and 
served  agreeably  to  stimulate  his  spirits,  and  soothe  his 
retirement. 

His  business  as  a  merchant,  in  the  form  of  a  home  and 
country  trade — to  which  form  he  had  reduced  it,  as  we  have 
seen,  shortly  after  his  oppressive  losses  in  the  sphere  of  navi 
gation  and  foreign  commerce — he  continued  to  prosecute 
down  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Eevolutionary  War — when,  in 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  653 

consequence  of  his  pressing  cares  for  the  public,  he  suspend 
ed  it  almost  altogether.* 

His  business  relations  with  Europe,  about  ten  years  pre 
vious  to  the  Ee volution,  as  the  Keader  is, aware,  left  him 
largely  in  debt  to  certain  correspondents  abroad — particular 
ly  to  the  Houses  of  Lane  and  Booth,  and  Champion  and 
Hay  ley  in  London,  and  Stephen  Apthorp  in  Bristol.  This 
indebtedness  he  never  forgot.  His  efforts  to  meet  it,  very 
shortly  after  it  was  incurred,  as  wre  have  seen,  were  unwea- 
ried.f  But  time  rolled  on,  leaving  no  gold  in  its  sands,  or 

*  "Laying  aside  all  private  business,  divesting  himself  of  all  secular  concerns 
but  what  pertained  to  his  office  and  the  public,  besides  attending  on  stated  and 
public  assemblies,  he  sat  one  thousand  [913]  days  in  Council." — From  his  Fune 
ral  Sermon,  by  Rev.  Z.  Ely. 

fin  1770,  just  after  he  had  been  chosen  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  State, 
we  find  him  struggling  with  it,  and  industriously  collecting  produce — corn,  rye, 
beans,  and  pork — and  shipping  them  to  meet  it.  In  1771,  still  for  the  same  pur 
pose — by  agreement  with  young  John  Lane,  then  in  America — he  is  sending  the 
same  articles,  by  ox  teams,  four,  six,  and  eight  at  a  time,  from  his  store  at  Leb 
anon  to  Norwich  Landing — and,  "  on  account  and  risque  of  Thomas  Lane,  Esq., 
merchant  in  London,"  delivering  them  on  board  "  the  sloop  Endeavour,  bound 
for  Goldsborough." — "  I  pray  your  very  candid  and  favorable  representation  to 
your  very  good  father,"  he  wrote  at  this  time  to  Lane  the  son,  transmitting  him 
an  invoice  of  the  merchandise — "when  you  shall  be  so  happy  as  to  see  him. 
Nothing  in  my  power  shall  be  neglected  to  secure  the  continuance  of  his  kind 
ness.  My  misfortunes  have  been  grievous,  but  one  thing  being  set  over  against 
another,  I  hope  to  find  favor.  Whenever  you  return  to  your  desired  home,  God 
grant  your  voyage  may  be  prosperous,  and  the  meeting  with  your  good  friends 
and  family  happy." 

"  I  ever  intended,"  he  wrote  one  year  later — in  1772,  to  Hugh  Ledlie,  Esq.,  the 
attorney  of  Champion  and  Hayley — himself  proposing  at  this  time  to  secure  his 
indebtedness  to  this  firm  by  an  additional  mortgage  upon  a  farm  on  which  his 
son  Jonathan  then  resided — "  I  ever  intended  to  do  justice,  near  as  I  could,  to  all 
my  creditors.  I  have  now  so  far  settled  my  affairs  that  I  hope  to  be  able  in  time 
to  do /wW  justice  to  these  Gentlemen,  if  they  don't  press  me  farther  than  it  is  pos 
sible  for  me  to  do  for  them.  If  they  press  me  now,  I  must  resign  myself  to  it, 
and  they  must  take  what  I  have,  without  future  hopes.  If  they  forbear,  I  think 
I  and  my  son  can  pay  them  as  above  proposed.  I  am  willing  to  give  them,  eve 
rything  without,  that  they  can  have  by  virtue  of  a  suit." 

"  I  thankfully  acknowledge  " — he  wrote  four  years  later— just  before  the  Rev 
olution  broke  out — to  Lane  and  Booth,  in  August,  1774 — still  at  this  period 
thoughtful  of  his  indebtedness,  and  laboring  to  discharge  it — "  I  thankfully  ac 
knowledge  your  patience,  lenity,  and  tender  disposition  not  to  distress  me,  and 
that  from  a  regard  to  my  particular  situation,  you  have  been  induced  to  refrain 
from  any  severe  measures.  I  have  a  great  concern  to  do  you  all  the  justice  in  my 
power.  For  that  end  I  have  exerted  myself  for  two  years  to  make  some  supplies 
to  your  estate  at  the  eastward,  and  the  next  year  had  grain  provided,  which  was 
not  called  for.  The  estate  is  kept  in  as  good  condition  as  though  no  encum 
brance  lay  on  it.  The  whole  is  used  and  improved  according  to  the  rules  of  good 
55* 


654  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

but  very  little,  for  Trumbull's  purse,  beyond  what  was  re 
quired  for  the  comfortable  supply  of  his  daily  wants — and 
the  rupture  with  Great  Britain,  which  soon  ensued,  found  his 
debts  abroad,  in  large  part,  still  unpaid.*  The  War,  upon 
principles  of  national  law,  cancelled  all  obligation  to  pay 
those  due  to  his  English  creditors,  and  confiscated  them  in 
favor  of  the  sovereign  State  to  which  he  belonged — in  the 
event  that  the  State  should,  as  a  preliminary  step,  exercise 
its  legislative  discretion,  and  pass  a  special  act  applicable  to 
the  case.  Such,  in  the  absence  of  any  treaty  stipulations  to 
the  contrary,  was  the  admitted  doctrine  of  the  day,  in  regard 
to  private  debts  due  to  an  alien  enemy.  It  was  the  doctrine 
of  Grotius,  PufFendorf,  Bynkershoeck,  and  of  jurists  gener 
ally.  It  was  the  rule  as  settled  by  the  highest  judicial  au- 
thoritiesf — though,  since  the  Ke volution,  opinion  has  gradu 
ally  tended  towards  a  modification  of  the  rule,  as  impolitic — 
and,  because  of  its  supposed  influence  in  impairing  the  gen 
eral  sense  of  the  inviolability  and  sanctity  of  contracts,  as 
wrong. 

Trumbull,  therefore — though  reluctantly,  we  think,  from 
some  scruples  which  he  entertained  as  to  the  justice  and  pol 
icy  of  the  rule  of  confiscation — in  April  and  May,  1779 — 
first  in  behalf  of  himself  and  his  deceased  son  Joseph, 
and  next  in  behalf  of  the  firm  of  "  Trumbull,  Fitch  and 
Trumbull,"  applied  for  liberty  to  settle  the  debts  in  question 
in  conformity  with  public  law  and  usage.  They  amounted 
in  all,  at  this  time,  interest  included,  to  the  sum  of  thirteen 
thousand  and  twenty-three  pounds  twelve  shillings — and 
were  secured  by  notes,  bonds,  and  mortgages  on  lands.  He 
esteemed  it  his  "duty,"  he  said  in  his  Memorial  on  the  sub- 
husbandry,  and  hath  been  as  secure  for  your  benefit  as  it  would  be  by  a  deed  of 
absolute  conveyance." — "  I  have  no  apprehensions  of  any  occasion  for  any  Law 
Litigation  in  the  affair,"  wrote  Trumbull  at  the  same  time  to  Hon.  Eichard  Lech- 
mere,  attorney  for  Lane  and  Booth."  The  estate  is  effectually  secure  for  them. 
I  can  truly  say  that  I  am,  and  at  all  times  have  been,  desirous  to  do  all  in  my 
power  for  their  interests." 

*Some  portions  of  them,  in  after  years,  were  paid  by  Trumbull's  Executor. 

t  "  Notwithstanding  the  weight  of  modern  authority,  and  of  argument  against 
this  claim  of  right  on  the  part  of  the  sovereign,  to  confiscate  the  debts  and  funds 
of  the  subjects  of  his  enemy  during  war,  the  judicial  language  in  this  country  is 
decidedly  in  support  of  the  right." — Kent.  Comm.,  Vol.  L,p.  63. 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  655 

ject — "  to  give  information  "  concerning  them  to  the  Gener 
al  Assembly — "the  same  being  the  property  of  persons  belonging 
to  that  kingdom  which  hath  levied  a  cruel  and  unnatural  war 
upon  this  and  the  rest  of  the  United  States  of  America"  And 
he  therefore  prayed  that  the  Honorable  Body  which  he  ad 
dressed  would  take  the  same  into  their  wise  consideration — 
appoint  a  Committee  to  adjust  the  said  several  sums — receive 
them  from  him  in  Loan  Office  Certificates,  and  Bills  of  Credit 
of  the  United  States — deliver  the  same  to  the  Treasurer  of 
Connecticut  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  State — and  thereupon 
decree  that  his  Honor  the  Deputy  Governor  and  Secretary 
should  execute  to  the  Memorialist  a  discharge  of  his  notes 
and  bonds,  and  a  "  deed  of  release  under  their  hands  and  the 
public  seal  of  the  State,"  of  all  the  premises  mortgaged  in 
the  contracts — or  that  in  some  other  way,  as  the  wisdom  of 
the  General  Assembly  might  direct,  this  Body  would  give  to 
the  Memorialist  "  directions  and  orders  "  in  the  case. 

This  Memorial,  however,  for  reasons  which  do  not  clearly 
appear,  did  not  succeed.  No  complete  action  of  the  Legisla 
ture  was  had  upon  it.  It  was  arrested  in  the  Lower  House — 
from  an  opinion,  we  think,  both  on  the  part  of  Trumbull, 
upon  reconsideration,  and  on  the  part  of  the  State,  that  the 
rule  of  confiscation,  in  the  case  of  private  debts,  ought  to  be 
mitigated — that  it  was  a  rule  of  rigor  and  retaliation  which 
a  nice  sense  of  honor  ought  rather  to  resist — and  that  nation 
al  differences  ought  not  to  impair  private  contracts,  which,  in 
time  of  peace,  had  been  made  under  the  implied  national 
promise  of  protection  and  security. 

Accordingly,  when  peace  was  declared,  Trumbull  was  left 
with  his  debts  still  on  his  hands — and  by  the  terms  of  that 
treaty  which  put  an  end  to  the  war,  creditors,  upon  either 
side,  were  to  meet  with  no  lawful  impediment  to  the  recovery 
of  their  dues,  in  sterling  money.  Our  merchant  patriot, 
therefore,  at  once  proceeded  again  to  recognize  his  indebted 
ness,  and  to  provide  for  its  discharge.  He  had  no  gold  or 
silver  with  which  to  meet  it — but  he  had  American  securi 
ties,  which  the  good  policy  of  the  country  in  funding  the  na 
tional  debt  was  rendering  every  day  more  and  more  valua 
ble — and  these  he  freely  proffered  to  his  creditors  abroad. 


656  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

My  property  is  wholly  vested  in  the  public  funds  of  this 
country,  he  wrote  to  Lane,  Son  and  Frazier,  and  to  Cham 
pion  and  Hayley,  early  in  April,  1783.  Peace  will  fully  es 
tablish  these  funds  in  credit.  Will  you  not  take  my  securi 
ties  here?  They  are  all  I  have  to  offer  you.  "I  am  ready 
to  pay  my  debts  in  these.  It  is  in  your  power  to  distress  me, 
but  I  trust  your  inclinations  will  rather  lead  you  to  a  gener 
ous  and  honorable  settlement." 

In  addition  to  these  securities,  Trumbull  had  an  unpaid 
claim  against  the  State  of  Connecticut  for  his  salaries,  extra 
services,  and  for  monies  advanced  to  the  public  from  his  pri 
vate  purse,  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution — a  claim 
which,  in  the  almost  constantly  exhausted  condition  of  the 
provincial  Treasury,  his  own  patriotism  had  led  him,  from 
period  to  period,  to  postpone.  Now,  however,  that  the 
bloody  struggle  was  past — heavily  in  debt  that  he  was,  and 
poorly  supplied,  since  his  commercial  misfortunes,  with  this 
world's  goods — it  was  time  for  him  to  look  to  his  remunera 
tion  for  the  past. 

He  accordingly,  therefore,  at  different  periods  after  the 
Peace,  memorialized  the  Legislature  on  the  subject — and  for 
the  last  time  in  May,  1785 — but  about  three  months  before 
his  death.  His  claim — as  determined  by  the  investigation  of 
Committees  of  the  Legislature — amounted  to  the  large  sum 
of  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eight  pounds  seven  shil 
lings  and  four-pence — a  sum  less  than  that  which  was  actually 
his  due,  upon  a  truly  liberal  estimate  of  those  extra  services  and 
advances  to  which  we  have  alluded.  The  Committee  which 
reported  this  amount — and  other  Committees  upon  other  oc 
casions — found,  that  during  the  late  war  his  Excellency  had 
devoted  "his  whole  time  and  abilities  to  the  service  of  the 
Public  " — that  besides  the  stated  Assemblies,  he  had  attended 
no  less  than  fourteen  adjourned  and  special  sessions,  many 
of  these  "  long  and  very  expensive  " — and  that,  among  other 
services,  for  which  he  had  never  received  any  compensation, 
he  had,  "  with  great  labor  and  much  expense  of  time,"  stated 
the  case  respecting  the  claims  of  Connecticut  to  the  Western 
Lands.  They  found  also  that  a  very  considerable  portion  of 
his  Excellency's  time  in  each  year,  had  been  taken  up  in  at- 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  657 

tending  the  Council  of  Safety,  for  which,  during  most  of  the 
period,  he  had  himself,  and  at  his  own  expense,  provided  an 
office,  firewood,  lights,  and  other  accommodations — that  he 
had  sat  in  this  Council,  in  all,  nine  hundred  and  thirteen 
days,  for  which  really  no  allowance  had  been  made — that  his 
extra  services  during  the  war,  had  been  "  vastly  greater  than 
any  Governor's  in  any  former  war,"  while  his  perquisites  did 
not  exceed  what  they  were  in  peace — and  that  the  exhausted 
state  of  the  Treasury  furnished  the  reason  why  the  sums  due 
had  not  been  paid.* 

Upon  these  facts — in  May,  1785 — the  General  Assembly 
of  Connecticut  directed  the  Treasurer  of  the  State  to  issue 
to  Governor  Trumbull — "  in  full  of  all  arrears  "  due,  and  of 
"  all  demands  "  on  his  part  against  the  State  "  of  every  na 
ture  and  kind  whatsoever  " — the  sum  of  three  thousand  and 
sixteen  pounds,  eleven  shillings,  and  four-pence — the  same  to 
be  issued  in  three  notes  bearing  interest — redeemable  in  five, 
six,  and  seven  years,  or  sooner  if  the  General  Assembly  should 
so  elect — and  to  be  payable  from  the  Civil  List  Funds  of  the 
State. 

The  Memorial  from  Trumbull,  which  immediately  preceded 
this  appropriation  from  the  Connecticut  Treasury  in  his 
favor,  is  a  document  of  great  interest — and,  as  illustrating  his 
Revolutionary  services,  his  anxieties,  his  exposures,  and  his 
feelings,  deserves  particular  notice  here. 

He  is  aware,  he  says  at  the  outset,  that  the  salaries  and 
allowances  granted  him,  for  several  of  the  last  years  of  his 
administration,  could  not  have  been  discharged  without  inter 
fering  with  continual  and  pressing  demands  for  the  great  pur 
poses  of  the  war — and  that  since  the  termination  of  the  strug 
gle,  money  had  been  so  scarce  as  to  render  it  impossible  for 

*  Among  the  debts  for  extra  services  and  advances  reported  by  the  Committee, 
were  the  following — which  will  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  rest. 

"  1773.  To  searching  ancient  records  and  papers,  and  stating  the  case  respect 
ing  the  Western  Lands,  £100. 

'  1775.     To  cash  to  Matt.  Griswold,  Esq.,  going  to  Cambridge,  £25. 

'1776.  To  do.  advanced  to  Jed.  Elderkin,  Esq — going  to  Salisbury,  &c., 
£100. 

'  To  sundries  in  articles  for  furnace,  £3,  8. 

'  To  sundry  postages,  expenses,  &c.,  from  1774  to  1780,  about  £105. 

'  To  cash  advanced  Capt.  Job  Winslow,  going  to  Ticonderoga,  £50." 


658  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

him  to  obtain  his  dues.  Bather  than  have  pressed  for  them 
during  the  exigences  of  the  war,  he  affirms,  he  would  have 
been  satisfied  to  have  "  lost  them  forever."  And  now  all  he 
desires  for  the  present  is,  that  the  General  Assembly  will 
grant  him  interest  thereon — a  course  which  the  justice  and 
equity  of  the  case,  and  precedent,  convince  him  their  "  Hon 
ors  will  readily  do." 

He  next  states  his  claim  for  remuneration  for  preparing  the 
Susquehannah  Case,  and  suggests  that  it  was  not  the  idea  of 
the  Assembly  to  require  that  service  without  a  fitting  reward. 
He  next  speaks  of  the  money  he  has  advanced  from  his  own 
purse  for  the  service  of  the  State — and  then  thus  proceeds : — 

"  He  begs  leave  also  to  represent  to  this  Honorable  Assembly,  that  he 
humbly  conceives  the  allowances  which  have  been  made  him  for  extra 
ordinary  services  during  the  late  perilous  war,  have  been  short  of  what, 
on  mature  consideration  of  their  nature,  extent,  and  circumstances, 
would  be  thought  adequate.  Should  it  be  conceived  by  any  that  the 
Memorialist  is  disposed  to  overrate  his  services,  they  will  be  pleased  to 
advert  to  the  peculiarly  perilous  position  in  which  he  was  placed — to  the 
busy  and  distressing  scenes  which  followed  for  a  succession  of  about 
eight  years,  the  burden  of  which,  in  this  State,  in  a  peculiar  manner  fell 
and  centered  on  him — a  period  during  which,  at  home  or  abroad,  he  had 
scarcely  time  to  eat  his  necessary  food,  and  [passed]  many  sleepless 
nights.  [Let  them  advert  also]  to  the  singularly  obnoxious  light  in  which 
he  stood  with  the  enemy — to  the  price  that  was  set  upon  his  head — and 
add  to  these  the  large  expenses  of  attending,  besides  the  stated,  fourteen 
special  assemblies — and  [add]  other  expenses  abroad.  But  it  is  impossi 
ble,  without  the  experience,  for  any  one  to  realize  or  form  an  adequate 
idea  of  the  multiplicity,  weight,  and  burden  [of  cares]  which  lay  upon 
him  during  that  trying  scene. 

"Should  it  be  thought  that  his  salary  is  large,  and  allowances  already 
made  are  considerable,  a  reference  to  the  salaries  and  grants  made  to 
Governors  in  the  almost  infant  state  of  this  Commonwealth — considering 
the  nature  and  extent  of  their  services,  and  the  number  and  abilities  of 
the  people — will  make  them  appear  comparatively  small.  Nor  will  the 
comparison  suffer  by  a  reference  to  the  grants  &c.  to  the  late  worthy 
Grov.  Fitch,  in  whose  administration  a  war  also  happened,  but  very  differ 
ent  from  the  last — and  when  the  perquisites  from  navigation,  and  other 
wise,  were  far  greater  than  in  the  last.  They  may  also  be  compared  with 
the  salaries  of  almost  every  other  Governor  in  the  United  States,  equally- 
republican. 

"  Your  Memorialist  is  not  insensible  that  evil  reports  and  slander  have 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  659 

been  spread  concerning  him — to  escape  them  would  be  more  than  the  lot 
of  humanity — and  that  they  have  been  embraced  by  some  low  and  envi 
ous  minds — but  he  has  full  confidence  that,  unsupported  as  they  are,  they 
have  no  place  in  the  candid  breasts  ot  your  Honors,  which  feel  the  im 
pression  of  that  interesting  Christian  maxim  of  doing  to  others  whatever 
ye  would  have  they  should  do  unto  you. 

"  He  [your  Memorialist]  would  only  further  observe,  that  although  he 
is  fully  sensible  of  the  burden  of  taxes  as  they  affect  your  people,  and  is 
and  ever  has  been  practically  willing  to  bear  his  full  proportion,  yet  he 
must  also  be  permitted  to  feel  his  own — having  never  received  for  his 
services  [what  was]  equal  to  the  support  of  his  family,  and  necessary  ex 
penses — and  he  appeals  to  the  sense  and  feeling  of  your  Honors,  and  asks 
which  of  you  does  not  wish  and  pursue  the  settling  and  payment  of  his 
just  and  equitable  dues?" 

The  facts  mentioned  in  this  Memorial  are  some  of  them 
very  striking — as  the  Reader  will  have  observed.  That 
Trumbull  should  have  gone  through  the  entire  Revolutionary 
War — loaded  down  each  hour  almost  with  labor — labor  that 
snatched  him  often  from  repast,  often  snatched  him  from 
sleep — without  compensation,  the  while,  to  meet  either  his 
ordinary  or  his  extraordinary  expenses — with  nothing  to  de 
pend  upon  for  support  except  a  little  produce  from  lands, 
which,  weighed  down  with  mortgages,  were  the  property  of 
his  creditors,  and  a  little  income  perhaps  at  first,  from  a 
country  trade,  which  the  war,  taxes,  and  the  general  poverty 
of  the  people,  rendered  soon  comparatively  insignificant,  and 
which  he  soon  abandoned  altogether — is  truly  surprising. 

"I  have  received  but  two  half-years'  salaries  since  the  beginning 
of  our  contest  with  Great  Britain  "* — he  wrote,  April  twenty- 
ninth,  1785,  to  his  son  John  in  England.  "I  intend  to  go  to 
Hartford  for  settlement  with  the  State.  I  hope  to  have 
enough  from  that  quarter  to  pay  my  debt  in  London — and 
mean  to  have  it  applied  for  that  purpose." 

Does  it  not  indeed  speak  well  for  the  truthfulness  of  Trum- 
bull's  patriotism — that,  during  the  exigences  of  the  Revolu- 

*  A  statement  of  grants  and  payments  made  to  Gov.  Trumbull,  "for  his  yearly 
salary  and  extraordinary  services" — brought  down  from  May,  1775,  to  January, 
1784,  inclusive — and  prepared  by  John  Lawrence,  Treasurer  of  Connecticut — 
corroborates,  very  nearly  so,  Trumhull's  statement  in  the  text.  A  little  discrep 
ancy  appears — but  this  arose,  doubtless,  from  the  fact  that  the  Treasurer,  to  some 
extent,  estimated  as  salary  what  the  Governor  estimated  as  extra-grant. 


660  CHAP.    LIV. — TKUMBULL.  1784—1785. 

tionary  Struggle — giving  no  thought  to  the  present  or  the 
morrow  of  his  private  purse — unwilling  to  diminish  the 
pecuniary  ability  of  his  State  even  by  drawing  his  own  three 
hundred  pounds  a  year  as  Chief  Magistrate — he  should  have 
forborne  all  claim  upon  its  Treasury  for  his  stated  remunera 
tion — that  he  should  not  have  sought  the  money  due  him 
from  Connecticut,  until  the  war  was  over — and  then — not  in 
order  to  make  the  "Yellow  Slave"  knit  rich  garments  for 
his  back,  buy  him  estates,  and  give  him  "title,  knee,  and  ap 
probation  " — but  only  that  he  might  relieve  stringent  private 
wants,  and  be  aided  in  doing  justice  to  his  creditors ! 

Circumstances  did  not  place  it  in  his  power — as  they  did 
in  that  of  the  opulent  Washington — to  donate  his  services  in 
full  to  his  country.  No  dwelling-house  and  fertile  lands  upon 
any  Rappahannock,  awaited,  by  paternal  testament,  his  pos 
session,  when  he  became  of  age — as  they  did  that  of  his 
great  compeer.  Nor  afterwards  was  he  able,  like  the  latter, 
to  accumulate  vast  wealth — and  dispense  hospitalities  that 
were  prodigal,  and  grant  splendid  boons,  from  the  midst  of 
any  manorial  Mount  Yernon  of  his  own.  That  treacherous 
sea,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  soon  after  the  close  of  the  old 
French  War,  within  a  single  year,  whelmed  his  property — 
gave  him  never  anything  back.  From  that  time  onward,  it 
was,  alas,  but  too  true — in  a  phrase  long  in  use  to  tell  the  tale 
of  his  pecuniary  calamity — that  "  Trumbull  money  would  not 
swim  I "  And  the  deterioration  of  his  landed  estate  at  home 
through  the  inviting  fertility  of  superior  lands  open  for  settle 
ment  elsewhere* — through  the  disturbance  to  business  caused 
by  the  teeming  public  troubles  which  immediately  preceded 
the  Revolution — and  the  total  interruption  to  trade  which 
followed  upon  the  war — cut  him  off  forever  from  the  chance 
of  repairing  his  shattered  fortunes.  A  debt  of  fourteen 
thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty  pounds,  against  six  thou 
sand  and  eight  hundred  pounds  only  of  assets — as  found  by 
his  executor  after  his  decease — shows  conclusively  that  pecu- 

*  "  The  price  of  lands  in  the  old  settled  towns  is  lessened  one-third,  or  nearly 
one-half,  by  reason  of  the  great  opening  for  new  lands  and  settlements  since  the 
[French]  War,  the  scarcity  of  money,  and  the  want  of  purchasers." — Trumbull  to 
Messrs.  Lane  and  JBooth,  Aug.  292A,  1774. 


1784—1785.  CHAP.    LIV. — TRUMBULL.  661 

niary  misfortune  followed  him  down  to  the  grave.  Truly  to 
him,  in  his  lifetime,  his  country  alone  was  money — was 
credit — and  stood  in  the  place  of  a  mine  whose  riches — put 
to  nobler  use  than  gold — more  powerful,  more  propitious, 
more  glowing  than  all  the  shining  ore  which  sleeps  in  the 
heart  of  earth — were  the  glorious  riches  of  Liberty  and 
Independence. 

66 


CHAPTER    LV. 

1785. 

TRUMBULL  devotes  himself  to  the  duties  of  religion.  Biblical  literature, 
divinity,  and  correspondence  on  theological  subjects,  employ  a  large 
share  of  his  attention.  He  composes  sermons.  Some  of  his  corres 
pondence  -with  President  Stiles.  He  is  attacked  with  malignant  fever. 
His  sickness,  and  his  death.  His  funeral,  and  extracts  from  a  sermon 
preached  on  the  occasion.  His  tomb,  and  its  occupants.  His  epitaph. 

BESIDES  a  little  private  business,  like  that  already  de 
scribed — study  and  meditation,  we  have  said,  occupied  and 
solaced  that  last  interval  of  Trumbull's  life  on  which  we  now 
dwell.  Philosophy,  history,  jurisprudence,  literature — as  in 
past  periods — still  more  or  less,  but  in  a  subordinate  degree, 
employed  his  mind.  He  viewed  them  now,  however,  more 
in  reference  to  their  great  leading  principles  than  to  details — 
more  to  satisfy,  by  exercise,  the  craving  energies  of  his  mind, 
than  for  any  purpose  of  practical  application.  Sitter  as  he 
now  was  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  of  life — it  was  only  the  salient 
points  of  the  steep  he  had  descended — the  tallest  projecting 
summits,  the  hugest  piles  of  rock — that  arrested  his  gaze, 
and  fed  and  fortified  his  contemplation  with  thoughts  pro 
found  and  sublime. 

But,  true  to  the  purpose  he  expressed  in  his  Farewell  Ad 
dress,  more  than  to  aught  else — he  devoted  himself  to  the  du 
ties  of  religion,  and  preparation  for  a  future  happier  state  of 
existence.  "What  could  it  avail,"  exclaimed  his  worthy 
pastor,  the  Reverend  Zebulon  Ely,  in  commenting  afterwards 
on  his  character — "what  could  it  avail  that  we  view  him  as 
one  accomplished  in  human  erudition,  famous  as  a  linguist,  a 
theologian,  a  politician,  a  historian  and  chronologist,  could 
we  not  also  contemplate  him  as  one  who  gloried  in  the  cross 
of  Christ !  How  attentively  have  these  ears  heard  him  dis 
course  on  the  sublime  and  mysterious  truths  of  Christianity — 


1785.  CHAP.    LV. — TRUMBULL.  663 

and  have  these  eyes  beheld  his  swim  with  tears,  while  his 
mind  dwelt,  and  his  tongue  uttered,  on  these  charming  and 
heart-melting  subjects ! " 

To  the  study  of  the  Gospel  we  have  seen  that  he  devoted 
the  early  summer  of  his  days — that  with  preaching  it  he 
made  his  entrance  upon  public  life — but  that  the  death  of  his 
brother,  and  other  events,  called  him  away  from  the  sacred 
profession  into  mercantile  and  civil  life.  To  this  "beloved 
study"  then,  now  at  the  close  of  his  career,  he  recurred  with 
intense  satisfaction.  His  recess  from  public  employment  af 
forded  him  "a  golden  opportunity"  for  this  purpose,  which, 
said  his  pastor,  "he  diligently  and  delightfully  improved." 
The  Bible  he  now  read  more  profoundly  than  ever — not  in 
any  Latin  Vulgates — nor  often,  when  in  his  closet,  even  in 
the  sweet  accents  of  his  native  tongue — but  in  its  mother  lan 
guages — as  the  Hebrew  in  Jerusalem  spoke  the  one,  and  the 
Greek  in  Corinth  uttered  the  other.  He  read  it  as  a  grand 
English  classic  too,  as  well  as  "a  light  to  his  feet,  and  a  lamp 
to  his  path  " — observed  its  philological  niceties — extracted  its 
striking  passages — collated  their  meanings — compared  them 
with  those  in  the  Common  Version — and,  as  a  bee  from  flow 
ers,  gathered  spiritual  honey  for  the  daily  food  and  suste 
nance  of  his  soul.  To  him  emphatically — as  to  that  Morning 
Star  of  the  Protestant  Eeformation,  the  venerable  Wiclif — 
the  Bible  was  "the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek  of  the  Holy 
Ghost" — and  he  used  it  as  did  that  devout  son  of  science, 
Eobert  Bayle — "  not  as  an  arsenal  to  be  resorted  to  only  for 
arms  and  weapons  to  defend  this  or  that  party,  or  to  defeat 
its  enemies — but  as  a  matchless  Temple,  where  he  delighted 
to  be,  to  contemplate  the  beauty,  the  symmetry,  and  the 
magnificence  of  the  structure,  and  to  increase  his  awe, 
and  excite  his  devotion  to  the  Deity  there  preached  and 
adored." 

Works  too  on  divinity — sermons  and  treatises  on  the  prac 
tical  duties  of  Christianity — and  extracts  from  all  of  them, 
with  accompanying  comment — as,  for  example,  from  Dr. 
Owen's  work  on  Spiritual-Mindedness — a  favorite  volume 
with  him — and  from  another  favorite  religious  work  entitled 
"  Morning  Exercises  " — careful  noting  too  of  all  the  sermons 


664:  CHAP.    LV. — TKUMBULL.  1785. 

which  he  heard* — and  conversation  upon  them  before  his 
family,  as  was  his  invariable  custom,  and  with  his  neighbors 
and  friends — occupied  much  of  his  attention. 

He  corresponded,  too,  often  on  theological  subjects  with 
learned  and  distinguished  divines,  and  with  some  of  these 
concerted  seasons  of  religious  meditation  and  prayer — which 
he  never  failed  most  punctually  to  observe.  Often  too,  and 
with  a  buoyant  relish,  he  busied  himself  with  selecting  texts 
of  scripture,  and  composing,  after  the  established  style — with 
due  exordium,  exegesis,  logic,  illustration,  and  appeal — 
formal  sermons  upon  them — which,  at  times,  he  was  ac 
customed  to  send  to  some  of  his  learned  ministerial  friends, 
for  their  perusal  and  criticism — both  that  he  might  gratify 
his  theological  feelings  with  the  testimony  of  their  judgment, 
and  promote  his  own  growth  in  grace. 

With  no  one,  in  this  exchange  of  religious  views  and  sym 
pathies,  was  he  in  closer  correspondence  than  with  the 
Eeverend  Doctor  Ezra  Stiles — a  gentleman  whose  appoint- 

*  The  following,  out  of  a  number  of  similar  entries  in  his  Diary,  illustrate  his 
habit  in  this  respect : — 

"Lord's  Day,  Oct.  15,  1780.  Eev'd  Mr.  Strong  [of  Hartford]  preached  A.  M. 
Matt'w  6  :  11.  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread.  Teacheth  us  1st  our  depend 
ence — and  where  to  look  for  the  supply  of  all  our  wants — 2ndly.  Contentment 
with  allotm'ts  of  his  providence — 3rdly.  Not  to  be  anxious  in  our  cares  where  we 
have  done  our  duty— to  leave  the  event  to  God.  Exhortation  to  acknowledge  our 
entire  depend' ce  on  God — the  gain  of  contentment — the  necessity  of  freedom 
from  anxiety — Only  Stewards  and  Usufructuary — to  improve  and  employ  all  the 
provisions  of  Goodness  and  grace  for  his  Glory.— P.  M.  Per  Rev.  Wm.  Eobinson. 
Text  Luke  18 :  22.  The  Euler  a  Pharisee— expected  Sal :  by  the  Works  of  the 
Law.  Our  Saviour  takes  him  off  from  them — and  shows  him  how  to  lay  up 
treasure  in  heaven.  1st.  'Tis  a  practicable  thing  to  lay  up  treasure  in  heaven. 
2nd.  'Tis  of  the  highest  importance  to  do  it.  3dly.  Many  who  go  a  great  way  in 
this  work  fall  short,  by  some  beloved  Lusts,  and  forsake  the  way  by  Christ. 
4th.  'Tis  of  the  utmost  danger  thus  to  fall  short.  An  exhortation  to  lay  up  treas 
ure  in  heaven — to  consider  the  importance  of  so  doing — that  may  come  short — 
and  their  great  misery  and  danger  in  so  doing. 

"  Lord's  Day  17th  [Feb.  1782.]  Eev.  Mr.  Marsh  of  Weathersfield.  Text  Heb. 
6 :  19.  1st.  J.  C.  is  the  anchor  of  the  Soul.  2nd.  He  is  sure  and  steadfast.  3d. 
He  is  entered  into  that  within  the  Vail— as  our  Mediator— in  heaven,  where  he  is 
our  forerunner — our  High  Priest.  1st.  Taught  where  to  place  our  hope.  2d. 
Examine  whether  we  have  fixed  our  hope  in  J.  C.  3rd.  Such  as  have,  ought  to 
be  very  thankful.  4th.  Such  as  have  not,  ought  to  give  themselves  no  rest,  until 
by  faith  they  have  laid  a  sure  foundation  for  y'r  hope. 

"P.  M.  Per  Dom,  Marsh.  Text,  Eph.  5th,  llth.  And  have  no  fellowship 
with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  but  rather  reprove  them." 


1785.  CHAP.    LV. — TRUMBULL.  665 

merit  to  the  Presidency  of  Yale  College — at  a  period  when 
this  Institution  and  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut 
were  widely  at  variance* — was  zealously  promoted,  and 
cordially  hailed  by  Trumbull,  not  only  as  promising  "imme 
diate  private  satisfaction  "  to  Doctor  Stiles  himself,  but  as  the 
means  peculiarly  of  restoring  harmony  between  the  Govern 
ment  and  the  College,  and  of  making  this  Seminary  an  "es 
sential  benefit  to  this  country,  and  the  world."f 

"  I  return  the  Manuscript  Sermons,"  wrote  the  Doctor  to  Trumbull, 
July  twenty -fourth,  1784 — "you  was  so  obliging  as  to  leave  with  me,  after 
a  renewed  pleasure  in  the  perusal.  I  wish  other  Governors  upon  this 
Continent  were  able  to  show  such  specimens  of  their  religion.  The  doc 
trines  of  grace  and  Salvation  by  the  Cross  are  the  glory  of  pulpit  com 
positions.  Dr.  Wales  cheerfully  and  thankfully  joins  our  Concert  at  the 
throne  of  Grace.  Nearness  to  heaven  is  the  best  life  on  earth.  Oh,  how 
do  I  long  for  retirement  and  leisure  to  live  for  a  better  world !  I  almost 
envy  your  Excellency  the  serene,  quiet,  tranquil  moments  of  literary  phil 
osophic  retirement,  especially  when  I  consider  that  the  <™0ia  evdvpaviri,  the 
divine  philosophy,  the  ^KH  HDDn,!  employs  your  attention.  *  *  May 
you  be  happy  in  your  very  enviable  otium  cum  dignitate ;  and  by  the 
delightful  considerations  of  divine  Grace  and  Irradiation  from  the  source 
of  eternal  splendors,  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  may  you  be  more  and 
more  enriched  with  the  resemblance  of  the  divinity  himself,  and  ripen 
for  the  beatific  vision  of  God!  " 

"I  rejoice,"  wrote  Trumbull  in  reply,  August  nineteenth,  1784 — bor 
rowing  speech  in  part,  as  did  President  Stiles,  from  the  Hebrew — "  I  re 
joice  that  Dr.  Wales  joins  our  Concert.  I  hope  and  trust  our  Addresses 

*  On  account  of  alleged  mal-administration  on  the  part  of  its  Corporation,  in 
fraction  of  their  Charter,  and  attributed  overweening  Congregational  partialities, 
and  religious  exclusiveness. 

f  In  a  letter  from  Stiles  to  Trumbull,  dated  Portsmouth,  Jan.  20th,  1778,  the 
former  says,  after  stating  that  he  then  had  a  call  to  settle  at  Portsmouth — "  I  greatly 
distrust  my  abilities  for  the  Presidency  [of  Yale  College.]  I  am  conscious  of 
many  irremediable  defects.  Shall  I  exchange  the  prospects  of  happiness  in  the 
ministry  for  an  office  full  of  weighty  cares,  in  which  it  has  been  proved  to  be  im 
possible  to  give  satisfaction  ?  Is  there  any  prospect  of  a  Eestoration  of  harmony 
between  the  Assembly  and  the  College,  &c?" 

"I  cannot  omit  repeating  to  you,"  wrote  Trumbull  among  other  things  in  reply, 
from  Lebanon,  March  15th,  1778 — "how  much  pleasure  it  would  afford  me  to  see 
you  at  the  head  of  Yale  College,  not  so  much  for  the  ideas  I  can  entertain  of  the 
immediate  and  private  satisfaction  you  will  probably  experience  in  that  situation, 
as  from  the  prospects  of  your  ability  to  render  essential  benefit  to  this  country 
and  the  world — the  reflection  on  which  will  ever  afford  you  internal  peace  and 
satisfaction,  and  give  you  a  happy  prospect  of  future  reward." 

\  Meaning — the  knowledge  of  God. 
56* 


666  CHAP.    LV. — TRUMBULL.  1785. 

at  the  Throne  of  Grace  have  been  performed  with  the  "nriB  T3"lp*  of  our 
dear  ascended  Redeemer,  and  met  a  gracious  audience  and  answer,  for 
our  mutual  spiritual  benefit.  The  divine  wisdom,  power,  love,  goodness, 
mercy,  and  grace  of  God,  manifested  in  our  redemption  in  and  by  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  beheld  by  a  lively  operative  faith  wrought  in  us 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  truly  ravishing  and  delightful.  How  great,  how 
incomprehensible — what  small  portion  thereof  am  I  able  to  conceive !  " 
And  Trumbull  goes  on  to  suggest  to  the  President  that  he  has  "  much  to 
do  for  God  in  his  generation,"  and  to  express  his  ardent  hope  that  the 
Seminary  with  whose  interests  he  is  charged  "  may  send  forth  many  that 
may  be  able  to  take  the  people  by  the  hand,"  he  says,  "  and  lead  them  in 
the  way  to  eternal  life — such  also  as  may  be  strong  rods  to  bear  rule — such 
as  may  be  eminent  blessings  in  their  various  professions — and  all  such  as 
may  be  good  and  useful  citizens." 

Thus  for  the  last  year  and  a  half  of  his  life — giving  heed 
a  little  to  business,  just  enough  to  yield  him  support — feeding 
also  his  literary  and  philosophic  tastes — but  more  particularly 
widening  his  empire  over  religious  truth — enriching  him 
self — as  his  friend  President  Stiles  sublimely  expresses  it — 
with  "resemblance  to  Divinity,  and  ripening  for  the  beatific 
vision  of  God  " — was  Trumbull  engaged,  when  the  fatal  arrow 
sped  that  sent  him  to  his  grave. 

It  was  at  the  beginning  of  August,  1785,  that — sound  in 
health  to  all  appearance  as  usual — in  a  comparatively  vigor 
ous  state  both  of  body  and  mind — he  was  seized  with  a  fever 
which  soon  assumed  a  bilious  and  malignant  type.  He  had 
been  out,  we  hear  from  one  of  his  descendants — a  highly  in 
telligent  and  venerable  lady,*  who  has  seen  and  well  remem 
bers  her  illustrious  grandsire — out  upon  one  of  his  customary 
errands  of  mercy — to  minister  to  an  old  gentleman  in  his 
neighborhood  who  was  sick  and  expiring  with  that  disease 
which  soon  became  his  own.  And,  as  is  believed,  upon  this 
occasion — no  force  of  health  now  availing  against  the  tenuous, 
viewless  shaft  of  the  Dread  Archer — no  charm  of  myrrh  now 
potent  enough  to  counteract  the  noxious  miasm  of  the  sick 
room — caught  the  fatal  contagion,  and  was  laid  upon  his 
couch  to  die. 

The  disease  attacked  him  violently.     August  seventh,  Dr. 

*  Meaning — as  the  pure  sacrifice. 
tMrs.  Abigail  Lanman,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut. 


1785.  CHAP.    LV.— TRUMBULL.  667 

John  Clark  was  called  to  his  bedside,  and  prescribed  for  him 
assiduously  day  by  day.  August  ninth,  the  distinguished 
Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins  of  Hartford  came  to  attend  him,  and 
remained  with  him  eight  days.  But  his  malady  made  rapid 
progress — staying  for  no  art  of  the  physician — allured  from 
its  stronghold  by  no  magnet  of  the  nurse — yielding  to  no 
medicament  whatever.  It  soon  so  weakened  him  that  he 
could  speak  but  little. 

"The  tongues  of  dying  men,"  says  the  most  eminent  of 
poets,*  "enforce  attention  like  deep  harmony  " — but  his  own, 
under  the  fatal  fever,  sank  parched  and  almost  powerless. 
His  kindred  and  friends,  therefore,  listened  in  vain  for  words 
from  his  lips — toned  by  death — that  might  in  the  dark  hour 
have  "lent  redress"  to  their  oppressed  spirits,  and  made 
melancholy  yet  ever-soothing  music  for  their  memories  and 
their  love  in  after  days.  Words,  doubtless,  he  would  have 
spoken — if  strength  had  been  but  given  him — of  solemn 
monition,  of  melting  tenderness — words  of  resignation  the 
most  profound — words  too  loftily  expressing  the  aspirations 
of  a  spirit  all  purely  sanctified,  and  panting  for  its  home  in 
the  skies — since  reason,  during  the  whole  of  his  sickness,  re 
tained  her  seat  in  his  soul.  Dim  though  his  earthly  vision, 
yet  his  intellectual  eye,  with  photographic  beauty,  saw  clearly 
to  the  last.  Not  a  murmur  from  his  lips  disclosed  the  least 
resistance  to  the  dispensation  of  Providence.  He  was  calm 
amid  all  the  raging  of  the  fever.  Neither  a  fearfully  acceler 
ated  pulse — or  tossing  disquietude  of  body — nor  preternatur 
al  thirst — nor  ebbing  strength — nor  one  anxious  thought  of 
earth — nor  one  doubt  of  the  Great  Future — betrayed  his  soul 
beating  uneasily,  the  least,  around  the  walls  of  its  clay  tene 
ment. 

Such  is  the  testimony  of  those  who  watched  him  in  his 
mortal  illness.  And  when,  but  twelve  days  only  after  his 
attack,  each  breath  began  to  shut  up  his  life  within  narrower 
compass,  and,  "like  the  vanishing  sound  of  bells,"  each  pulse 
grew  less  and  less — "he  was  like  one" — says  the  pastor  who 
watched  and  wept  over  his  departure — "who  had  done  his 

*  Shakespeare. 


668  CHAP.     LV. —  TRUMBULL.  1785. 

work — who  stood  waiting  for  the  Lord — and  when  death, 
came  was  under  circumstances  so  blessed,  that  he  had  nothing 
to  do  but  die  !  "  Thus — upon  Wednesday — on  the  seventeenth 
of  August,  1785 — at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon — "as  one 
would  fall  into  a  deep  sleep" — Jonathan  Trumbull  passed 
from  Time  into  Eternity. 

Two  days  after  his  decease — August  nineteenth — amid  a 
large  concourse  of  sorrow-stricken  relatives,  neighbors,  and 
friends,  both  from  his  native  town  and  the  surrounding  coun 
try — his  remains  were  borne  to  that  temple  within  whose 
walls,  from  infancy,  the  deceased  one  had  sent  up  his  own 
fervent  orisons  to  God — the  First  Church  of  Lebanon — that 
which  in  life,  more  than  any  other  man,  he  had  himself  loved 
and  protected — there  to  receive  the  reverential  homage  of 
prayer,  psalmody,  and  a  Funeral  Discourse. 

"Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen 
this  day  in  Israel —  Your  fathers,  where  are  they — And  the  proph 
ets,  do  tfiey  live  forever  " — these  are  the  emphatic  passages  from 
Holy  Writ  imprinted  on  the  title-page  of  the  Discourse,  from 
the  pen  of  Zebulon  Ely,*  as  it  lies  now  before  us. 

"  So  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  died  there  in  the  land  of 
Moab,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord " — is  the  text  from 
which  the  reverend  Divine  proceeded  to  descant  on  the  dead 
Worthy,  and  pronounce  his  eulogium.  As  the  first  thing  to 
be  particularly  noticed,  he  observes — that  the  deceased,  like 
Moses,  was  endowed  with  great  natural  abilities,  which — 
improved  by  a  happy  culture — he  was  called  upon  to  exer 
cise  in  an  elevated  sphere  of  human  life — and  that  as  Su 
preme  Magistrate  in  the  Eepublic  of  Connecticut — in  times 
peculiarly  perilous — he  had  to  take  a  leading  part — to  face 
danger  among  the  foremost — and  guide  for  this  Israel  of 
God. 

*  The  memoirs  of  this  Divine  were  written  by  his  Bon,  Dr.  E.  S.  Ely.    The 
following  is  the  inscription  on  his  tomb : — 

"  Be v.  Zebulon  Ely 

Died  Nov.  28, 1824,  in  the  66  year 

of  his  age  and  the  43  of  his  ministry. 

He  was  born  in  Lyme ;  Grad.  at  Yale  College ; 

and  on  Nov.  13, 1782,  ordained  Pastor  of  the 

first  Church  in  Lebanon." 


1785.  CHAP.    LV. — TEUMBULL.  669 

"  Like  Moses,"  he  proceeds — in  passages  which  we  cull  at  intervals 
from  their  context — "  with  wisdom,  fidelity,  and  success  did  he  discharge 
the  duties  of  his  high  office,  so  that  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  he  most 
honored  that,  or  that,  him.  Wisdom  is  the  excellence  of  a  counsellor, 
fidelity  the  glory  of  one  in  high  public  trust,  and  success  the  crown  of 
enterprise. — Like  Moses,  the  deceased  united  in  his  character  the  able 
politician,  and  the  sound  divine. — His  patriotic  zeal  and  firmness  were 
conspicuous  in  the  time  of  the  Stamp  Act,  he  being  then  one  of  the  Hon 
orable  the  Council.  The  Governor  of  the  State  at  that  time,  with  sev 
eral  of  the  Councillors,  insisted  on  taking  the  Oath  enjoined  by  his  Brit 
ish  majesty  on  that  occasion  ;  his  Honor  not  only  absolutely  refused  to 
take  it  himself,  but  to  administer  it  or  be  present  when  it  was  adminis 
tered  ;  and  he  accordingly  left  the  chamber. 

"  Another  instance  in  which  his  fidelity  shone  with  distinguished  lus 
tre  was  at  the  commencement  of  the  late  war. — Happily  for  this  and  the 
United  States,  that  for  such  a  time  the  deceased  was  raised  up  and  so 
eminently  qualified. — Among  all  the  Governors  of  the  thirteen  States,  his 
Excellency  Governor  Trumbull  alone  was  found  a  firm  patriot,  deter 
mined  to  abide  by  the  liberties  of  his  country,  whatever  might  be  the 
event.  And  he  failed  not  to  carry  into  execution  what  he  had  so  deliber 
ately  and  heartily  resolved.  During  the  whole  controversy,  amid  the 
darkest  scenes,  he  remained  steadfast  in  the  glorious  cause,  invariably 
pursuing  the  grand  end  in  view,  and  trusting  to  God  Almighty  to  carry 
it  into  effect.  Thus  like  Moses  he  was  wise  and  faithful,  and  like  him,  I 
may  also  add,  he  was  indefatigable  and  laborious.  He  spared  not  him 
self  that  he  might  save  his  country.  Laying  aside  all  private  business, 
divesting  himself  of  all  secular  concerns  but  what  pertained  to  his  office 
and  the  public,  besides  attending  on  stated  and  public  assemblies,  he  sat 
one  thousand  days  in  Council. — Those  who  have  had  the  honor  to  sit 
with  him,  and  consult  with  him  in  extraordinary  emergencies,  can  de 
clare,  how,  in  a  measure,  like  that  great  leader  of  Israel,  he  seemed  in 
spired  by  the  Father  of  Lights. — To  sum  up  in  a  few  words  the  public 
character  of  his  Excellency — He  wras  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  in  this 
western  hemisphere,  and  by  acquitting  himself  with  wisdom  and  fideli 
ty,  dignity  and  glory,  in  the  illustrious  part  assigned  to  him  to  act  on  the 
grand  theatre  of  human  life,  he  hath  acquired  immortal  renown,  and 
rendered  himself  conspicuously  glorious,  not  only  through  the  extens 
ive  empire  of  America,  but  the  famed  kingdoms  of  Europe. 

"Another  thing  worthy  of  remark  is  the  unusual  health,  activity,  and 
sprightliness  which  his  Excellency  enjoyed,  till  his  last,  and  I  might  al 
most  say,  his  only  sickness,  which  was  but  of  short  continuance.  Con 
sidering  the  vast  burden  devolved  upon  him,  his  great  anxiety,  and  in 
cessant,  arduous  labor  for  his  harrassed,  bleeding  country,  this  is  very 
surprising.  That  his  spirits  should  not  be  exhausted,  and  the  brittle 
clay  vessel  broken  and  rendered  useless,  before  the  work  was  completed, 
and  he  arrived  to  such  a  good  old  age,  must  be  owing  to  the  merciful 
support  of  Him  who  supported  his  servant  Moses. 


670  CHAP.    LV. — TRUMBULL.  1*785. 

"As  a  man,"  continues  the  preacher,  going  on  now  to  speak  of  Trum- 
bull's  private  character — "  he  wonderfully  possessed  the  aimiable  grace 
of  condescending  with  dignity — the  characteristic  of  true  greatness. 
He  knew  how  to  adapt  himself  to  persons  of  the  greatest  diversity  of 
circumstances  and  conditions  of  life,  having  learned  to  please  all  with 
whom  he  conversed  to  their  edification.  There  was  nothing  of  that 
magisterial  loftiness  and  ostentatious  parade,  too  often  attendant  on  men 
of  rank  and  elevated  stations  in  life.  We  may  with  good  reason  con 
clude  he  became  so  eminent  and  aimiable  in  this  respect  by  daily  contem 
plating  the  perfect  deportment  of  his  Divine  Master,  who  hath,  with  sin 
gular  propriety,  directed  us  to  learn  of  him  being  meek  and  lowly. 

"  His  temper  was  uncommonly  mild,  serene,  and  cheerful ;  his  words 
weighty  and  instructive ;  his  speech  rather  low,  and  his  whole  carriage 
graceful  and  worthy.  His  constant  seasonable  attendance  on  divine  wor 
ship,  and  his  unaffected  devotion  in  the  House  of  God,  were  most  beau 
tiful. 

"As  a  parent,  he  was  affectionate,  venerable,  and  endearing,  by  pre 
cept  and  example  carefully  forming  the  minds  and  the  manners  of  his 
offspring.  As  a  neighbor  he  was  kind  and  obliging. 

"As  a  student,  he  was  exceedingly  careful  of  precious  time,  diligent 
and  indefatigable  in  his  researches  after  truth,  till  the  close  of  his  life. 
His  acquaintance  with  history  was  very  extensive,  and  his  accuracy  in 
chronology  unparalleled. 

"  But  his  chief  glory  ariseth  from  his  truly  religious  and  pious  charac 
ter." — And  the  worthy  Divine  proceeds  to  comment  on  this  point  with 
profound  sensibility — elucidating  it  as  we  have  elsewhere  sufficiently  de 
scribed — and  next  speaks  of  the  death  of  the  Governor,  of  which  also  a 
sufficient  account  has  already  been  given. 

"Such  being  the  character  of  the  deceased."  he  exclaims,  in  the  clos 
ing  part  of  his  Discourse — "  notwithstanding  his  advanced  age,  we  may 
truly  say  that  in  him  his  surviving  children  have  lost  a  doubly  dear  and 
venerable  parent,  his  friends  a  cordial  friend  and  wise  counsellor,  his 
country  a  peculiarly  distinguished  patriot,  the  church  a  professor  among 
the  mighty  and  noble,  few  of  whom  are  chosen,  and  the  world  an  illus 
trious  and  shining  example. 

"  If  sympathy  can  afford  relief,"  he  says,  addressing  the  surviving 
children  and  near  relatives  of  the  deceased — "  that  you  have  in  a  very  sin 
gular  manner.  The  solemn  and  mournful  aspect  of  this  great  and  re 
spectable  assembly,  declares  how  sincerely  they  condole  with  you  on 
this  occasion.  Connecticut  with  her  numerous  sons  and  daughters 
will  mingle  her  tears ;  the  sister  States  will  join  in  mournful  concert. 
European  friendly  Powers  will  sigh  on  hearing  of  the  melancholy  tidings. 
And  in  a  field  so  extensive,  how  many  personal  friends  and  acquaintance 
of  the  greatest  merit  are  to  be  found,  whose  generous  and  noble  hearts 
will  deeply  condole  with  you. 

"  Great  is  the  occasion,"  he  concludes,  addressing  the  assembly  at  large 


1785.  CHAP.    LV. — TBUMBULL.  671 

within  the  church — "  solemn  and  important  the  event  which  hath  con 
vened  such  a  concourse  at  this  time.  Him  whom  the  Father  of  Mercies 
raised  up  and  so  eminently  qualified  for  the  defence  of  those  liberties  in 
which  we  now  rejoice,  him  whom  the  Almighty  sustained  amid  swelling 
seas  of  trouble,  and  carried  through  the  arduous  conflict  of  his  country, 
we  now  behold  a  breathless  corpse.  *  *  This  instance  loudly  proclaims 
the  vanity  of  mortal  men.  Hence  let  us  learn  unto  whom  we  are  to  ren 
der  praise  for  the  eminent  usefulness  of  this  servant  of  the  public,  for 
the  manifold  and  rich  blessings  derived  from  the  wise  counsels,  the  faith 
ful  administrations,  and  heroic  firmness,  of  this  Father  of  his  Country." 

The  services  within  the  church  at  an  end — the  funeral  pro 
cession,  being  formed  anew,  moved  to  the  ancient  Burying- 
Ground  of  Lebanon,  bearing  to  its  last  resting-place  on  earth 
the  body  of  that  venerated  man  to  whom  prayer  and  eulo- 
gium  had  just  rendered  their  warm  and  truthful  tribute. 
The  mattock  and  the  spade  had  done  their  work.  A  narrow, 
single  grave  received  his  remains — a  grave  which  is  now 
enclosed  within  a  spacious,  shapely  mausoleum,  that  was 
built  by  the  mason's  hand,  of  brick  and  well-hewn  stones — 
overarched  by  the  green  turf — and  designed  to  hold  the 
ashes  of  a  whole  family,  coffin  by  coffin,  as  they  should  pass 
to  be  grouped  in  one  subterranean  chamber,  and  laid  up  for 
eternity.* 

There  Jonathan  Trumbull  was  now  deposited — the  Moses 
to  sleep  with  his  fathers — the  upright  man,  in  the  darkness 
to  rest  as  in  a  bed — his  spirit — in  the  purview  of  his  own 
religious  faith — as  he  believed  and  hoped — already  borne  by 
angels  to  that  city  which  hath  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of 
the  moon  to  shine  upon  it — there  to  be  fed  by  a  Lamb  in  the 
midst  of  a  throne,  and  led  unto  living  waters,  until  the  body 
it  had  left  behind,  wakened  by  the  morning  of  the  resurrec 
tion,  should  burst  its  earthly  cerements — until — the  glory  of 
the  Lord  having  arisen  upon  it — it  should  itself  arise  and 
shine — be  changed  and  fashioned  into  a  new  and  radiant  im 
age — the  corruptible  putting  on  incorruption — the  mortal, 
immortality — and  the  whole  man  thenceforth,  both  soul  and 
body,  together  glorified,  should  enter  into  perfect  peace.f 

*  The  mausoleum  was  erected  by  his  three  surviving  sons — Jonathan,  David, 
and  John — a  short  time  after  his  decease. 
t "  Principally  and  first  of  all  I  bequeath  my  Soul  to  God  the  Creator  and  giver 


672  CHAP.    LV.— TRUMBULL.  1785. 

By  his  side  lay  in  death  his  beloved  wife,  Faith  Eobin- 
son — daughter,  in  the  line  of  direct  descent,  of  that  world- 
renowned  Divine  who  at  Leyden  gathered  the  choicest  Pil 
grim  flock  of  the  world,  and  wafted  the  incense  of  prayer 
over  their  departure  for  Plymouth  Eock.  By  his  side  also 
lay  the  first  Commissary  General  of  the  United  States,  his 
eldest  son  Joseph.  His  second  son  Jonathan,  a  Paymaster 
General  in  the  Army  of  the  Eevolution,  who  was  subse 
quently  crowned  with  the  highest  public  honors  of  his  native 
State,  and  who  followed  his  father  in  the  Gubernatorial  Chair 
of  Connecticut,  was  also  laid  within  the  same  mausoleum  in 
after  days.*  So  too  was  his  third  son  David,  a  Deputy  Com 
missary  in  the  Eevolutionary  "War,  and  so  the  wife  of  David. 
So  too  was  that  eminent  friend  to  his  country,  the  venerable 
"William  Williams — son-in-law  to  our  Eevolutionary  Gov 
ernor,  and  a  Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.f  So 
too  was  the  wife  of  Williams. 

thereof,  and  my  body  to  the  Earth,  to  be  buried  in  a  decent  Christian  burial,  in 
firm  belief  that  I  shall  receive  ike  same  again  at  the  general  Resurrection,  through 
the  power  of  Almighty  God,  and  hope  of  Eternal  Life  and  happiness  through  the 
merits  of  my  dear  Eedeemer  Jesus  Christ." — Extract  from  TrumbulPs  Will. 

*  The  following  is  his  epitaph :  "  To  the  memory  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Esq., 
late  Governor  of  the  State  of  Connecticut.  He  was  born  March  26th,  1740,  and 
died  Aug.  7th,  1809,  aged  69  years.  His  remains  are  deposited  with  those  of  his 
father." 

t  The  following  inscription  is  on  a  marble  monument,  standing  in  front  of  the 
tomb. 

"  The  remains  of  the  Hon.  William  Williams  are  deposited  in  this  tomb :  born 
April  8th,  1731 :  died  the  2d  of  Aug.,  1811,  in  the  81st  year  of  his  age,  a  man  emi 
nent  for  his  virtues  and  his  piety — for  more  than  50  years  he  was  constantly  em 
ployed  in  Public  Life,  and  served  in  many  of  the  most  important  offices  in  the 
gift  of  his  fellow-citizens.  During  the  whole  period  of  the  Eevolutionary  War, 
he  was  a  firm,  steady,  and  ardent  friend  of  his  country,  and  in  the  darkest  times 
risked  his  life  and  wealth  in  her  defence.  In  1776  and  1777,  he  was  a  Member  of 
the  American  Congress,  and  as  such  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
His  public  and  private  virtues,  his  piety  and  benevolence,  will  long  endear  his 
memory  to  surviving  friends — above  all,  he  was  a  sincere  Christian,  and  in  his 
last  moments  placed  his  hope  with  humble  confidence  in  his  Eedeemer.  He  had 
the  inexpressible  satisfaction  to  look  back  upon  a  long,  honorable,  and  well-spent 
life." 

Mary  Trumlull,  the  wife  of  William  Williams,  was  born  July  16th,  1745— was 
married  in  February  1771— and  died  Feb.  9th,  1831. 

Colonel  John  Trumbull,  the  painter,  who  was  born  June  6th,  1756,  died  in  New 
York,  Nov.  10,  1843,  and  was  buried  in  Newhaven,  beneath  the  Gallery  called 
after  himself.  The  following  is  his  epitaph : — 


1185.  CHAP.    LV.  —  TKUMBULL.  673 

What  a  remarkable  tomb  !  No  single  one  in  the  country, 
it  is  believed,  contains  so  much  illustrious  human  dust  I  A 
notable  one  in  Boston,  we  are  aware,  holds  the  ashes  of  the 
Father  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  Governor  John  Win- 
throp  —  of  his  son,  the  Father  of  the  Connecticut  Colony,  as 
he  may  be  justly  styled,  Governor  John  Winthrop,  Junior  — 
of  his  grandson,  John  Fitz  Winthrop,  Governor  also  of  Con 
necticut  —  and  of  a  younger  brother  of  the  latter,  that  un 
spotted  patriot,  Major-General  Wait  Winthrop.  "And  so  'tis 
come  to  pass"  —  wrote  Increase  Mather,  speaking  of  this  sep 
ulchre,  at  the  time  when  General  Winthrop  was  interred*  — 
"that  the  Grandfather,  and  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  are 
Asleep  in  the  same  Tomb  together,  waiting  for  the  Appearing 
of  Him  who  is  our  Life.  Egyptian  Pyramids  cannot  show  a 
collection  of  such  dust  as  this  Tomb  is  enriched  withal!" 
How  appropriate,  in  nearly  every  respect,  this  passage  from 
Mather  to  the  Tomb  at  Lebanon  ! 

And  may  not  events,  we  cannot  here  but  think,  render  it 
more  appropriate  still  !  A  grandson  of  the  patriot  we  speci 
ally  commemorate  —  Honorable  Joseph  Trumbull,  of  Hart 
ford  —  has  crowned  a  long  life  of  conspicuous  public  service 
by  filling  the  same  exalted  Chair  of  State  which  his  uncle 
and  his  grandsire  filled  before  him.  He  still  lives  —  long  may 
his  days  be  lengthened  —  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  serene  old 
age,  that  is  garlanded  with  the  respect  and  affection  of  his 


"COL.    JOHN 

Patriot  and  Artist, 

Friend  and  Aid 

OF  WASHINGTON, 

Died  in  New-  York,  Nov.  10,  1843, 

M.  88. 

He  reposes  in  a  Sepulchre 

Built  by  himself,  beneath 

THIS  MONUMENTAL  GALLERY: 

where,  in  Sept.,  1834, 
He  deposited  the  remains  of 

SARAH  his  WIFE, 
who  died  in   N.  Y.,  Apr.  12,  1824,  M.  51. 

To  his  Country  he  gave  his 
SWORD  and  his  PENCIL." 


*He  died  Nov.  7th,  1717,  aged  seventy-six. 
67 


674  CHAP.    LV. — TRUMBULL. 


1785. 


fellow-men.  When  the  silver  cord  of  his  life,  however,  shall 
finally  be  loosed,  and  the  golden  bowl  be  broken  at  the 
fountain — should  not  his  ashes  then — in  fitting  contiguity — 
in  seemliness  of  sepulture  becoming  nearness  of  blood  and 
similarity  of  honor — repose  side  by  side  with  the  ashes  of  his 
illustrious  relatives !  Three  kinsmen  Governors  of  Connec 
ticut  then — and  the  first  Commissary  General,  and  a  Deputy 
Commissary,  of  the  United  States  in  the  War  of  the  American 
Eevolution — and  a  Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence — and  an  heroic  Eevolutionary  wife  and  mother,  closely 
related  to  each — will  all  be  found  "  asleep  in  the  same  Tomb 
together,  waiting  for  the  Appearance  of  Him  who  is  our  Life ! " 

"Sta,  Viator; 

Tumulumque  mirare ; 

Et  Lacrymis  Publicis  adde  Tuas ; 

Luge  jacturam  Publicam, 

Si  sis  pars  publici. 
PALATIUM  est  hie  Locus, 

Non  TUMULUS! 

Cinis  tegitur  hoc  Marmore, 

Dignus  Lapide  Philosophorum  tegi. 

Ignorat  Historiam  Nov-Anglicanam 

Qui  hanc  nescit  Familiam : 
Parvi  pendet  virtutem  Universam 

Qui  hanc  non  magni  facit."* 

"Sacred,"  says  upon  a  pedestal  on  the  Tomb  that  Inscrip 
tion,  which,  with  chaste  simplicity,  and  with  a  modesty  even 
too  retiring,  commemorates  the  great  and  good  man  whom 

*  These  lines  are  taken  from  Cotton    Mather's  Epitaph  on  Wait  Winthrop, 
Armiger.    The  following  is  their  sense  in  free  translation : — 
"  Stay  passenger,  and  contemplate  tliis  tomb, 
And  add  thy  sorrows  to  the  common  grief, 
Mourn  o'er  the  public  loss  if  ever  aught 
Of  patriotic  feeling  fired  thy  breast. 
A  Palace,  this  before  thee,  not  a  Tomb  ! 
The  ashes  here  in  marble  closed  'twere  fit 
By  the  Philosopher's  Stone  should  be  enshrined. 
Nought  of  New  England's  fathers'  deeds  to  know, 
Can  he  at  all  pretend  who  knows  not  yours, 
0  noble  family ;  and  small  account 
Makes  he  of  all  that  virtue  holds  most  dear 
Who  doth  not  highly  prize  your  honored  name." 


1785. 


CHAP.     LV. — TRUMBULL. 


675 


we  have  j  ust  seen  laid  in  his  grave — "  Sacred  to  the  memory  of 
JONATHAN  TRUMBULL,  Esq.,  who,  unaided  by  birth  or  power 
ful  connections,  but  blessed  with  a  noble  and  virtuous  mind, 
arrived  to  the  highest  station  in  government.  His  patriotism 
and  firmness  during  50  years'  employment  in  public  life,  and 
particularly  in  the  very  important  part  he  acted  in  the  Ameri 
can  Revolution,  as  Governor  of  Connecticut,  the  faithful  page 
of  History  will  record. 


The  Trumbull  Tomb.* 

"Full  of  years  and  honors,  rich  in  benevolence  and  firm  in 
the  faith  and  hopes  of  Christianity,  he  died  August  17th, 
1785,  vEtatis  75."f 

*  The  Tomb  is  upon  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Bury  ing-Ground.  The  cemetery 
itself  is  "  a  circular  plain  of  limited  extent  in  its  centre  with  a  gentle  declivity  to 
the  south,  and  then  slopes  somewhat  abruptly  on  all  its  sides  to  the  level  of  the 
valley  below." 

t  The  following  entry,  in  the  family  Bible  of  the  first  Governor  Trumbull,  was 
made  by  the  hand  of  his  son,  the  second  Governor  Trumbull : — 

"  Gov.  Trumbull  died  17th  Aug'st  1785,  5  o'clock,  P.  M.,  of  a  hard  fever— death 
easy,  quiet,  and  calm,  in  possession  of  Reason  to  the  last,  as  far  as  could  be  dis 
covered." 


CHAPTER     LVI. 
1785. 

THE  general  and  profound  grief  upon  the  death  of  Q-overnor  Trumbull. 
Obituary  and  other  notices  of  the  event.  One  from  the  Hartford 
Courant.  A  letter  of  condolence  addressed  by  Washington  to  Jona 
than  Trumbull,  Junior.  Extract  from  an  Election  Sermon  delivered 
a  fe-w  months  after  his  decease,  by  Rev.  Levi  Hart,  of  Preston.  Sum 
mary  of  his  life  and  character.  His  patriotism.  His  industry  and  toil. 
His  character  as  a  son — as  a  husband — as  a  father — as  a  friend,  compan 
ion,  neighbor,  and  philanthropist — and  as  a  Christian,  and  a  scholar. 
His  prudence  and  wisdom.  The  American  nation -was  baptized,  in  his 
name,  "Brother  Jonathan."  The  harmony  of  his  moral,  intellectual, 
and  sensitive  faculties  Conclusion. 

GRIEF,  upon  occasion  of  the  sad  event  with  which  our 
last  chapter  closed,  was  everywhere  unaffectedly  intense.  It 
sat  upon  the  lid  of  the  public  eye  of  Connecticut  particular 
ly — charged  with  tears.  The  sister  States  of  America,  as 
the  worthy  Divine  truthfully  predicted  at  the  funeral  of  the 
Eevolutionary  Governor,  joined  in  "a  mournful  concert" 
of  sorrow  with  the  near  relatives  and  friends  of  the  deceased. 
Thousands  among  " European  friendly  Powers"  who  had 
heard  of  his  good  name  and  fame,  now  sighed  on  hear 
ing  the  tidings  of  his  death.  Generous  and  noble  hearts 
wherever  found,  that  knew  his  "gracious  parts,"  most 
feelingly  condoled.  His  was  a  great  spirit  that  had  shot 
from  its  t  mortal  sphere.  It  had  struck  on  earth,  how 
ever,  an  everlasting  root.  It  had  made  the  whole  world 
of  Liberty  its  debtor.  And  its  disappearance,  therefore, 
attracted  extraordinary  attention,  and  occasioned  extraordi 
nary  regret. 

Obituary  notices,  letters  of  condolence,  Sabbath-Day  dis 
courses,  Election  Sermons,  and  other  addresses,  made  frequent 
and  touching  references  to  the  public  loss,  and  vied  in  ex 
pressing  the  public  sorrow.  Undoubtedly  the  Elegiac  Muse 
upon  the  occasion,  took  her  harp  from  the  willows,  and  wailed 
in  communion  with  the  Soul  of  mourning — though  we  have 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  677 

not  been  so  fortunate  as  to  catch,  for  reproduction  now,  any 
of  the  lays  she  uttered.  But  in  the  forms  first  mentioned 
we  have  numerous  notices  of  Governor  Trumbull — many  of 
them  eloquent  and  grateful.  As  they  are  all,  however,  ani 
mated  by  the  same  spirit,  and,  from  the  nature  of  the  occa 
sion,  glide  on  in  strains  nearly  accordant,  we  shall  forbear  to 
present  but  three — and  these,  each  in  a  different  mold — each 
short — but  each  a  most  pleasing  tribute  to  departed  worth. 
The  first  we  shall  introduce  is  an  Obituary  Notice  from  the 
Hartford  Courant — bearing  date  August  twenty-second, 
1785 — and  is  a  follows : — 

"Died  at  Lebanon,  last  Wednesday,  his  Excellency  JONATHAN  TRUM 
BULL,  Esq.,  late  Governor  of  Connecticut.  In  his  character  were  united 
all  the  advantages  which  arise  from  natural  genius  assisted  by  education 
and  experience.  The  variety  and  extent  of  knowledge  which  he  acquired 
during  a  long  application  to  several  important  and  useful  occupations, 
qualified  him  for  the  distinguished  station  which  he  held  during  the  lat 
ter  part  of  his  life.  Few  men  have  ever  rendered  more  essential  service 
to  mankind,  and  none  can  claim  in  equal  degree  with  him  the  gratitude 
of  the  people  of  Connecticut.  In  times  of  peace  he  was  revered  as  an 
upright  judge,  a  wise  legislator,  and  a  shining  example  of  manners  and 
virtue.  During  the  late  war,  his  inflexible  integrity  and  unwearied  per 
severance  rendered  him  an  able  patron  of  our  doubtful  though  interesting 
cause,  and  an  important  instrument  in  effecting  the  late  glorious  revolution. 
During  the  course  of  a  long  life  he  was  uniformly  distinguished  as  a  Chris 
tian,  a  scholar,  and  a  statesman — and  the  public  expect  as  their  only  con 
solation  for  their  irreparable  loss,  that  his  character  will  be  remembered 
with  veneration,  and  his  example  be  imitated  by  succeeding  rulers." 

The  second  notice  of  Trumbull,  at  the  period  of  his  death, 
to  which  we  shall  call  the  Reader's  attention,  is  in  the  form 
of  a  Letter  of  Condolence  addressed  to  his  son  Jonathan 
Trumbull,  Junior,  and  is  from  the  pen  of  the  man  "first  in 
peace,  first  in  war,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  country 
men  " — the  immortal  Washington.  Though  proceeding  from 
a  warm  personal  friend  of  the  deceased,  it  will  yet  be  perused 
with  deepest  interest  and  confidence,  as  conveying  the  senti 
ments  of  one  whose  judgment  was  never  biased  by  his  feel 
ings — whose  discrimination  was  almost  unerring — and  whose 
praise,  on  whomsoever  it  fell,  cast  the  sure,  pure  lustre  of  the 

diamond.     It  is  as  follows : — 

57* 


678  CHAP.    LVI. — TEUMBULL.  1785. 

u  MOUNT  VERNON,  Oct.  1st,  1785. 

"Mr  DEAR  SIR.  It  has  so  happened  that  your  letter  of  the  first  of 
last  month  did  not  reach  me  until  Saturday's  post. 

"You  know  too  well  the  sincere  respect  and  regard  I  entertained  for 
your  venerable  father's  public  and  private  character,  to  require  assurance 
of  the  concern  I  felt  for  his  death ;  or  of  that  sympathy  in  your  feelings, 
for  the  loss  of  him,  which  is  prompted  by  friendship.  Under  this  loss, 
however,  great  as  your  feelings  must  have  been  at  the  first  shock,  you 
have  everything  to  console  you. 

"  A  long  and  well-spent  life  in  the  service  of  Jiis  country  places  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  among  the  first  of  patriots.  In  the  social  duties  he 
yielded  to  no  one ;  and  his  lamp,  from  the  common  course  of  nature,  be 
ing  nearly  extinguished,  worn  down  with  age  and  cares,  yet  retaining  his 
mental  faculties  in  perfection,  are  blessings  which  rarely  attend  advanced 
life.  All  these  combined,  have  secured  to  his  memory  unusual  respect 
and  love  here,  and,  no  doubt,  unmeasurable  happiness  hereafter. 

"  I  am  sensible  that  none  of  these  observations  can  have  escaped  you, 
that  I  can  offer  nothing  which  your  own  reason  has  not  already  suggested 
upon  the  occasion ;  and  being  of  Sterne's  opinion,  that  'before  an  affliction 
is  digested,  consolation  comes  too  soon,  and  after  it  is  digested  it  comes 
too  late,  there  is  but  a  mark  between  these  two,  almost  as  fine  as  a  hair, 
for  a  comforter  to  take  aim  at,'  I  rarely  attempt  it,  nor  should  I  add 
more  on  this  subject  to  you,  as  it  will  be  a  renewal  of  sorrow,  by  calling 
afresh  to  your  remembrance  things  that  had  better  be  forgotten. 

"My  principal  pursuits  are  of  a  rural  nature,  in  which  I  have  great 
delight,  especially  as  I  am  blessed  with  the  enjoyment  of  good  health. 
Mrs.  Washington,  on  the  contrary,  is  hardly  ever  well ;  but,  thankful  for 
your  kind  remembrance  of  her,  joins  me  in  every  good  wish  for  you, 
Mrs.  Trumbull,  and  your  family. 

"  Be  assured  that  with  sentiments  of  the  purest  esteem, 
"lam,  Dear  Sir, 

"Your  affectionate  friend 

"  and  obedient  servant, 

"GEO.  WASHINGTON." 

The  third  and  last  notice  of  Trumbull  from  a  cotempora- 
neous  source  which  we  shall  now  cite,  is  from  an  Election 
Sermon  delivered  a  few  months  after  his  decease,  before  the 
Governor  and  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  at  the  May 
session  in  1786 — by  the  Eeverend  Levi  Hart,  of  Preston. 
On  this  imposing  occasion,  the  selected  preacher  for  the  State, 
in  formally  addressing  his  incoming  Excellency,  Samuel 
Huntington — the  old  President  of  Congress,  and  a  Signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence — thus  proceeds : — 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  679 

"It  is  no  trifling  honor  to  stand  on  the  list  of  fame,  and  exist  in  the 
historic  page,  as  the  first  Magistrate  of  Connecticut — on  the  same  col 
umn  with  that  distinguished  catalogue  of  worthies  who  have  filled  the 
chair— down  from  the  venerable  first  WINTHROP,  to  his  Excellency  Gov 
ernor  TRUMBULL — who,  after  having  conducted  us  through  the  dangers 
and  distresses  of  the  war,  with  great  honor  to  himself,  and  usefulness  to 
the  public,  preferred  an  honourable  quietus  from  public  service,  that  he 
might  be  at  leisure  to  improve  his  acquaintance  with  that  world,  where  the 
honors  conferred  by  mortals  fade  away,  but  the  man  who  has  faithfully 
served  his  generation  'shall  receive  an  unfading  crown  of  immortal  glory.' 

"  Alas !  that  such  a  treasure  of  wisdom  and  virtue  is  removed  from 
our  world  ! — too  soon,  by  far  too  soon  for  us,  and  for  mankind.  But,  for 
himself,  the  most  proper  season ;  his  hoary  head  being  crowned  with 
glory,  as  a  man  of  letters,  a  statesman,  and  a  Christian.  Blessed  be  the 
Father  of  Spirits,  that  notwithstanding  the  breach  occasioned  by  his 
death,  we  are  still  happy  in  a  train  of  worthy  characters,  possessed  of 
like  accomplishments,  who  catched  his  mantle  as  it  fell,  and  whose  pa 
triot  virtues  will  bless  mankind."* 

****** 

And  now,  Reader,  that,  with  all  the  materials  for  biogra- 

*  In  Election  Sermons,  both  before  and  subsequent  to  that  quoted  in  the  text, 
frequent  and  most  honorable  mention  is  made  of  Governor  Trumbull.  It  would 
seem,  in  his  case,  as  if  the  language  of  commendation  could  not  be  exhausted. 
Take  the  following  passages  as  examples : — 

In  1785,  Dr.  Samuel  Wales,  Professor  of  Divinity  in  Yale  College,  in  address 
ing  Gov.  Griswold,  upon  Election  Day,  at  Hartford,  and  speaking  of  his  office, 
says  :— 

"  It  has  been  rendered  honorable  by  a  long  succession  of  worthy  and  eminent 
characters,  who  have  filled  it  from  one  time  to  another,  and  particularly  by  that 
very  illustrious  and  important  character,  your  immediate  predecessor  in  office. 
Great  is  the  honor  of  having  a  place  in  such  a  succession  as  this." 

In  an  Election  Sermon  at  Hartford,  in  May,  1800,  by  Eev.  John  Smalley,  A.  M., 
of  Berlin,  the  preacher,  speaking  of  "the  retrospect  within  the  compass  of  the 
last  five  and  twenty  years,"  says : — 

"  In  this  period  we  have  passed  through  the  Eed  Sea  of  a  Eevolutionary  War. 
Here,  quite  contrary  to  what  usually  happens  on  such  occasions,  we  had  guides 
eminent  for  prudence,  stability,  coolness,  and  unconquerable  perseverance — and 
ONE  supereminent  for  all  those ;  by  the  integrity  of  whose  heart,  and  the  skillful- 
ness  of  whose  hands,  we  were  led  like  a  flock,  in  safety,  far  surpassing  all  rational 
expectation." 

In  an  Election  Sermon  at  Hartford,  in  May,  1810,  by  Eev.  John  Elliott,  of  Guil- 
ford,  the  preacher,  in  connection  with  a  reference  to  the  death  of  the  second 
Governor  Trumbull,  says : — 

"  Who  that  admired  true  greatness  did  not  admire  Governor  Trumbull?  Who 
that  loved  real  excellence  did  not  love  him  ?  Who  that  delights  to  weep  over  the 
grave  of  a  pious  and  good  man,  will  not  weep  over  his  ?  He  was  the  son  of  Hoi 
who  presided  over  the  State  during  the  revolutionary  war ;  into  whose  bosom  the 
immortal  Washington  poured  out  his  soul  in  all  its  anguish,  in  '  times  which 
tried  men's  souls,'  and  a  son  worthy  of  such  a  father  " 


680  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  1785. 

ph y  it  was  in  our  power  to  obtain — scantier  far  than  in  nu 
merous  instances  we  have  desired — now  that  we  have  fol 
lowed  Jonathan  Trumbull  throughout"  a  long  and  well-spent 
life " — now  that  we  have  seen  him — full  of  years,  full  of 
honors,  and  while  securely  enjoying  that  Liberty,  Independ 
ence,  and  Peace  which  he  had  himself  so  vitally  contributed 
to  establish — called  to  his  long  home — what  more  remains 
for  us  to  do  ?  Something,  if  but  only  to  comport  with  the 
established  method  of  biography.  The  history  of  such  a 
man  as  it  has  been  our  purpose  to  portray,  seems  to  exact  a 
closing  summary.  Let  us  linger  then  awhile  to  make  it.  As 
one  who  stops  to  garner  up  from  some  eminence  the  great 
leading  points  of  a  landscape,  let  us  pause  to  gather  from  the 
expanse  of  Trumbull's  life  its  salient  features — perchance, 
and  probably,  to  find  some  new  views — and  enjoy,  if  we  can, 
a  grateful  retrospect. 

The  leading  feature  in  his  character — that  which  here  first 
and  irresistibly  attracts  observation — which  commands  the 
foremost  glance  of  the  eye,  and  absorbs  its  sprightliest  vis 
ion — is  his  patriotism.  With  him  this  virtue  was  ever  in  ex 
ercise,  and  was  steadfast  and  warming  as  the  sun. 

Yet — thus  it  usually  develops  itself  in  all  who  have  a 
country  and  a  home.  So  the  Switzer  manifests  it  in  his  love 
for  his  native  mountains — and  the  Norwegian  towards  his 
own  barren  summits.  So  the  Islander  of  Malta,  insulated  on 
a  rock,  displays  it,  when  he  calls  his  home  "  the  Flower  of 
the  World  " — so  the  American  Indian,  when  he  idolizes  his 
wilderness  because  it  contains  the  bones  of  his  fathers — and 
so  the  Arabs  of  Oudelia,  when  they  believe  that  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars,  rise  only  for  their  own  native  wastes.  The 
spirit  of  patriotism  everywhere  in  man  spontaneously  loves 
and  enkindles,  dreams  and  hopes,  over  the  home  of  his  birth, 
his  parents,  his  ancestry,  his  nurture,  his  language,  his  occu 
pations — over  indigenous  skies,  climate,  and  soil — and  over 
forms,  colors,  and  sounds,  which  have  impressed  his  infancy, 
and  which  steadfastly  accompany  him  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave.  Nothing,  therefore,  in  this  view  of  the  virtue — as  an 
ardent  and  constant  natural  impulse — distinguishes  its  devel 
opment  in  Trumbull  more  than  in  other  men. 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TEUMBULL.  681 

But  it  was  distinguishable.  It  was  signally  pure — it  was 
enlightened — it  was  heroic. 

Signally  pure,  we  say — for  there  did  not  rest  upon  it  a  single 
stain  of  self-interest.  In  all  that  he  did,  he  toiled  for  others, 
not  for  himself — for  the  advancement  of  his  country,  not  for 
his  own — and  not  alone  for  the  America  of  the  Kevolution, 
but  for  the  America  of  all  time.  Foreseeing  clearly  the  ris 
ing  greatness  of  this  land,  under  the  fostering  embrace  of 
Liberty  and  Union,  and  under  the  sunshine  of  Peace — know 
ing  well  its  inexhaustible  resources,  and  the  laws  which 
ought  to  govern  its  social,  moral,  political,  and  industrial 
progress — for  the  sake  of  this  progress — and  for  this  alone — 
he  took  an  interest  in  public  affairs,  which  was  most  pro 
found.  For  this  reason  he  labored  to  combine  in  one  great 
whole  of  harmony  all  sectional  interests — instilled,  as  a 
primordial  and  exalted  principle,  a  love  for  the  States  in 
Union — propagated  everywhere  the  tenets  of  a  sound  and 
liberal  conservatism  as  regards  government — and  in  behalf 
of  labor,  and  its  coveted  treasures  of  wealth  and  content 
ment,  spread  the  truths  of  an  enlightened  public  economy — - 
courting  from  the  Old  World,  in  this  connection,  all  the  influ 
ence  which  Societies  organized  for  the  purpose  of  promoting 
art  and  science,  could  lend  in  aid  of  the  infant  Eepublic  of 
the  New  World. 

Patriotism  often  has  its  counterfeits — in  national  vanity,  or 
conceitedness,  or  in  a  contented  self-sufficiency.  In  Trum- 
bull,  it  bore  no  one  of  these  false  stamps.  It  was  not  that  he 
might  be  able  to  plume  himself  upon  the  superior  military 
strength  and  skill  of  his  countrymen,  that  he  entered  upon 
the  bloody  arena  of  the  American  Revolution.  He  did  not 
labor  for  the  triumphs  at  Bunker  Hill,  at  Trenton,  at  Prince 
ton,  at  Saratoga,  and  at  Yorktown,  merely  that  he  might 
compare  these  triumphs  advantageously  with  those  of  other 
nations  of  the  world — simply  that  he  might  open  the  Book 
of  History,  and  show  America,  in  feats  of  arms,  belligerent 
as  Athens — brave  as  Sparta — resolute  as  Rome — hardy"  as 
Germany — indefatigable  as  Holland — chivalric  as  Spain — 
gallant  as  Gaul — and  mightier  far  than  her  English  mother- 
foe.  But  he  took  these  steps  solely  that  he  might  aid 


682  CHAP.    LVI. — TRTTMBULL.  1785. 

to  vindicate  the  honor  of  his  native  land,  and  to  plant 
for  her — set  beyond  even  the  tornado's  power — that  Tree 
of  Liberty,  whose  and  whose  fruitage  only — his  soul  from 
its  inmost  depths,  his  observation,  and  his  study,  taught 
him — were  national  civilization,  prosperity,  happiness,  and 
glory. 

His  patriotism,  therefore,  as  we  have  affirmed,  was  signally 
pure.  Like  the  chaste  passion  of  the  poet  for  his  Muse — like 
the  holy  love  of  the  scholar  for  learning — like  the  zeal  of  the 
painter  for  glorious  forms  of  art — it  worked  within  him  by 
virtue  of  an  intrinsic  and  lofty  moral  energy,  and  because  of 
an  intense  and  irresistible  yearning  in  his  nature  for  the  sub 
lime  and  beautiful  in  human  government  and  human  im 
provement. 

But  the  patriotism  of  Trumbull,  we  have  also  said,  was 
highly  enlightened.  It  was  that  kind  which  springs  from  a 
calm,  well-weighed  view  of  the  relations  of  man  to  himself, 
to  his  fellow-man,  and  to  his  Maker — which  is  evolved  from 
a  union  with  reason — which  is  the  fruit  too  of  piety,  and  is 
inspired  by  that  fear  of  God  which  is  the  best  security  against 
every  other  fear.  It  comprehended  a  rich  throng  of  associa 
tions  derived  from  an  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  his 
tory,  institutions,  customs,  legends,  literature,  channels  of 
thought,  and  phases  of  opinion,  of  his  native  land.  These 
all,  like  so  many  charms,  imparted  potency  to  Trumbull's 
love  of  country. 

Accustomed  to  reflection,  his  mind  grasped  with  more  than 
ordinary  power  the  grand  idea  of  that  greatest  of  all  socie 
ties — the  State — and  he  felt  the  excellence  of  its  mechanism 
almost  as  a  living  thing,  whose  disruption  or  injury  would 
bring  death  to  all  the  valuable  interests  of  his  countrymen. 
In  his  native  province,  particularly,  the  freedom,  creative 
energy,  and  elastic  protective  power  of  its  singularly  liberal 
Constitution  of  Government,  filled  and  dilated  his  soul  with 
great  ideas,  and  with  reverential  gratitude  towards  those, 
who,  far  back  in  the  infancy  of  our  land — amid  the  perils  of 
the  wilderness,  and  in  the  face  of  a  haughty  Sovereignty 
across  the  seas — had  contrived  to  found  and  rear  it.  To  him 
therefore,  the  celebrated  Charter  of  Connecticut  was,  pecu- 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  683 

liarlj,  a  grand  patriotic  Missive* — which  made  him  acute  to 
perceive  the  first  secret  invasions  of  American  rights — quick 
ened  him  to  trace  them  down,  through  their  whole  sad  series 
of  consequences,  into  an  oppressor's  final  errands  of  blood 
and  rapine — and  rendered  him  swift,  therefore,  to  organize 
resistance. 

And  he  knew  well  too — student  and  administrator  of  juris 
prudence  as  he  long  had  been — the  surpassing  importance  to 
life,  liberty,  and  property,  of  a  wholesome  frame-work  of 
laws — such  as  in  his  own  State  particularly — so  simple,  so 
just,  so  equalizing,  so  vivifying — was  found — and  he  could, 
therefore,  feel  most  forcibly  the  peril  to  all  the  civil,  social, 
and  domestic  relations  which  an  extraneous  claim  to  review 
and  modify  or  repeal  these  laws,  like  that  set  up  by  England, 
would  occasion. 

In  this  view — seasoned  by  knowledge — guided  by  a  sagac 
ity  on  which  nothing  could  impose — and  uniting  all  the  vir 
tues  which  render  private  life  useful,  amiable,  and  respect 
able — the  patriotism  of  Trumbull  was  the  exact  counterpart 
in  America  of  that  in  England,  which,  in  the  days  of  the  old 
Commonwealth,  shone  in  the  spirit  of  one  whom  even  Clar 
endon  places  in  the  foremost  rank  of  men — the  immortal 
Hampden — and  of  that  spirit  also,  which,  in  Italy,  beamed 
from  the  life  of  one  whose  enlightened  republican  effort,  vir 
tuous  eagerness,  and  noble  modesty,  have  stamped  him  as 
the  saviour  of  Genoa — the  ronowned  Andrea  Doria. 

The  patriotism  of  Trumbull,  we  have  also  said,  was  heroic. 
Look  at  him  just  after  the  Peace  of  Paris — when  the  Stamp 
Act  was  about  obtaining  official  endorsement  at  the  hands  of 

*  In  his  speech  to  the  General  Assembly  in  1778,  he  refers  to  this  instrument 
as  being  "  the  Amiable  and  Salutary  Constitution  of  Government  made  and  rati 
fied  "  in  Connecticut  from  the  beginning  of  the  State.  "  I  wish  to  see,"  he  adds, 
"  or  rather  hope,  similar  constitutions  maybe  established  in  all  the  United  States 
of  America.  Its  true  grandeur  and  solid  Glory  do  not  consist  in  high  Titles, 
splendor,  pomp,  and  magnificence,  nor  in  reverence  and  exterior  honor,  but  in 
the  real  and  solid  advantages  derived  therefrom,  to  each  State,  whose  support, 
defence,  security,  and  asylum,  its  nature  and  institution  forms — and  at  the  same 
time,  that  it  is  the  fruitful  source  of  decency,  decorum,  good  order,  and  every 
terrestrial  blessing,  especially  to  the  poor  and  weak  who  ought  to  find  beneath 
its  shade  and  protection,  a  sweet  peace  and  tranquillity  not  to  be  interrupted  or 
disturbed." 


684  CHAP.     LVI. — TKUMBULL.  1785. 

Governor  Fitch !  How  then — at  the  very  threshold  of  Colo 
nial  resistance  to  British  authority — in  the  first  faint  twilight 
of  a  star  dawning  upon  American  rights — did  his  eye  per 
ceive  approaching  danger,  and  his  lips  utter  loud  and  indig 
nant  notes  of  warning,  and  his  heart  hail  the  blessed  vision 
of  freedom !  Look  at  him,  at  the  outset  of  the  Eevolutionary 
War,  voluntarily  constituting  himself  the  only  rebel  Execu 
tive  among  thirteen  Governors  in  the  Colonies !  Before  him 
was  one  of  the  mightiest  of  human  monarchs — master  to  all 
appearance  not  only  of  his  office,  but  of  his  fortune,  and  his 
life — and  claiming,  under  every  sanction  of  precedent,  and 
by  every  virtue  of  sovereignty,  his  allegiance,  and  his  duty 
to  the  Crown.  Yet,  how  instantaneously  did  Trumbull  spurn 
the  claim,  with  its  adjunct  of  servitude — spurn  it  in  the  face 
too  of  rewards,  princely  and  profuse,  which  doubtless  would 
have  been  heaped  upon  him  had  he  remained  a  loyal  serv 
ant — and,  magnanimously  and  at  once,  espouse  the  side  of 
his  native  land !  How  adhere  to  this  side  with  Suliot  ardor — 
in  defiance  of  a  price  set  upon  his  head,  cling  to  it  with  all 
the  devotion  of  a  martyr — devotion  the  more  intense,  as  the 
Eeader  of  this  Memoir  must  have  repeatedly  remarked,  in 
proportion  as  this  cause  seemed  desperate ! 

His  spirit  of  patriotism  knew  in  fact  no  difficulty — it  con 
temned  all  danger.  It  was  inventive  of  enterprise — it  was 
ever  fertile  in  resources.  Like  that  of  Scotland's  "  Guardian 
Genius"  in  this  respect — the  ever-memorable  "Wallace — it 
flew  through  the  people,  rousing  activity,  and  enkindling 
intrepidity.  It  infused  patience.  It  bore  up  all  fainting 
hearts.* 

Said  his  son  Colonel  John,  in  1775,  of  one  who  invidiously 
remarked  that  the  Trumbull  family  at  this  time — through 
offices  at  the  hands  of  the  public  of  profit  and  of  trust — were 
"well  provided  for" — "he  is  right;  my  father  and  his  three 

*  It  exclaimed  to  Connecticut,  and  to  every  sister  State  in  the  Union— in  the 
language  of  the  great  Frederic  to  his  gallant  little  army  before  the  battle  of  Eos- 
bach— "my  brave  countrymen,  the  hour  is  come  in  which  all  that  is,  and  all  that 
ought  to  be  dear,  to  us,  depends  upon  the  swords  that  are  now  drawn  for  battle. 
You  see  me  ready  to  lay  down  my  life  with  you,  and  for  you.  All  I  ask  of  you 
is  the  same  pledge  of  fidelity  and  aifection  that  I  give.  Acquit  yourselves  like 
men,  and  put  your  confidence  in  God ! " 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TKUMBULL.  685 

sons  are  doubtless  well  provided  for;  we  are  secure  of  four 
halters,  if  we  do  not  succeed!"  The  spirit,  that  with  all 
other  ventures,  could  thus  defy  too  a  gibbet,  was  indeed  he 
roic — was  more  than  the  spirit  of  ScaBvola,  in  face  of  the 
legions  of  Sylla,  scorning  to  save  "a  little  superanuated 
flesh,"  as  he  styled  himself,  by  pronouncing  Marius  an  enemy 
to  the  State — was  the  spirit  rather  of  the  Fabii  and  Decii  of 
the  Eternal  City — those  illustrious  patrician  families  that  gen 
erously  sacrificing  their  all  for  the  public  good — solemnly  de 
voting  themselves  to  die  for  the  service  of  the  State — have 
left  an  example  of  domestic  and  hereditary  patriotism  that 
has  been  in  all  ages  the  admiration  and  the  boast  of  the 
world. 

The  spirit  of  Trumbull  we  have  now  described  would,  un 
der  any  circumstances,  have  kept  him  active  for  the  public 
good — but  fed  as  it  was  in  the  latter  part  of  his  career  by 
extraordinary  events,  it  produced  an  amount  of  toil  far  be 
yond  what  falls  to  the  lot  of  public  men  generally,  and  truly 
astonishing.  The  General  Assemblies,  stated  and  other 
wise,  upon  which  he  attended,  and  whose  proceedings  he 
ever  watched  with  punctual  care — the  days,  close  upon  one 
thousand,  that  he  sat  in  the  Council  of  Safety — in  numerous 
instances  intensely  occupied  during  all  the  watches  of  the 
night,  as  rider  after  rider  galloped  to  the  old  War  Office  in  Leb 
anon,  bringing  fresh  news,  and  rousing  to  fresh  solicitudes — 
the  perpetual  executive  duties,  in  the  channels  of  orders, 
commissions,  correspondence,  personal  consultations  with 
military  and  naval  officers  and  agents,  personal  visits  to  vari 
ous  posts  and  stations,  and  business  interviews  at  the  Pay 
Table,  that  occupied  his  attention  at  other  intervals — these, 
together  with  his  private  family  interests,  the  claims  of  de 
votion,  and  the  claims  of  neighborhood — which  in  his  case 
were  never,  save  from  stern  necessity,  pretermitted — pressed 
upon  him  with  a  weight  that  would  have  overpowered  any 
man,  not  like  himself,  endowed  with  a  physical  constitution 
of  rarest  vigor,  and  with  a  spirit  of  industry  that  craved,  and 
that  consumed,  constant  aliment. 

From  his  birth  down  to  the  illness  which  terminated  his 

life,  he  seems  to  have  enjoyed  an  almost  uninterrupted  sound- 
58 


686  CHAP.    LVI. — TKUMBULL.  1785. 


of  body  as  well  as  of  mind.  No  wearisome  maladies 
exacted  regimen  either  at  his  own,  or  at  the  hands  of  the 
physician.  No  languid  eye,  or  cheek  deserted  of  its  bloom, 
or  shrunk  and  flaccid  muscles,  betokened  routed  strength, 
until  the  last  mortal  exhaustion.  Simple  and  temperate  in 
his  diet — regular  in  his  habits — never  lured  into  any  bodily 
excess — systematic  in  exercise — fond  of  the  open  air — often 
himself  taking  part  in  the  labors  of  the  garden  or  the  farm — 
it  was  his  fortune  to  lay  up  a  bounteous  stock  of 

"  that  chiefest  good 
Bestowed  by  heaven,  but  seldom  understood," 

unpurchased  health — from  which,  as  the  war  demonstrated, 
he  could  draw  almost  exhaustlessly. 

In  the  domestic  and  social  relations  of  life,  praise  of  Trum- 
bull  cannot  outdo  its  office — for  here  he  was  truly  an  exem 
plar. 

As  a  son — he  was  ever  dutiful.  Thoughtful  at  all  times 
of  the  tender  cares  his  parents  had  lavished  upon  his  own  in 
fancy — of  the  watchfulness  with  which  they  had  protected 
the  careless  vigor  of  his  boyhood — and  of  the  warm  ambi 
tion,  and  free  expenditure  with  which  they  had  conferred 
upon  him  the  rich  boon  of  education — he  returned  their 
affectionate  offices  with  kindest  ministrations  of  his  own — 
and  like  a  gentle  spirit,  hovered  over  their  waning  age. 

As  a  husband,  he  was  ever  devoted.  Having  entered  into 
the  matrimonial  alliance  from  judgment  as  well  as  from 
love — with  careful  reference  to  those  mental  and  moral  graces, 
which,  more  than  all  the  charms  of  person,  embellish  wed 
lock,  and  fortify  its  course — he  was  able  to  maintain  the 
flame  of  conjugal  attachment  steady  to  the  close  of  life.  No 
demonstrations  of  mere  sentiment,  such  as  often  stamp  mar 
ried  life  with  folly,  ever  marked  his  love,  we  are  confident — 
no  lavish  caresses  and  trembling  ecstacies — no  heart-sore 
sighs  and  tears — but  he  manifested  this  love  as  a  decorous 
and  dignified,  as  well  as  a  sincere  and  vigilant  affection.  He, 
therefore,  had  no  ulcers  upon  the  family  heart  to  encounter — 
no  blasting  of  his  wedded  days  with  strife — no  strangling  of 
dear  vows — no  repentant  steps  for  his  soul,  mourning  at  past 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TKUMBULL.  687 

precipitation  and  infatuation,  to  take,  lack  from  the  altar — 
but,  enchaining  the  confidence  of  his  wife — 

"  she  o'er  his  life  presiding, 
Doubling  his  pleasure,  and  his  cares  dividing," 

his  home  was  a  scene  of  constant  quiet  and  happiness.  And, 
when  the  partner  of  his  bosom  left  it  for  her  long  home  in 
the  grave,  no  one  so  sensibly  felt  the  loss,  no  one  mourned  so 
profoundly  as  himself.  "One  year  from  my  wife's  death" — 
he  entered  in  his  Diary,  Tuesday,  May  twenty-ninth,  1781, 
affectionately  memorializing  her  decease — "Prepare  for  my 
own " — he  added,  thoughtful  of  the  time  when  he  was  him 
self  to  join  her  society  above. 

As  a  father,  he  discharged  the  ordinary  duties  of  this  rela 
tionship,  not  simply  because  they  are  duties  prompted  by  na 
ture — but  because  also  they  are  established  by  the  highest 
ethical  laws,  and  spring  out  of  the  soul  of  religious  obliga 
tion.  To  fit  his  children  "not  to  live  merely,  but  to  live 
well" — not  for  circumstances  of  earthly  splendor,  but  for  the 
simple,  grave  realities  of  existence — to  train  them  "to  those 
affections  which  suit  the  filial  nature,  and  which  are  the  chief 
elements  of  every  other  affection  that  adorns  in  after  days 
the  friend,  the  citizen,  and  the  lover  of  mankind" — such 
were  the  great  objects  which  Trumbull  as  a  parent  kept 
steadily  in  view,  and  prosecuted  with  happy  zeal.  With  far 
more  than  ordinary  considerateness  he  felt  that  Heaven  had 
consigned  immortal  beings  to  his  charge — and  with  far  more 
than  ordinary  attention,  therefore,  he  labored  to  discipline 
their  minds  to  habits  of  reflection — to  store  them  with  help 
ful  knowledge — to  warn  against  vices — to  inculcate  the  eleva 
ted  lessons  of  virtue  and  piety — and  to  educe  their  ambition, 
their  hopes,  and  their  efforts,  for  the  benefit  of  their  race,  to 
their  own  happiness,  and  for  the  glory  of  their  Maker.* 

*  Upon  each  of  hig  sons,  save  one,  he  bestowed  a  liberal  education — and  this 
one  failed  to  gradxiate  at  Harvard  University  only  because,  at  the  period  when 
otherwise  he  would  have  taken  this  course,  the  sea  had  wrecked  his  father's  for 
tune.  His  daughters,  in  addition  to  all  the  intellectual  advantages  which  the 
country  could  afford  them,  were  sent  to  gather  accomplishments,  both  substan 
tial  and  graceful,  in  the  Metropolis  of  New  England.  "  You  will  always  re 
member,"  he  wrote  his  son  John  while  the  latter  was  in  the  army  of  the  North — 


688  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  1785. 

And  while  thus  implanting  rules  for  moral  felicity,  and  in 
culcating  the  thirst  for  knowledge  and  usefulness,  neither 
moroseness,  or  rigor,  or  melancholy  tinged  his  discourse,  nor 
was  it  ever  allowed  to  surfeit.  He  taught  "with  gentle 
means,  and  easy  tasks."  In  the  infancy  of  his  children,  he 
could  relax,  at  home,  into  their  own  softness  and  glee,  and  be 
himself  "a  boy  again" — could  watch  for  the  dawn  of  their 
young  joys,  and  make  the  hours  of  the  little  prattlers  run 
along  winged  with  gladness.  In  their  adult  years,  he  punc 
tually  sought  their  society  as  a  refreshment  both  to  their  hap 
piness  and  his  own. 

Deep  was  the  grief  of  the  manly  sire  when  he  lost  two  of 
them  by  death.  "  The  tenderness  and  affection  of  my  daugh 
ter  Faith,"  he  was  wont  to  say,  "  I  am  apt  to  think  are  with 
out  a  parallel."  "  Would  that  my  dear  son  John  could  have 
taken  a  last  parting  look  at  his  dear  mother,"  was  his  excla 
mation  when  he  lost  the  partner  of  his  bosom.  "It  takes 
long  to  the  autumn  come  twelve  months  for  your  return,"  he 
wrote  this  son — at  the  time  in  England — craving  with  new 
ardor  his  society  just  before  his  own  decease — "but  I  acqui 
esce  in  what  may  be  for  your  advantage.  I  am  much  re 
joiced  at  your  happy  progress  in  your  profession.  Your 
long  silence  occasioned  anxiety  for  your  welfare."  Truly  the 
heart  of  Tr  urn  bull  was  a  fountain  of  love  towards  his  chil 
dren.  His  anxiety  clasped  them  at  almost  every  hour.  His 
bounty  in  his  last  Testament  was  spread  equally  on  all. 

As  a  friend — companion — neighbor — and  philanthropist — 
the  character  of  Trumbull  shines  as  in  the  relationships  just 
described — with  calm  lustre.  No  man  more  than  himself  de 
sired  the  happiness  of  those  around  him,  or  labored  more  dili 
gently  to  promote  it.  He  lived  in  an  atmosphere  of  good 
will,  and  his  services  were  ever  at  the  command  of  modest 
worth.*  His  intercourse  with  others  was  tempered  with  affa 
bility  and  politeness. 

and  the  monition  indicates  truly  his  own  guiding  principles  in  educating  his  off 
spring — "you  will  always  remember  that  the  business  of  religion  ought  to  be  the 
daily  concern  of  our  lives.  Virtue  ought  to  be  the  daily  object  of  all  govern 
ment,  and  especially  that  of  ourselves." 

*  Take  the  following  letter  from  his  hands,  April  llth,  1785 — recommending 
Major  Eoger  Alden,  the  friend  and  correspondent  of  Captain  Nathan  Hale,  to  an 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  689 

Dressing,  as  lie  did,  in  the  costume  of  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century — which  he  retained  down  to  the  close  of 
his  life — his  personal  appearance,  in  his  single-breasted, 
broad-flapped  coat  of  richest  cloth — his  low,  silk-embroidered 
vest — and  wristbands  ruffled  with  fastidious  care,  and  studded 
with  sleeve  buttons  of  costly  gold — was  dignified  and  impos 
ing — while  his  discourse,  serious  or  cheerful  as  the  occasion 
demanded,  but  always  mild,  was  set  off  by  manners,  which, 
as  has  been  justly  remarked,*  "  won  the  admiration  and  re 
gard  of  those  who  were  familiar  with  courts  and  courtiers, 
as  well  as  of  his  own  unsophisticated  countrymen."  He 
never  in  conversation  plunged  into  controversies  for  the  sake 
either  of  victory  or  excitement.  Sarcasm  had  no  place  in 
his  bosom,  save  for  the  enemies  of  his  country — seldom  rail 
lery,  however  good-humored.  He  was  above  envy,  and  nei 
ther  injured  others  by  malice,  or  himself  by  folly. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  had  that  complaisance — the  result 
of  good  sense  and  good  breeding — which  in  society  "  smoothes 
distinctions,  sweetens  conversation,  encourages  the  timorous, 
soothes  the  turbulent,  and  makes  every  one  pleased  with 
himself."  His  house  was  the  stranger's  home,  and  the  favor 
ite  resort  of  friendship.  To  all,  the  welcome  of  his  hospital 
ity  was  most  cordial. 

He  zealously  promoted  neighborhood  harmony,  both  by 

office  under  Congress — as  a  specimen  both  of  his  zeal  for  others,  and  of  his  man 
ner  when  aiming  to  conciliate  interest  in  their  favor. 

"Being  informed,"  he  writes,  addressing  Dr.  W.  S.  Johnson — "  that  the  office 
of  Deputy  Secretary  to  Congress  is  about  to  be  filled  up  upon  a  new  arrangement 
of  that  Department — and  that  Congress  is  casting  about  to  find  some  suitable 
person  for  the  appointment — I  take  the  liberty  to  mention  to  you  Major  Eoger 
Alden  as  a  person  well  qualified  to  sustain  the  duties  of  such  an  office.  Born  in 
my  neighborhood,  and  educated  in  a  manner  under  my  eye,  I  have  had  opportu 
nity  of  knowing  him  from  his  youth  to  the  present  time,  and  can  therefore  say 
that  I  look  upon  him  as  a  young  gentleman  possessed  of  natural  good  abilities, 
enlarged  by  a  liberal  education,  and  improved  by  several  years'  knowledge  of 
mankind  in  the  public  service  of  his  country,  in  which  he  acquitted  himself  with 
honor  and  reputation.  I  esteem  him  also  possessed  of  integrity  and  attention  to 
business,  two  very  necessary  requisites  in  the  discharge  of  the  office  in  question. 
Should  Congress  be  pleased  to  appoint  Major  Alden,  I  shall  find  myself  exceed 
ingly  mistaken  in  my  opinion  if  he  does  not  sustain  the  office  with  propriety  and 
reputation,  and  discharge  the  duties  of  it  to  their  acceptance  and  good  satisfac 
tion.  I  am,  &c." 

*  In  the  National  Portrait  Gallery. 
58* 


690  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  1785. 

his  own  example,  and  by  his  counsel  and  professional  aid. 
"Was  there  a  controversy  in  reference  to  property  or  business 
which  arbitrament  could  settle?  To  Trumbull,  especially, 
appeal  was  made.  Were  there  wounds  of  feeling  to  be 
healed  ?  Trumbull  was  the  physician  there.  Confidence  in 
his  personal  character  was  universal  and  unlimited.  The 
plant  of  friendship,  both  for  the  sake  of  his  own  happiness 
and  that  of  others,  he  cultivated  with  care — seeking  ever  to 
engraft  it  on  the  stock  of  merit,  and  to  keep  it  green  and 
budding.  In  reproof  gentle,  in  commendation  discreet — dis 
countenancing  and  condemning  all  anger  and  uncharitable- 
ness — never  listening  to  the  recitals  of  prejudice,  or  to  the 
whispers  of  detraction — he  treated  the  infirmities  of  others 
with  parental  solicitude,  allured  to  gentleness,  and  led  to 
peace. 

His  own  too,  peculiarly,  was  that  spirit  of  genuine  benev 
olence  which  is  not  only  alive  to  all  human  suffering,  but 
which — springing  from  the  simple  love  of  doing  good,  and 
not  from  the  motive  of  ostentation — was  never  therefore 
squandered  in  loose  prodigalities,  and  was  always  consistent 
in  its  display. 

None  could  be  sick  in  his  neighborhood  that  he  did  not 
visit  and  relieve.  His  attention  in  this  respect  was  proverb 
ial.*  Numerous  medicines,  and  other  appliances  for  relief  in 
illness — some  of  them  quite  costly,  and  which  in  his  day  it 
was  difficult  to  procure — he  kept  for  use  whenever  wanted.f 
Like  another  illustrious  Governor  of  Connecticut  in  the  olden 
time — John  Winthrop — though  not  like  him  a  professed  phy 
sician — Trumbull  too  possessed  much  knowledge  in  the  heal 
ing  art,  and  went  about  with  it  reading  often  the  true  diag 
nosis  of  disease,  and  administering  healing  prescriptions. 
And  whether  bestowing  alms  within  the  humble  cottage,  or 
the  poor-house — on  the  widow,  the  orphan,  or  the  wayside 
mendicant — whether  contriving  for  the  comfortable  subsist- 

*  He  habitually,  as  we  have  had  occasion  heretofore  to  suggest,  carried  a  piece 
of  myrrh  in  the  pocket  of  his  waistcoat,  both  as  a  guard  for  himself  against  the 
miasm  of  the  sick  room,  and  for  the  benefit  of  invalids. 

t  A  costly  silver  spout-cup,  for  example,  and  a  warming-pan  of  shining  brass — 
in  his  time  rarities — were  in  request  wherever  almost,  around  him,  the  bed  of  a 
sufferer  could  be  found. 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  691 

ence  of  the  soldier  in  the  field,  or  upon  his  return  weary, 
wounded,  and  penny  less  to  his  home — whether  sending  gen 
erous  presents  from  the  produce  of  his  farm  to  the  teachers 
of  his  sons,  or  golden  guineas  "  in  token  of  his  affection  ".  to 
the  needy  among  his  relatives — whether  subscribing  liberally 
to  the  church,  the  school,  to  public  charities,  to  private  asso 
ciations  for  the  relief  of  want,  or  to  some  material  improve 
ment  in  his  own  town,  county,  or  State — in  all  the  forms  in 
which  the  benevolent  spirit  can  display  itself,  he  labored  to 
chase  sad  shadows  off  from  the  face  of  life,  and  to  extend,  in 
every  direction,  the  sphere  of  human  enjoyment. 

As  a  Christian,  Governor  Trumbull  led  a  life  of  singular 
godliness.  The  religious  spirit  in  him,  as  the  Reader  of  this 
Memoir  must  have  repeatedly  remarked,  was  uncommonly 
fervid.  Profoundly  impressed  with  the  truths  of  the  Bible — 
believing  them  to  be  the  basis  both  of  civil  society,  and  of 
the  society  of  the  blest  in  heaven — feeling  in  his  inmost  heart 
that  they  formed  that  connecting  link  between  man  and  his 
Creator  which  binds  humanity  to  the  Eternal  Throne,  and 
which,  once  sundered,  man  "  floats  away  a  worthless  atom  in 
the  universe,  out  of  his  proper  being,  out  of  the  circle  of  all 
his  duties,  out  of  the  circle  of  all  his  happiness  " — he  there 
fore  clung  to  their  investigation  with  tireless  devotion — 
labored  to  exemplify  them  in  all  his  conduct — and  toiled  and 
thirsted  for  their  extension. 

Spiritual  meditation,  prayer,  and  praise,  were  his  daily 
food — not  as  forms  of  godliness  alone,  but  as  "  the  power  " — 
both  that  he  might  sublimate  his  own  thoughts  and  affec 
tions  for  heaven,  and  strengthen  them  for  the  duties  of  earth. 
There  was  no  occasion  hardly,  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  on 
which  he  did  not  recognize  the  superintending  Providence  of 
God,  and  speak  of  it  in  terms  of  awe.  Many  of  lighter  relig 
ious  sense  than  himself  might  think  that  he  carried  this  rec 
ognition  too  far,  at  times,  into  the  common  affairs  of  life,  and 
too  constantly  indulged  in  phrases  of  devotional  formality — 
that  a  bulletin,  for  example,  announcing  the  hand  of  man  in 
battle  need  not,  so  often  as  it  did,  have  given  him  occasion  to 
note  the  hand  of  God — that  small  circumstantial  changes  in 
the  course  of  events  ought  not,  so  much  as  they  did  in  his 


692  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL. 


1785. 


mind,  to  have  instigated  the  idea  of  divine  guidance — nor 
occasions  of  public  proclamations  or  correspondence  on  civil 
affairs  have  provoked  so  frequently  from  his  pen  strains  of 
pious  reflection. 

But  to  the  profoundly  religious  mind,  that  sees  God  in 
everything — that  feels  that  He  has  numbered  the  hairs  of  our 
heads,  and  that  not  a  sparrow  can  fall  to  the  ground  without 
his  notice — this  seeming  excess  of  spiritual  zeal  will  appear 
but  as  the  natural  effusion  of  a  soul  whose  conception  of  the 
Supreme  Disposer  of  all  events  was  such — so  pervaded  with 
"  pious  awe  and  trembling  solicitude  " — that  everywhere  in 
the  world  of  nature  and  of  man  it  sought  with  eagerness  to 
trace  the  manifestations  of  his  power.  Certain  it  is  that  his 
zeal  never  degenerated  into  fanaticism — for  he  entertained  no 
crude  or  extravagant  notions  concerning  religion,  unless  the 
best  doctrines  of  Calvin  can  be  so  regarded.  Nor  did  he  ex 
hibit  any  wild  enthusiasm  in  maintaining  them.  Nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  did  he  ever  so  mix  material  philosophy  with  re 
ligious  sentiment  as  to  translate  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
either  into  any  wayward  doctrines  of  Transcendentalism,  or 
into  any  cold  or  fashionable  system  of  Formalism.  But  calm 
in  his  reasonings  upon  points  of  doctrine — free  from  all  en 
venomed  sectarian  taint — he  adopted  his  creed  with  consider- 
ateness — and  then  allowed  his  soul  to  warm  over  it  with  such 
mingled  gravity  and  cheerfulness — so  wisely  and  so  well — as 
to  commend  his  Christian  virtues  signally  to  the  respect  and 
attachment  of  all  his  cotemporaries.  He  was  emphatically  a 
model  of  Christian  charity,  forbearance,  and  well  doing.  His 
name,  during  his  lifetime,  is  "  spread  all  over  the  records  of 
the  Church  "  in  his  native  town,  as  its  chief  pillar,  counsellor, 
and  friend. 

As  a  scholar,  his  life  was  distinguished  for  addiction  to 
study  whenever  the  cares  of  business  allowed  him  the  oppor 
tunity.  In  his  youth — and  during  much  of  his  career  down 
to  the  Revolution — and  for  a  little  while  after  the  Peace — he 
enjoyed  this  opportunity  quite  abundantly.  And  he  im 
proved  it  with  that  devotion  which  showed  a  radical  desire 
for  self-culture,  and  which  prizes  knowledge,  not  only  for 
its  own  intrinsic  worth,  but  for  the  beneficial  power  also 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  693 

with  which  it  arms  its  possessor  over  the  happiness  of 
mankind. 

Characteristically,  he  sought  instruction  for  solid  use — for 
practical  adaptation — seldom  for  ornament  merely,  and  never 
for  parade.  So  strong  indeed  in  him  was  the  preference  of  fact 
to  fancy — of  the  useful  to  the  merely  pleasant  or  ornamental — 
that,  were  it  not  for  the  sensibility  he  ultimately  exhibited 
to  his  youngest  son's  success  as  a  painter,  we  should  doubt 
whether  the  fine  arts,  for  example,  would  have  ever  received 
from  his  understanding  any  homage.  Were  it  not,  again, 
that  we  perceive  in  public  documents,  and  other  compositions 
from  his  pen,  great  simplicity  and  neatness — a  style  often 
highly  refined — words  aptly  chosen — and  sentences  happily 
collocated — we  should  hardly  believe  that  the  graces  of  com 
position,  as  such,  had  ever  in  study  commanded  his  attention. 

As  the  case  with  him  in  fact  was,  he  loved  the  heroes  of  Ther- 
mopylaa  and  Marathon,  in  classic  reading,  much  more  than  the 
heroes  of  Homer.  The  Hill  of  Mars,  where  Demosthenes  thun 
dered,  and  roused  his  countrymen  to  glorious  deeds  of  arms,  at 
tracted  him  far  more  than  the  top  of  Hymettus,  where  the  bees 
distilled  honey  either  for  paeans  to  Apollo,  or  dythyrambics  to 
Bacchus.  The  groves  of  the  Academy,  and  the  banks  of  the 
Ilyssus — where  Plato  taught  wisdom  to  the  youth  of  Athens, 
and  Socrates  drew  down  philosophy  from  heaven — were  infi 
nitely  more  grateful  to  his  contemplation  than  the  fountains 
of  Helicon  or  Pindus,  where  Terpsichore  held  her  seven- 
stringed  lyre,  and  Thalia  her  comic  staff,  and  the  mild  Mel 
pomene  her  tragic  mask. 

But  dearer  far  to  the  ear  of  his  scholarship  than  all  the 
narratives,  philosophy,  eloquence,  or  song  of  classic  Greece 
and  Rome,  was  God's  own  great  anthem  of  revelation  in  Holy 
Writ.  With  a  satisfaction  such  as  his  mind  experienced 
from  no  other  source,  he  read  in  the  sublime  Hebrew  the  in 
genuous  recitals  of  Moses,  the  sparkling  aphorisms  of  the 
Proverbs,  the  "sententious  and  royal "  wisdom  of  Solomon,  and 
the  lofty  strains  of  Isaiah.  The  dew  of  Hermon  on  his  brow — 
Bozrah's  red  wine  upon  his  lips — he  sat  down  at  Siloah's 
fount,  fast  by  the  oracles  of  God — there  by  turns,  with  relish 
that  was  unsurpassed,  to  melt  over  the  dirges  of  Jeremiah — 


694:  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  1785. 

imbibe  "the  tender  freshness  of  pastoral  hymns" — or  glow 
with  "  the  purple  tumult "  of  David's  triumphal  Psalms. 

Together  with  a  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Latin,  and  of 
Hebrew,  with  its  cognate  dialects  to  some  extent — of  which 
last  language,  as  we  have  noticed,  he  compiled  a  Grammar — 
history,  chronology,  and  jurisprudence  also,  as -we  have  seen, 
were  favorite  studies  with  Trumbull.  And  they  were  all 
pursued  by  him  with  reference,  constantly,  to  their  practical 
application — and  with  such  good  success  as  to  establish  for 
himself  a  literary  and  civil  fame,  which  won  for  him  honor 
ary  degrees,  of  the  highest  grade,  from  the  Universities  of 
Yale  in  America,  and  of  Edinborough  in  Scotland. 

But  though  his  scholarship  took  chiefly  the  directions  now 
mentioned,  yet  he  was  by  no  means  inattentive  to  acquisi 
tions  in  other  departments  of  learning.  The  sterling  Eng 
lish  Classics  were  familiar  to  him.  He  had  a  good  acquaint 
ance  with  astronomy — as  the  frequent  notings  upon  the  pages 
of  his  almanacs  clearly  show.  He  knew  much  of  mathemat 
ics,  natural  philosophy,  and  the  laws  of  mechanics.  To  the 
exact  sciences  generally,  he  attached  high  value — not  only 
on  account  of  their  own  peculiar  results,  but  because  espe 
cially  of  the  training  which  they  afford — particularly  in  the  art 
of  reasoning — for  the  higher  ethical,  religious,  jural,  and  polit 
ical  speculations.  One  might  almost,  in  this  respect,  have 
written  over  the  door  of  his  mind  the  inscription  which  Plato 
placed  over  the  door  of  his  Philosophical  School  at  Athens — 
"  Let  no  one  unacquainted  with  geometry  enter  here ! "  He 
was  not  unfamiliar  with  natural  history,  and  the  Materia 
Medica.  He  had  more  than  ordinary  information  upon  agri 
culture  as  a  science  as  well  as  a  practical  art.  In  short, 
Trumbull  had  carefully  stored  away  from  the  stock  of  human 
knowledge  such  treasures  as  became  a  gentleman  of  accom 
plished  education  in  his  day — and  used  them  with  happy  in 
dustry,  and  flattering  success. 

Eminent  again  among  his  characteristics,  and  shining 
through  every  part  of  his  life,  was  that  leader  among  the  vir 
tues,  as  Plato  entitles  it — Prudence.  He  deliberated  with 
caution  upon  the  means  suited  to  effect  the  ends  he  had  in 
view,  and  with  singular  natural  sagacity  detected  and  select- 


1785. 


CHAP.    LVI. — TKUMBULL.  695 


ed  from  among  them  all  those  which,  under  the  circum 
stances,  were  the  best.  NOT  was  his  prudence  confined  with 
in  this  the  ordinary  sphere  which  moralists  assign  to  this  vir 
tue.  It  took  with  him  a  far  higher  range.  It  not  only  in 
volved  the  exercise  of  a  sound  judgment  in  selecting  means, 
but  itself  struck  out  important  and  laudable  ends  to  which 
these  means  should  be  applied — was  itself,  in  fact,  not  only  a 
culler  and  chooser  among  plans,  like  a  wise  inspector  among 
goods,  but  was  also  often  their  originator.  Here  then,  in 
this  double  combination,  was  prudence  in  its  most  exalted 
sense — that  of  wisdom  applied  to  practice — that  of  knowl 
edge  brought  with  judicious  skill  to  bear  both  on  the  creation 
and  on  the  accomplishment  of  measures  for  good.  This  was 
the  prudence  contemplated  by  the  philosophic  Plato  when  he 
called  it,  as  we  have  stated,  the  "Leader  among  the  vir 
tues  " — and  this  was  the  peculiar  alchemy  in  Trumbull  which 
turned  his  guidance  of  affairs  into  gold. 

We  stop  not  to  contemplate  it  in  its  exhibitions  in  his  pri 
vate  life — but  as  regards  its  development  in  his  public  career, 
what  Reader  of  this  Memoir  will  not  at  once,  in  this  connec 
tion,  recall  the  facts,  that  during  the  emergencies  of  the  old 
French  War,  Trumbull  was  repeatedly  selected  by  Connecti 
cut  to  sit  in  Council  with  the  Chief  Executives  and  leading 
minds  of  other  States — and  with  British  commanders-in-chief, 
and  other  officers  of  distinguished  rank — for  the  purpose  of 
devising  measures  to  carry  on  the  great  struggle  against 
French  power  in  the  New  World — and  that  twice  also,  at 
about  this  period,  he  was  chosen  by  his  native  Colony  to 
represent  her  at  the  imperial  Court  of  Great  Britain !  Here 
were  striking  compliments  to  his  prudence  in  his  earlier  years. 

As  time  advanced,  and  he  reached  the  highest  executive 
post  in  Connecticut,  we  find  him  in  times  of  peace  charged — 
often  alone — with  the  management  of  civil  affairs  of  vital  in 
terest  to  the  State — often  with  controversies,  as  those  respect 
ing  the  Mohegan  and  Susquehannah  lands,  of  transcendent 
importance  to  Connecticut,  and  most  delicate  and  difficult  in 
the  guidance  they  required.  Here  are  other  proofs  of  the 
public  confidence  in  his  prudence. 

But  more  than  all,  we  have  seen  him  during  a  war  of  seven 


696  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  It85. 

years,  that  not  only  "  tried  men's  souls  "  on  the  field  of  battle, 
but  tasked  to  the  utmost  their  wisdom  in  counsel — that  in 
fact  called  imperiously  for  all  the  foresight,  and  all  the  cir 
cumspection  of  which  human  nature  is  capable — we  have 
seen  him  under  these  circumstances,  not  only  kept  steadily  at 
the  helm  of  Connecticut,  but  guiding  her  Ship  of  State — him 
self  often  the  only  pilot — with  a  success  so  admirable  as  not 
only  to  keep  her  off  from  the  breakers  which  maddened  for 
her  destruction,  but  to  preserve  her  staunch  and  sound,  and 
take  her  at  last,  in  beauty  and  in  triumph,  into  the  port  of 
peace.  Here  again  was  demonstration  the  most  signal  of  the 
confidence  in  Trumbull's  prudence. 

But  this  confidence  was  not  confined  to  the  bosoms  of  his 
own  immediate  constituents.  It  extended  over  the  Union. 
It  was  specially  manifested  by  Congress,  whose  consultations 
with  him,  in  one  form  and  another — either  as  a  Body,  or 
through  correspondence  by  Members — was  almost  habitual. 
It  was  manifested  by  Executive  Magistrates,  and  Councils, 
and  Committees  of  surrounding  States,  that  sought  steadily 
his  advice.  But  more  than  all,  it  was  shown  by  the  Father 
of  his  Country — the  immortal  "Washington — who  never 
failed — it  may  almost  with  exactness  be  said — upon  every 
occasion  of  emergency  during  the  entire  "War  of  the  Kevolu- 
tion,  to  lean  for  counsel  upon  Trumbull's  sagacious  mind  as 
strongly  as  he  leaned  for  material  co-operation  upon  Trum 
bull's  stalwart  arm. 

So  frequently  did  the  Commander-in-chief  appeal  to  the 
latter  for  his  deliberation  and  judgment,  that — not  only  when 
any  conjuncture  of  difficulty  or  peril  arose,  but  even  often 
when  matters  not  involving  peril,  but  simply  facts  and  cir 
cumstances  hard  of  solution,  were  under  his  consideration — 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  remarking — "  We  must  consult  Brother 
Jonathan  " — a  phrase  which  his  intimate  relations  of  friend 
ship  with  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  fully  warranted,  as 
well  as  the  fact — probably  well  known  to  Washington — that 
"Brother  Jonathan "  was  the  title  of  familiar  but  respectful 
endearment  by  which  Trumbull  was  often  designated  in  his 
own  neighborhood  and  home,  among  a  large  circle  of  rela 
tives,  friends,  and  acquaintances  generally. 


1785.  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  697 

From  the  marquee  and  council-rooms  of  the  Commander- 
in-chief,  the  phrase  "we  must  consult  Brother  Jonathan" 
passed  out  to  the  soldiery.  And  gradually  spreading  from 
mouth  to  mouth,  as  occasions  of  doubt  and  perplexity,  and 
finally  even  of  slight  embarrassments,  arose — soon  became  a 
popular  and  universal  phrase  in  the  whole  American  army — 
in  use  to  unravel  the  threads  of  almost  every  entanglement — 
solve  every  scruple — unriddle  every  enigma — settle  every 
confusion — smooth  every  anxiety — and  untie  even — as  a  kind 
of  pis-aller,  as  a  catch-phrase  of  wand-like  power — every  little 
Gordian  knot  of  social  converse. 

From  the  camp  the  expression  passed  to  adjacent  neighbor 
hoods — from  adjacent  neighborhoods  to  States — and  both  in 
this  way,  and  through  the  medium  of  returning  soldiery,  be 
came  propagated  through  the  country  at  large — until  finally, 
syncopated  in  part,  it  was  universally  appropriated,  through 
its  two  emphatic  closing  words  "  BROTHER  JONATHAN,"  as  a 
sobriquet,  current  to  the  present  day — and  which  will  con 
tinue  current,  probably,  through  ages  yet  to  come — for  that 
mightiest  of  all  Kepublics  that  ever  flung  its  standard  to  the 
breezes  of  heaven — THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA  ! 

So  it  happens,  that  a  Governor  of  Connecticut — and  this 
the  one  we  commemorate — by  force  of  an  exalted  virtue,  sig 
nally  developed  in  himself,  has  enstamped  his  own  name 
upon  half  the  Continent  of  the  New  World !  In  his  name  a 
colossal  nation  has  been  baptized*  The  Kingdoms  of  the 

*  "  Brother  Jonathan. — The  origin  of  this  term  as  applied  to  the  United  States,  is 
given  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Norwich  Courier.  The  editor  says  it  was  com 
municated  by  one  of  the  most  intelligent  gentlemen  and  sterling  Whigs  in  Con 
necticut,  now  upwards  of  eighty  years  of  age,  who  was  an  active  participator  in 
the  scenes  of  the  Revolution.  The  story  is  as  follows : — 

"  When  General  Washington,  after  being  appointed  commander  of  the  army  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  came  to  Massachusetts  to  organize  it,  and  make  prepara 
tions  for  the  defence  of  the  country,  he  found  a  great  destitution  of  ammunition 
and  other  means  necessary  to  meet  the  powerful  foe  he  had  to  contend  with ;  and 
great  difficulty  to  obtain  them.  If  attacked  in  such  condition,  the  cause  at  once 
might  be  hopeless.  On  one  occasion,  at  that  anxious  period,  a  consultation  of  the 
officers  and  others  was  had,  when  it  seemed  no  way  could  be  devised  to  make 
such  preparation  as  was  necessary.  His  Excellency,  Jonathan  Trumbull  the 
elder,  was  then  Governor  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  on  whose  judgment  and 
aid  the  General  placed  the  greatest  reliance,  and  remarked,  "  We  must  consult 
*  Brother  Jonathan'  on  the  subject."  The  General  did  so,  and  the  Governor  was 
successful  in  supplying  many  of  the  wants  of  the  army.  When  difficulties  after- 
59 


698  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  1785- 

world — Principalities  and  Powers — now  consult  BROTHER 
JONATHAN  I 

The  virtue  of  which  we  have  now  spoken  is  peculiarly  the 
product  of  a  well-balanced  mind — of  intellectual  and  moral 
powers,  and  sensitive  faculties,  that  act  in  unison — and 
which — free  from  vehemence,  contortion,  or  wildness — blend 
ing  in  harmony  like  colors  that  form  the  enriching  light — 
operate  with  regularity,  and  with  noiseless,  etherial  force 
upon  the  great  fabric  of  human  society. 

Such,  characteristically,  was  the  mind  of  Trumbull,  viewed 
as  a  whole.  In  him  there  was  no  disordered  saliency  of  one 
power  or  faculty  above  another — no  disproportioned  predom 
inance  of  the  reason,  the  will,  or  the  imagination — no  such 
distinctive  structure  of  intellect,  no  such  idiosyncracy  of  tem 
perament,  as  constitutes  genius  in  its  peculiar  sense.  He 
made  no  bold  and  daring  flights  into  the  region  of  invention. 
He  had  no  fancies  to  indulge  whose  force,  meteoric  and  elec 
tric,  burst  from  a  central  spirit  like  lava  from  a  volcano. 
There  was  no  overruling  aptitude  in  his  nature  for  any  spe 
cial  sphere  of  mental  effort,  within  which,  and  within  which 
alone,  his  soul — conscious  of  a  power  which  no  precepts 
could  control,  and  no  industry  could  acquire — felt  irresist- 
ably  compelled  to  expend  its  energies,  and  to  create  excellen 
cies  beyond  the  reach  of  the  ordinary  rules  of  art  and  bounds 
of  human  knowledge. 

On  the  other  hand,  his  mind — naturally  quick,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  its  perceptive  power,  and  highly  retentive — gathered 
its  materials  from  observation,  rather  than  originated  them 
from  reflection — from  the  world,  from  mankind,  from  books, 
from  all  the  various  repositories  of  knowledge  which  fell  under 
its  eye,  sought  and  appropriated  the  stores  which  fed  its  opera 
tions.  It  put  everything  in  place.  It  did  not  mistake  ad 
juncts  for  essentials.  It  was  restrained  by  no  conventional 
isms  that  shut  out  inquiry.  It  was  deluded  neither  by  forms 

wards  arose,  and  the  army  was  spread  over  the  country,  it  became  a  by-word, 
"  We  must  consult  brother  Jonathan."  The  term  Yankee  is  still  applied  to  a  por 
tion,  but  "Brother  Jonathan"  has  now  become  a  designation  of  the  whole 
country,  as  John  Bull  has  for  England."— Supplement  to  the  Courant^  Hartford, 
December  12, 1846— page  199. 


1785.  CHAP.     LVI. — TRUMBULL.  699 

nor  phrases.  Making  "a  naked  circle"  around  the  subjects 
it  examined,  that  it  might  have  a  lucid  view  of  them,  and 
reach  their  core — rendering  its  arguments  "as  guarded  and 
complete,  as  if  its  only  hope  lay  in  diligence  and  logic " — it 
in  this  manner — aided  by  a  temperament  whose  natural  calm 
ness  was  deepened  by  the  habit  of  deliberation — worked  out 
the  results  to  which  it  arrived — practical  eminently  so,  as  we 
have  found  them — beautiful  in  their  variety — and  bountiful, 
many  of  them  boundless,  in  their  utility. 

This,  in  our  view,  is  the  true  aspect  of  Trumbull's  mind. 
It  produced  by  ratiocination  rather  than  by  intuition.  The 
fabrics  it  wove  were  of  materials  gathered  almost  entirely 
from  without,  but  were  the  result  of  skillful  intertexture,  and 
were  ever  tissued  with  the  gold  and  silver  of  common  sense. 
Like  Washington,  he  had  talent  rather  than  genius — the  gift 
of  a  sound  understanding  more  than  the  gift  of  imagination — 
a  dowry  of  solid,  durable  good  sense,  in  union  with  superior 
natural  sagacity,  a  deep-seated  love  for  truth,  and  a  regard 
for  justice  that  was  ardent,  pure,  invincible,  and  exhaustless. 

Such  in  his  life,  public  and  private — in  the  characteristics 
of  his  mind  and  temper — in  himself,  and  in  his  relations  to 
society,  the  world,  and  to  God — such,  so  far  as  the  materials 
in  our  hands  have  enabled  us  to  view  him,  was  Jonathan 
Trumbull,  the  Eevolutionary  Governor  of  Connecticut. 

If  strong  intellect,  and  extensive  knowledge,  fixed  indus 
try,  the  conception  of  great  ends,  and  perseverance  and  suc 
cess  in  their  execution — if  an  exalted  sense  of  honor,  incor 
ruptible  integrity,  energy  of  purpose,  consummate  prudence, 
impregnable  fortitude,  a  broad,  generous,  and  quenchless 
patriotism,  charities  ever  active,  wise,  and  fervent — if  all 
these  qualities — in  union  with  a  most  amiable  temper,  and 
the  gentlest  manners — and  in  affiliation  too  with  all  the  no 
ble  graces  of  the  Christian  faith — if  these  constitute  a  great 
and  a  good  man,  that  man  was  Trumbull.  In  the  noblest 
sense  in  which  noble  results  fling  radiance  back  upon  their 
author — the  radiance  of  love,  gratitude,  and  admiration,  for 
suffering  alleviated — for  happiness  conferred — for  liberty 
rendered  a  blessing,  religion  a  stay  and  staff,  and  civilization, 
in  all  its  aspects,  a  rich  diffusive  boon — under  all  this  felici 


700  CHAP.    LVI. — TRUMBULL.  H85. 

tons  and  sumptuous  significance  given  to  the  phrase,  it  may 
be  said  of  Trumbull  emphatically — his  works  do  follow  him  ! 
Connecticut  contained  his  hearth-stone — America  was  the 
campaigning-ground  of  his  patriotism — the  whole  world  of 
humanity  his  field  of  benevolence — God  his  unfailing  hope 
and  Heaven  his  final  home. 


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Stuart,   I. 

Life  of  Jonathan 


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